John and Linda's Travel Journal: Niagara Falls, New York

Our drive from Watkins Glen to Niagara Falls was pleasant. We traveled on smaller highways and saw many old houses, barns, and farms. We stayed at the KOA on Grand Island, which is the name of the town and the island with a population of about 20,000.

We decided to first ride the Maid of the Mist to see the waterfalls. There are 4 tour boats, 2 on the US side and 2 on the Canadian side. Each holds 600 passengers. A boat leaves each dock every 15 minutes. That's a lot of tourists!

Some of the crowd heading down to the dock

Everyone is given a blue pancho to keep dry

All loaded up and heading to the falls

The boat starts off at a calm part of the Niagara River, near Rainbow Bridge on which where you can walk across to Canada. It goes past the American and Bridal Veil Falls before going into the heavy mist of spray inside the curve of the Horseshoe Falls, also known as the Canadian Falls. Approximately 90% of the Niagara River flows over Horseshoe Falls. The remaining 10% flows over American Falls and Bridal Veil falls.

Rainbow Bridge

Smaller falls on the left

American Falls on the left; Bridal Veil is the small falls to the right

Here's a GoPro video:

We thought the first two falls were impressive but then Horseshoe Falls came into view. The beauty and power are indescribable! Absolutely gorgeous! It is 167 feet high and 2,700 feet wide. The roar from the falls was almost deafening. At the bottom of the falls it was windy.

Getting closer! Look how high the mist sprays!

Into the mist we go!

After the boat tour we decided to walk across Rainbow Bridge to have lunch and see the falls from the Canadian side. It took about 30 minutes to go through customs. The Canadian side was very pretty and was as crowded as the American side.

View from the bridge

View from the Canadian side

We found Elvis!

The following day we toured Cave of the Winds. There was a cave behind Bridal Veil Falls that people could tour from 1841 until 1954 when it was obliterated in a rockfall. Today an elevator takes people down to the base of the American Falls. A series of redwood decks and platforms allow sightseers to walk right up to the base of the Bridal Veil Falls with water crashing down right on them and flowing beneath the decking.

The decking is removed each fall due to the potential damage caused by ice buildup at the falls and re-installed each spring. The decking is not secured to the rocks below by bolts or other construction materials; the wood beam supports are simply wedged into the rock crevices. Glad I didn't know that before taking the tour!

This tour was so fun and exciting. As we walked up several flights of stairs it became louder and windier. We finally reached Hurricane Deck, so named because wind from the falls reaches 68 mph and water is spraying everywhere. It's like being in a hurricane! Everyone got yellow panchos to try to keep dry and non-skid sandals so we wouldn't slip or get our shoes wet.