June 29, 2003 - Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
As I sit here the wind is blowing 10-15 MPH, we've had a thunderstorm with rain earlier, and it's 82 degrees. That's "F" degrees, and not "C" degrees. We may be in Canada, but I'm still an American. We really enjoy the Canadians, and the truck with its "For Sale" signs is a real magnet. They convert the U.S. dollars to Canadian dollars, adding about 40% to the price and it makes them mutter stuff about government.
Getting here to Scotty's campground was a kick. We belong to RPI (membership campground) and the book showed a small park near here with 10 sites with just electric and water, and 10 with full hookups. When we got there, it turned out to be something less than 10 with electric and water and no full hookups. And what they did have were backed up to the motel rooms! The grass wasn't quite knee high, but it hadn't been mowed yet this year, and most the windows in the motel were cemented. We opted to "...look around a bit, thank you very much." and went next door to the KOA campground. As we were standing in line, we overheard that the spaces were $50 per night for elect. and water, no sewer. That was too much for us, even if we were paying in Canadian dollars, but when we asked if they had room for us, they didn't, so we didn't have to make that decision. The lady at the counter told us there were more campgrounds down the street, and here we are. Good Sam discount (10%) and we're paying $30 (Canadian) per night plus taxes for full hookups in a beautiful park on the nicely mowed grass. We'd forgotten that July 1 is Canada Day and a holiday for these folks. We'd carefully planned to stay in Canada to avoid the 4th of July mess in our own campgrounds, but got caught anyway. The park is nice, but it's right in the middle of what might be politely called the tenderloin district. Two "Gentlemen's Clubs" right across the street, and massage parlors, and liquor stores all up and down.
We got here about 2:30 or so, got set up, ate lunch, took naps and then decided to go exploring. I gotta tell you, when Barb says, "Let's just drive around and get oriented so we'll know what we want to go back to see later," you'd better pack your dinner and take your hiking shoes! For the sake of brevity, just let me tell you, we've seen the falls and walked all over the Canadian side, including her going behind the falls. Whew! It was almost 10 PM by the time we got back home again.
But before we get to the falls, let's take a quick look at some of the wildlife that we enjoyed in Gaylord, MI. The little lake we were parked next to all of a sudden, on the next-to-the-last day of our stay, sprouted some geese. We have no idea where they'd been before now. The parents and 6 goslings. Yeah, this picture only shows 5 babies, but there was one that was a laggard and never did keep up with the rest of the gaggle. We figured it was a runt and wasn't going to make it to maturity anyway. And then this Great Blue Heron with the fish in its beak. Look at the size of the fish! We nearly split our sides watching the heron get it turned around just right so it could swallow it. It dropped the fish in the water once and had to re-capture it, then up on the bank it got dropped again, and this shot was taken right after the heron had walked back to the waters edge with the dirty fish and washed it off.
Then the heron finally got the fish the right way, and down it went. Sort of. You can see the lump in the herons throat as it's swallowing the fish. This guy still looks pretty good with his breeding plumage on, too. What fun it is to have a camera that will show that kind of thing! Thanks again, John. And next we've parked in a $10 parking lot several miles from the Falls, but the price of parking includes the shuttle to and from the Falls. These buses are a kick. Which way is front? Well, in this case, the nose is on the left. Seattle has lots of articulated buses, but they're connected differently and the passengers can walk between the sections. Sort of like a jointed bus. This is more like a trailer being towed.
The story behind this barge is that it broke it's mooring somehow, and the guys on board took whatever measure they needed to in order to scuttle, or sink it, and here's where it stopped. Good thing, too, because the falls aren't far below. The falls were not a disappointment, but somehow didn't thrill us either. Maybe it was because of the hype we've been listening to about them for so long, maybe it was because we'd traveled some 200+ miles with the rig already, or maybe it was just the hordes of people all over everything. Or maybe a combination of all these things. It was sort of the opposite of the Grand Canyon for me. Seeing them just sort of confirmed the pictures I'd seen and what I'd read and heard. The statistics about the Falls, nevertheless, are impressive.
The power house was in service until the late 70's, and only 1/3 of its total height is above ground. In other words, twice what we can see here is below ground.
Can't say much about these pictures that they can't say for themselves. The green coloring is real and very pretty. Note the seagull in flight.
Lots of people, lots of gulls, and plenty of mist or spray to go around. As we walked along the viewing area, there was one particular section where you could have used an umbrella--the mist was that heavy. One of the things we'd been particularly interested in was taking the boat ride up to the foot of the falls, so it was fun to watch how they operated from this vantage point.
Several times the mist would float in such a way as to give us double rainbows. And that picture of the boat--Maid of the Mist--isn't out of focus, it's just being viewed through the mist! The "Maid," incidentally, has been operating commercially since 1846. And it was about now that it dawned on me that it would be a waste of time and money for us to take the boat ride. The mist would get on our glasses and we couldn't see anything, and if we took our glasses off we couldn't see anything either, so why do it? We took a pass, and just watched them from here. Having lived on our boat in the past makes taking a boat ride nothing out of the ordinary for us, too, I guess.
My own personal Maid Of The Mist (she'll love that!). While the colors in her tank top don't really match the splendor of the rainbow, there are some similarities. And there goes the Maid back to the dock to do an unload/reload (one of about 4 in action all the time, two on the Canadian side and two on the American side).
The vantage point from the U.S.A. side isn't near as nice as from the Canadian side, but the viewing station was full anyway. Lots of gulls, lots of tourists in the calmer waters below the falls.
There were several of these carriages for hire, and made us remember both Shipshewana, IN and Mackinac Island, MI. Not only are the falls smaller on the U.S.A. side, but so was the corresponding rainbow. But it was still there! The width of the American Falls is 850 feet while the Canadian Falls is 2,200 feet across. The vertical plunge on the Canadian side is 188 feet, the American side 70-110 feet. Niagara is by no means the tallest in the world--there are some 50 others ahead of it in that regard. What makes it unique is its combined height and volume. The water that drains over Niagara derive from four great lakes (approximately 264,000 square miles of water)--Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, and Erie; then it dumps into Lake Ontario, down the St. Lawrence River, to the Atlantic Ocean. We were told the Falls drops 34 million gallons of water per minute--that sure seems like an awful lot of water!
The U.S.A. side has a couple of unique viewing areas. First is the up close and personal wet one, and then the up high, dry, and detached one. Not sure if we'll venture over there to see from that angle or not. Probably not.
Gee, don't suppose Barb found some pretty flowers, do you? And then a shot of the Maid coming out of the Mist.
The geology around the falls was interesting, and it's a wonder to me they haven't retreated further than they have considering the strata they're eating away at. The first shot is at the U.S.A. side, and the second shot is head-on of Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. Looking carefully will divulge another Maid of the Mist almost hidden by the spray.
The Canadian viewing platform is a bit more modest than the U.S.A. one, but gave us all the view we needed. And I'll blame the flower pots shot on Barb of course. She said something about these flowers not needing anybody to mist them, as the falls did it all the time!
The vine covered water tank is the backdrop for a stage setup of some sort. There really is a lot of interesting history about this place as you might imagine. And then the shot Barb told me to make sure I put in first, and of course, I forgot. Pretty flowers, don't you know........
Guess who's not among this group of happy soakers? Yup, me. I stayed nice and dry topside in the gift shop watching people pet Murray The Moose. I don't need crowed elevators taking me down dark shafts in the rocks, getting damp and cold isn't my idea of a good time, and walking through catacombs to peek through holes at water rushing by is something I can live without. Regular grump I was about this "Journey Behind The Falls." But that didn't deter my bride from enjoying herself by spending the $7.50 (Canadian) to get the free slicker. She said you could not only hear the "thunder" of the Falls, you could actually feel the vibration it made down below. It's power becomes very real when your standing so close--like an ant might feel confronting an elephant . . . . maybe.
And here's her big grin to prove it. That bulky black bag around her neck is the camera bag. Digital cameras don't like water, particularly expensive borrowed ones! All in all, the experience was a positive one, and we'd recommend you see them if you're in the area. We'd probably not try to encourage our west coast friends to make a trip out here just to see them. We're waterfall fans, but Snoqualmie Falls in WA is nice too, and the ones in Yosemite are actually prettier in our view because they seem less commercialized I guess. Maybe I was just having a bad day.