Home Grown Hearts

Our Travels to Niagara Falls.....

  This week we have been traveling around the Niagara Falls area. It is myself, my three oldest children (Kiera, Kodi, & Jacob), my father, and my two older sisters (Peg & Pat).

  We left on Sunday, stopped overnight in Sayre PA, and ended our travels at Amherst NY (which is about 20mins outside of Niagara Falls).

  On Monday; we stopped off at the Buffalo Bills stadium, and then at the QRS factory (we also tried to look for the American Kazoo factory but couldn't find it so we gave up). The QRS factory is where they make player piano music rolls. To this day they still use some of the old machines that they used almost one hundred years ago. They have updated some, by using computers to help make the scolls....but even the computers are antiquated (the computers are from the 80's).

  **I have to note here that my father planned many of our activities, making sure that we toured or saw something that each of my children would enjoy (hence visiting the Buffalo Bill's stadium....my son is a HUGE football fan).  What a sweet, thoughtful man my father is!!

  It was also my son's birthday, so every restaurant we have eaten at this week have given Jacob a special dessert and have sung happy birthday to him. 

  Tuesday: we went to the falls today. We took the 'Cave of Winds' tour...which is no longer toured through a cave (since it collapsed several years ago). That was a wonderful and VERY wet tour. This tour takes you right below Bridal Veil falls, along a wooden path.  Where you can stand right in the spray of the falls (called the hurricane deck).The falls are absolutely amazing! What a majestic wonder they are.   We also went to the tower. This is probably a 200ft high tower, with what looks to be an unfinished bridge over the river. At the bottom of the tower you can take another path to the other side of American falls. When looking up at American falls from this angle, it looms over you like a huge tidal wave. You almost feel as though it will come crashing down on you. On the other side of the tower is where you can take the 'Maid of the Mist' boat up to the falls. We toured the rest of the park area, which is absolutely beautiful. On our way back to the hotel we stopped at the Niagara Power facility. What a neat place. It has lots of displays that teach about electricity. They gave us a short demonstration on static electricity....I even got up on stage with Jacob and let them make my hair stand on end!

   **Note: Niagara Falls is made up of three falls...American, Bridal Veil, and Horseshoe. American and Bridal Veil are next to each other on the American side, with Bridal Veil being the smaller of the two (the pictuer above is of American and Bridal Veil). Horseshoe Falls is on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. 

  Wednesday: this was the day we went to the Canadian side of the falls. They also have a tour of the falls...theirs is called "Behind the Falls'. I have been battling a cold this week, so I decided not to get wet...so I sat out on this one. Kodi also decided not to take that tour and so we both wandered around the park area while everyone else was on the tour. On the Canadian side you can really get up close to the water rushing over the falls, and you can get a much better view of Horse Shoe Falls. It was such a beautiful site....the American side is awesome, because you really get an idea of how powerful the falls are (at the bottom) and on the Canadian side you get to see the beauty of all three; Horse Shoe Falls, American and Bridal Veil Falls. I highly recommend seeing both sides of Niagara Falls, but if you can't see both, either one will take your breath away.

  We also went to the Imax theater, which was showing a film on the history of the Falls.....I love Imax theater, it makes you feel as though you are right there experiencing all the excitement.

  Then we traveled back to the American side. We had planned on taking the Maid of the Mist on the Canadian side, but they were always packed with tourists and the American side wasn't....so we went to the American Maid of the Mist instead. Jacob was scared of the thought of riding a boat towards the falls, so I stayed behind with him. We waited at the tower.....braving the 30+ mph winds whipping across the tower observation deck. Everyone came back safe and sound.....loving every minute of the ride.

  Thursday: It rained all day...but luckily all the places we planned on going to were inside. We went back to the Canadian side again, but this was to see their butterfly conservancy. What a wonderful place! As soon as we walked in the room there were butterflies everywhere. Kiera had one land on her back, and later on one landed on Kodi's head! The flora was beautiful, and so were the thousands of butterflies fluttering around us. There were ones that were tiger striped, some that were spotted, and even some that had both spots and stripes. We then traveled to the American side after stopping at the duty free shop. There are so many stores to see on the Canadian side, but the prices are just a little over our heads. We went to the aquarium at Niagara, which is small but has a wonderful variety of aquatic animals to see. They also have seals, sea lions, and penguins. There are several displays to examine as well......shark jaws, sea lion skeleton, dissected displays of lobsters, questions and facts located on almost every wall. I really enjoyed the dissected sea creatures that they had on display.....they had dyed the organs and veins so you could really see them.  They had a lobster, crab, sea urchin, and a sea star. It really was a neat aquarium. With all the rain, and all the traveling we had already seen we were all pretty tired....so we had lunch and headed back to the hotel. On Friday we headed home, thankfully the rain had stopped.....and it was a lovely day for a long drive home.

We really loved our trip to Niagara Falls....and we hope to go back again some day. Next time we will bring the whole family. Because it really is a breath-taking sight to see, and I would love to share it with my husband and younger kids. And of course I want to take the Maid of the Mist ride!

Important

2:00 PM, Oct. 1, 2006 .. Posted by SnowWolf

I have a new post on my blog that I think you should see. It is very important and I believe everybody here should read it.

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1:53 PM, Oct. 2, 2006 .. Posted by jengresak

That is beautiful!! I've never seen Niagra Falls, but I am wanting to more now : ) Have a great week!

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3:02 PM, Aug. 26, 2007 .. Posted by makmm4eva

Hey Mom, how do you get pictures on here? I tried but it keeps denying.....gahh!!

But wow wasnt that fun?! Cant wait for the next trip (hopefully somewhere warmer!!)