2003 Niagara Falls

Sunday: We have an incredible view of the Falls from our hotel window; we are high enough to see it all. We headed outside to get a closer look, stopping alone the way to get an ice cream cone - they have really good ice cream in Canada. Then we took the walking journey behind the falls. There are small windows where you can look at the back of the falls, but truthfully, you can't see much. Next we took the Maid of the Mist ride, which is much more enjoyable. The boat goes right up to the base of the falls, into the cold mist. They gave us lightweight rain jackets that didn't protect much, due to the high winds. But it was so wonderful that we didn't care.

The Canadian side of the falls includes the great horseshoe falls. Technically this section is not quite all in the Canadian side, but that's it's name, anyway. Most of the time we were here there was a brightly colored rainbow ending in the falls. 

The American side is beautiful, too. There is more rubble at the base of this side; there have been several rockslides that caused this, but it's still gorgeous. 

The falls constantly throws up a tall mist, visible everywhere. There is so much water pouring over falls and I find it amazing that it never ends. I couldn't get a good picture of it but at the edge of the falls you can actually see a cross-section of the river, as the ground beneath it falls away and the water heads straight down.

We walked up Clifton Street and through the Rainforest Cafe. We were looking for a wine store; we only found one and it was closed. Downtown there are a lot of stores with big, over-sized characters rising high over the streets.

Monday: Breakfast was a small buffet with eggs, potatoes and toast. Then we walked through town, looking for another wine store. And when we finally found one, it was closed, too. In the evening we went back to the hotel for dinner: salmon appetizer, cedar plank salmon entree and apple dumpling.

Tuesday: Breakfast was stagecoach eggs, Canadian bacon and pancakes. Then we toured a route for wineries. We drove to the Whirlpool, and on to see the floral clock. It's beautiful, and actually keeps time.

Next we drove to Niagara-On-The-Lake; it's a very pretty little town. We went through several shops, and in one I bought a red knit hat with matching knit gloves. Back in Niagara we ate dinner at Carpaccios, an Italian restaurant, where we had grilled chicken with provolone cheese, mashed sweet potatoes and very sweet tea.

Wednesday: Breakfast was brioche and pastries that we'd bought at the Niagara-On-The-Lake bakery. Then we drove to Buffalo to the Anchor Bar, home of the Buffalo Hot Wings. But, like the Canadian wine stores, it was closed. Poor Randy!