Number of Miles Driven: 257

States Driven Through: PA, NY, Ontario 

Hours Driven: 9:30 - 1:30 (No Stops!)


We left at 9:30 after having a subpar hotel breakfast and we drove straight through to Niagara Falls. We drove along Lake Erie for a good bit, but we could never see anything because the fog was so heavy. Crossing the border was a unique experience – the wait wasn’t long to get into Canada (15 minutes) and we were prepared to be grilled. I made sure Michael (quickly) knew the ages of all the kids. It’s a good thing we practiced – he got a couple wrong. They had us roll down the windows so they could see the kids and asked us our purpose and then sent us on our way. The kids were intrigued by the “differences” between Canada and the U.S. – primarily the road construction cones are black and orange as opposed to just orange and speed limits are in km/h. 

We came straight to our campsite (~1:30 pm) and were initially concerned when many of the RVs had permanent sheds and fences on their site. However, there were also tent sites with more temporary campers which alleviated my concern about not reading the fine print when I booked the site. We set up the tent and then quickly headed over to the falls.

We parked along Clifton Hill which is known as the “Street of Fun” and looks like a fair midway on steroids – Ripley’s Museum, Louis Toussaud’s Wax Museum, Go Karts, Rainforest Café, Breweries, Fun Houses, Ice Cream Shops – all in huge bright lights. Needless to say, the kids were mesmerized and wanted to do everything they saw, but we kept our eyes on the prize – 3:30 reservations for Voyage to the Falls (the Canadian version of Maid of the Mist). The kids liked the ponchos (Dani called them "nachos"), and it was a fun way to start the trip. We pulled up to the Horseshoe Falls and the boat just sat there for several minutes. I was awestruck taking it all in – the roaring sound and the clouds of mist surrounded us so it was almost difficult to observe everything. As the boat turned around (and faced us toward the middle of the falls), we got drenched. When facing the middle, you couldn’t see anything – just surrounded by plumes of mist.





After the boat ride, we walked along the rim of the falls and took in the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls. I asked for pictures one too many times and got a lot of sighs from the kids, but they were good sports for the most part.







 

We all had on our water shoes so there was a little complaining about all the walking (not the most comfortable in wet water shoes), but we made our way to our next event – Journey Behind the Falls. We went through the tunnels running underneath Horseshoe Falls and then went out on a deck that was right beside where the falls drop – we saw the most beautiful rainbow. 



The Journey Behind the Falls Deck looking at the Horseshoe Falls

In the tunnels behind the Horseshoe Falls





The kids got their first souvenirs – Andrew a Canada hat and Dani and Matthew got wooden toy Canadian hockey sticks. They all wanted the most basic things that can be bought at Wal-Mart in the U.S. (e.g., suckers, toy airplanes), so I considered it a win to divert their attention to actual Canadian/Niagara Falls things. I’ll admit, I’m a big fan of Andrew’s hat – even though he calls it his “Canadan” (pronounced like Canada with an “n” tacked on) hat. He keeps forgetting it’s Canadian.



We were exhausted after our tour and needed food – we decided to do Rainforest Café because we thought everyone would benefit from something fun and easy (i.e., it was late – 6:30 – and we didn’t want to cook at the campsite). It was a long walk back and Carolyn seemed to be suffering the most (but it was Dani who said “My feet are starving”), but we made it and didn’t even have to wait for a table. The kids loved the atmosphere and got a second wind – they enjoyed the “animal shows” and the “thunderstorms.” The bill was a hard pill to swallow – especially knowing we had cooked meals in our cooler at the campsite – but well worth it to have a little R & R.  Andrew even said it was the best fish he had ever had.





We got back to the campsite around 8:30, started a fire, and did s’mores. It’s official that Andrew is the worst marshmallow roaster of the whole family. He tried three times to make one for me and burned each one – even Dani got it right the first time. It’s possible he was intentionally doing it, but he claims he was trying.

There was a group party at the campsite next to us so we knew we weren’t going to get to sleep anytime soon, so the kids decided to tell scary stories. Dani even contributed some stories – more like one-liner jokes about ghosts and murder. We called it a night around 11 pm and everyone was quickly out. However, I woke up around 1:00 am thinking that I saw a shadow outside of our tent and that they were trying to get in. I woke Michael up and told him but he fell right back asleep so I decided it must be okay. But then I woke up again around 4 thinking that we had rain coming in our tent. It had started raining but no water was coming into the tent. Aside from those worrisome dreams and intermittently waking up, we all slept decently well on our sleeping bags and sleeping pads (but it’s certainly not as comfortable as a bed.) Dani must have been pretty comfortable because she slept until 8 am – even with people walking directly over her to get out of the tent.