What a wonderful weekend we have just had. Of course, we are all exhausted after our adventure, but that is a very small price to pay to witness the sheer glory of Niagara Falls!!!
Rachel, Liesel's sister arrived from South Africa on Monday for a two week vacation with us. On Saturday morning, we all climbed into the Buick and Drove Northeast, across 2 states to the town of Niagara Falls. Liesel had been before in 1999, but this was virgin territory for the rest of us.
After the 4 hour journey, we pulled into the Niagara Falls State park (the oldest State park in the USA) and made our way towards the thundering falls. Even from afar, the views were incredible! We started by buying tickets for the Maid of the Mist, which is the boat that takes you a few meters away from base of the three falls that make up the Niagara Falls.
Everybody is issued with a blue plastic "raincoat" which offers about as much protection as a sieve against the overwhelming spray. Once aboard the boat, it makes its journey towards the 1 850 000 liters of water gushing over the falls every second!! Near the base of the horse-shoe falls, the boat strains it engines to keep relatively stationery against the flow of the mighty wash! At this point, everybody becomes saturated as the spray envelopes most of you, leaving very few places dry. Nathan loved it as much as his father - something we would do over and over again!
After the Maid of the Mist, Rachel and I embarked on the Cave of the Winds tour. This tour takes you down the gorge via an elevator. Then you head out towards the waterfall, equipped only with a flimsy yellow rain jacket, and State Park issues Sandals. The tour takes you to within 15 feet of the base of the falls, then you ascend a wooden staircase, directly adjacent to the cascades! You can, in places, dangle your foot in the gushing water. The destination of the tour is the "Hurricane Deck" which is right up against the falls and water is pelting down onto the deck. Venturing out on this platform, automatically guarantees that you will not walk away with a dry inch left on you!!! This was a definite highlight for me!!!
That night, I went back to the falls, as they are lit us at night, and this revealed yet another beautiful facet of this place!
God was so good to us, that he gave us bright sunny weather on Saturday to enjoy the falls (my red nose is proof!). On Sunday, we woke up to rain! Rain or shine - the Niagara Falls are still incredible!!!
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