We set the alarm early Sunday morning so that we could eat breakfast with Christine and Barett before we left. They made wonderful strawberry French toast with Vermont maple syrup for breakfast. They also scrambled the leftover egg dip and cooked it up too. I’m not always a big fan of scrambled eggs cooked on the stove, but these were delicious - all cinnamony and sweet.
It was a 5 hour drive to Niagara Falls, and on the way we finished off the leftover pizza from Boston, as well as some Girl Scout Cookies, baby carrots, and apples. It was just about 2:00 when we arrived at the falls, and some very animated guys were trying to entice us into their respective parking lots with promises of doughnuts and coffee in the visitor’s center. But, since it was March and no one was actually visiting the falls except us, we made a u-turn and easily found 2-hour parking on the street.
The 2-story visitor’s center looked like a ghost town, with nothing but an information counter and a bit of a souvenir shop in one corner. Three quarters of the first floor and the entire second floor were empty and looked like an abandoned warehouse. The guy manning the information counter gave us maps, doughnuts, and magnets even though we hadn’t parked in his parking lot. He also informed us that the last 2 hour tour of the day was departing at 2:30, which was in about 10 minutes. The tour was $30 each, plus tip and tax, so we initially walked away. Five minutes later though, we’d returned to buy tickets. We decided it was our last main stop, that the tour would take us to places we wouldn’t be able to find on our own, and that we were just to dang exhausted from two months of traveling to really get the entire effect of the falls without some adult supervision. Also, the two main attractions - the Maid of the Mist Boat Tour and the Cave of the Winds - were closed until the ice melted. I think you could easily do those two things and feel you had seen the falls (I’ve done the latter before, and it’s amazing), but without those we felt rather directionless.
When the little tour bus pulled up and collected the 11 of us who’d signed up, the jolly driver informed us that he’d be taking us to the observation deck and then to the power plant first, because those spots closed at 5 and he wanted to make sure we got to see them. Tricia and I exchanged glances. Wasn’t this only supposed to be a 2 hour tour? Maybe these were like the USS Constitution - you had to get there by 4 or they wouldn’t let you in at all?
The little bus took us right across the street from the visitor’s center, and we laughed because it was so close. But when we got up on the observation deck, the beautiful view took our breath away. We began snapping pictures, having the tour guide take some of the two of us, and he told us that these were no where near the best view we would see that afternoon. We could see all three falls from the observation deck - the American Falls, Horseshoe Falls, and Bridal Veil Falls. We could also see the ice floating on the water that was keeping the Maid of the Mist from running, and some of the walkways for the Cave of the Winds. They pull up most of the walkways for the winter, and when the ice melts they bring the walkways back out on boats and reassemble them.
Next we piled back into the bus and drove over to the New York Power Authority. During the winter, the flow to the falls is more than halved by gates upstream, and the balance is diverted to the Power Company. In the summer the flow to the falls is only halved at night, but 10% of the flow is always diverted for electricity. Inside the plant were lots of hands-on activities to show how electricity works - designed to entertain elementary school kids on field trips, so you know Tricia and I had fun.
J We took turns pedaling a bicycle to see how much energy we could generate. My lung capacity isn’t great, so I could only manage to run a microwave, while Tricia could power a refrigerator. The power plant had an observation deck as well, and we had gorgeous views of Niagara River from there.
On the observation deck, our guide (who I swear never told us his name) told us that 16 people a year go over the falls. This seemed really high to me, considering the number at the Grand Canyon is only 6 a year and the Grand Canyon is waaaaaaay more dangerous! There are guard rails all over Niagara, and nothing of the kind at the Grand Canyon. But maybe more people try to make news by going over the falls in a barrel and surviving. No one would ever do that at the Grand Canyon - if you go over, you
know that’s it.
Back in the bus we drove 7 miles away from the falls to see the Giant Whirlpool in the Niagara River. This is when I asked whether people could raft the Niagara. The answer is no - in 1975 they had started white water rafting tours. On the 11
th voyage, one of the rafts capsized and three of the passengers drowned. It was decided that inflatable rafts could not safely navigate the 35 mph waters of the whirlpool, and that was the end of white water tours.
We also learned a very cool fact - that the falls have moved 7 miles in 12500 years do to the erosion of the shale and thin limestone that make up the bottom layers of the falls. The falls used to move 3-5 feet per year, but due to the waters being diverted to the American and Canadian power plants, the erosion has been reduced to only 1 foot per year, and they are hoping to reduce it to 1 foot per 10 years.
After the whirlpool we drove over to Goat Island. Our driver looked out for cops, and when he saw the coast was clear he slowed down to a crawl so we could all kneel on the seats and take pictures of the rapids as we went over the bridge. Upon arriving at Goat Island, we found a statue of Nikola Tesla (who designed the first hydro-electric power plant in Niagara Falls - the final nail in the coffin of Edison’s Direct Current). The statue was on a pedestal that at first seemed to high to climb, so Tricia and I took turns hoisting ourselves into the air and hanging on the pedestal for a moment while the other snapped a picture. But then some of the other tourists managed to scramble up the pedestal and into Tesla’s lap, so we took another turn with the statue and got a bit of assistance getting ourselves up. Tricia got into Tesla’s lap, but the bronze had been worn so smooth by 35 years of tourists doing exactly what we were doing that I was afraid of adding a second person and sliding off to my death (or a broken leg), so I stood next to Mr. Tesla while we smiled for the camera.
On Goat Island we were past the falls and so could look back at them from the other side and get a completely different perspective. On the way to the overlook, we passed a mound of snow that had piled up when they had plowed the walkway, so of course we had to climb it. A lady passing by offered to take our picture, and then had to dissuade her own kid from climbing up with us. We’re a very bad influence on kids.
J Our detour gave our tour guide a chance to catch up with us (a family of 6 kept having him return to the bus for gloves, cameras, or to let them sit in it because the infant was getting cold). He showed us a barge that had broken free of its towrope in 1918 while two workers were aboard dredging up a sand bank. The barge got caught on a rock shoal 766 meters from the falls, allowing the workers to be rescued, but the barge still sits there nearly 100 years later.
We drove next to the upper rapids where the driver took pictures of all of us tourists walking into the inch deep water. Never ones to maintain the status quo, Tricia and I pulled off our shoes and socks and rolled up our jeans so that it looked like we were actually wading, and despite the protests of our guide, walked out into the freezing water. Our guide said it was the first time he’d seen people go barefoot in March. So at least we set one record on our trip!!
After climbing on some trees and rocks, we ran back to the bus, as we’d somehow managed to be the last two people on board. We drove back to the exact same parking lot we’d gone to at 2:30 for the (now closed) observation deck and walked right next door to Prospect Point. Prospect Point is so named for a peak that jutted over the American Falls. In 1954 the peak collapsed and crumbled into the gorge below - 180,000 tons of rocks and boulders fell in the initial collapse, and 18,000 more tons were blasted away to make sure the remaining land was safe. So there is no longer a “point” at all.
It was about 6:00 when we returned to the visitor’s center. So our 2 hour tour was more like 3.5 hours. We jogged back to the car which we’d left in two hour parking (the bus passed us and our driver offered us a ride to our car, but we were nearly there already). As usual, on semi-rainy, cold, cloudy days at an outdoor tourist spot in winter, no one was checking to make sure we’d respected the two hour limit. At 6 we were the only car on the street anyway (again). So we set off to look for somewhere to get dinner. The guide had told us that they shine lights on the falls from the Canadian side and that it’s a beautiful view (in summer there are fireworks too!), and then at 10 they turn the lights off. Since the moon was so close to the Earth, there were rumors that there might be a moon-rainbow that night, so we decided we had to see it.
All the cool local restaurants were closed for the winter, and apparently there are no cool non-local restaurants. Our choices were 3 Indian restaurants, a Chinese place, or a Denny’s in a hotel. We chose Denny’s. We schlepped our computers in with us, ordered Moons Over My-Hammy and Nachos, and set up shop. Our food came quickly (we were the only ones there), and it was delicious. After about an hour of blogging, both computers needed to be charged, so we moved to a new table that was next to an outlet. The waitress came by and gave us free coffee and cream. She even offered us refills and to-go cups. I haven’t been to Denny’s in about 10 years, and I have to say, my opinion of it has improved.
A lot. The food was good, the service was good, the people are friendly. And even though I’m a royal pain in the butt when it comes to ordering, they’re generally patient with me. I no longer have anything bad to say about Denny’s.
At 9:30 we left the restaurant/hotel and drove back to Prospect Point to see the lights. It was very beautiful in the dark, with the lights from Canada reflecting off the water in pink, white, and blue. However, it was a very cloudy night, and there was no way we were going to see the moon at all that night, let alone a moon-rainbow. We stuck around until 10, but when they didn’t turn the lights out in Canada, we decided it was time to call it a night. We set out for Cleveland, taking turns driving and napping since it was still a 4 hour drive and we wouldn’t arrive until 2 in the morning.
In Cleveland we stayed with Tricia’s friend Jessica, and we woke her up when we arrived so she could let us in. She very graciously gave us a tour of her beautiful new house and the various projects she was working on, such as making pillow shams for the bed in the guest room. After catching up for a little while, we curled up under the covers to get a few hours sleep before morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment