Niagara Falls

B-rad & I left home on a Wednesday morning & drove about 10 hours to Niagara, NY to see Niagara Falls.  I really didn't go anywhere when I was young but B-rad has been all over the country so it's difficult sometimes to find things he hasn't seen or done.  I have never been to Niagara & he couldn't remember if he had - he knows his parents & older brother went at some point, but he either wasn't alive yet (his brother is 6 years older than him) or couldn't remember going.  I consider that a win on finding somewhere B-rad hadn't been to.  

We stayed in a hotel in the U.S. that was about a 10 min walk to the falls.  As you walk down the path where the water starts rushing faster & faster you can see where it will drop off into oblivion.

Of course one must take selfies in front of the falls.  You can see from the disheveled look of my hair it was windy there.  All the wind is from the falls, people...

My man is committed to getting me pictures.  These pesky safety rails didn't stop him from leaning out. 

This video shows the mist, the noise & the wind that come from the falls.

It was very crowded there.  I noticed a lot of foreigners (is that politically correct?  What do you call them?  Tourists?  I mean-we were tourists but we're not foreigners...)

Ok-we saw a lot of foreigners there (mainly Asian & Indian) & I found them to be quite rude.  It was nothing for them to bump into you or crowd around you & not say excuse me.

At night they light the falls up from the Canadian side & once again B-rad was dedicated to getting me a shot.   

As night fell the people really crowded against the rails so it was difficult to find a spot where you weren't reaching over people. 

His determination paid of & he got some decent shots of the falls lit up in red, white & blue.

See all the people lining the rails?

Wednesday night also happens to be a night they let off fireworks over the falls at 10pm.  There were so many people there around 9:00 & it was SO hot outside (the same weather as we've been having here - hot, humid, surface of the sun...) & we had been travelling bickering while driving all day so we decided to go back to our room to see if we could see the fireworks.

Luckily our room was on the right side of the building where we could watch the show.

I had heard that going to the Canadian side gave you a much better view of the falls so we took our passports.  We walked over Rainbow Bridge Thursday morning.

It's quite intimidating walking into another country.  There is barbed wire over that sign that says 'entry to Canada'.  There were signs warning you what you would need to get back into the country.  Once you went through those turnstiles - you could not get back into the U.S. from that point.

The U.S./Canada border is in the middle of the bridge & is marked by flags... 

& an international boundary line plaque.

Once we got through customs (where they look at your passport, ask you how long you're staying & if you have any weapons) we had a lot more room to see the falls as opposed to the American side.  This is where I lost my shit, though, when a lady walked SO close to me her shoulder/chest area was rubbing my left breast.  I was hot, tired & sick of that rude shit so I said, "UHM EXCUSE ME?  PERSONAL SPACE?!"  She looked at me like a deer in headlights but said nothing.  I have no idea if she understood me or not - nor did I care.  I was pissed.

This is called American Falls & it's the section that America owns - cleverly named...

This is a selfie in front of the 'Horseshoe' falls.  This is the section Canada owns & almost cannot be seen from the American side.  Scroll back up to the pics in the beginning...this is the section of the picture to the upper right.  All you can really see is mist from America.

As we walked closer to the Horsefhose falls we started to feel the mist...then the mist quickly turned into rain drops.  I mean-we were getting really wet people.  So wet that B-rad couldn't figure out if it was from the falls or if it was rain.

Turns out it was the falls.   If you look closely at the picture you will see the 'rain/mist' in front of our faces & on B-rad's hat.  We were soaked.

This is a video from the rail behind me in the pic above.  Notice how dramatically the drop off is & how WET the rail is!

Once we walked back over the bridge to get back into the U.S. we had to go through customs.  Again- it was an intimidating process.  We had to ring a bell & then be 'buzzed' into the building by a customs agent.  Once you walk up to them they start rapid firing you questions as you give them your passport:

'What is your country of nationality?'

'What was the purpose of your trip to Canada?'

'Are you bringing back anything from Canada?'

Once they let us back home, we headed to ride the 'Maid of the Mist' boat at the falls.  It's a huge boat that take you right up close & personal to the falls.  They give you a nice, bright blue poncho - that's a sign there were wet things to come.

I took our waterproof camera to get pics & video.  The video is about 2 min long & I couldn't tell at one point if the video was still on, but towards the end you see how close they got us to the Bridal Veil falls & how quickly that water pours over it.  You have to excuse all the people around us making noise & the water drops on the lens.  Clearly the drops were an occupational hazard...

You know how you hear about people going over the falls in a barrel or something?  When you see it in person you realize that if they survive it actually is quite a feat---at the bottom of the falls is not a pool of water to fall into - it's rocks, lots & LOTS of big, huge rocks.  Go over at your own risk.