Souvenir Shop, Niagara Falls, Cruise, dinner

We made our way from Seneca, NY to Niagara Falls, Canada without incident. Michael had everyone in an uproar that the Canadians were going to confiscate everything or at the very least plunder through all of our belongings. Katherine was pretty sure she was going to get a body pat down and an exam that required gloves. I, on the otherhand, was sure it was going to go just the way it did - we drove up, handed over our passports, stated what we were doing and for how long and what food stuffs we were bringing, and he let us go. No big deal at all! Katherine needless to say was more than a little frustrated with her dad!

We got to our RV site at the Jellystone Campground. It was really cute and VERY clean, which we attributed to the fact that it was Canadian/was in Canada. Yogi Bear and friends were everywhere of course in picture and in costume to meet you if you wanted. We sat for about an hour in the trailer and then decided to make our way over to Niagara Falls. Mike made reservations for the last cruise to the falls at 8:15 so before we went there we headed to the largest souvenir shop in the area; I have never seen quite so much theme related paraphernalia before. Every moose, Mountie, maple leaf, and Native American trinket, cup, clothing, etc. that one can think of was there to purchase. We of course partook of their wares, but only minimally cuz we're not Canadian, eh!

When we got to the Niagara Falls we were a bit puzzled by the reality of the town of Niagara Falls, Canada. After we found parking we began the walk to the cruise and along the way we saw two Ripley's Believe it or Nots, a Louis Toussand Wax Museum, a horror related business, a game room business, Hard Rock Café, Rainforest Café, and the list of standard tourist city attractions could continue. We felt it was more "touristy" than even San Francisco's Wharf area. It wasn't so much a disappointment, but a surprise as we thought it would be more like a state/national park. It seemed that a natural wonder such as the Niagara Falls would beget a more "respectful" presentation, in my opinion anyway. The other thing we were not able to answer was why people come there for their honeymoons? None of us felt that it was all that romantic.

For the cruise we were given the skimpiest rain ponchos could be imagined but we all wore them proudly hoping that they would keep a majority of the wet off. The girls opted for the lower deck as everyone else was hightailing it upstairs. (We have found that we are not crowd people on this trip if nothing else!) We were able to be on the rail which, at least for me, was thrilling. My bucket list is much more extensive than I previously thought because I realized halfway through the cruise that I was grinning ear-to-ear because I was so excited to get to experience the Niagara Falls up close. The girls had a lot of fun too! The four of them reinacted the "Titanic" scene on the bow of the boat and then they made Michael and me do it too! Michael hung back for the most part because he hates the water collecting on his glasses. Rebecca and Katherine were out front for half of it and then the cheaters went into the glass room in the middle of the boat! Emma and Sarah were troopers though and hung at the edge with me the entire time. The Falls themselves were spectacular! The side to be on for viewing from land is definitely the Canadian side as there are two set of falls and only the smaller less impressive one can be seen. If a cruise is taken it doesn't matter as you get to see both falls. The C-shaped falls were unbelievably wide and tall and the mist was as thick as a downpour of rain. I felt like I needed a squeegee for my face. The trip was a total of about 30 min. When we got out we were all dry enough to be acceptable for dining out so we found a local restaurant that overlooked the falls and then made our way back to the trailer so we could get up and make our drive out of Cananda.