So, I will start with the word of the day…WATER. We saw millions of gallons of water today and what a sight it was. We were on the road at 8:35 and 72 degrees and headed north 20 miles to Niagara Falls. And as the day progressed, it was a perfect weather day…a bright sun, occasionally tempered by wispy high-level clouds and a soft breeze. This was my 4th visit and Steve's 3rd and it never gets old. I went with my parents when I was 10, Steve and I spent our honeymoon there in 1970, in the dead of winter (which was incredibly spectacular and so different from summer) and we took the kids in the early 80’s. And I would come every year if it was not such a long trek from home.

We parked the car on the American side and walked to the American Falls. The grounds around the falls are a well-maintained State Park, with full-grown shade trees and neatly cut grass with paved pathways weaving all around, giving access to any area you might want to go. The air was full of the ROAR of the water cascading over the falls, and the mist rose high into the clear blue sky giving direction to anyone looking to find this true gem, one of the Seven Forgotten Natural Wonders of the World. The mist, coupled with the rays of the sun, create a full and brilliant rainbow that arches over the river, encasing in its arc a wonder to behold. Boats named the Maid of the Mist I and II and III and IV and so on, carry crowds of raincoat-clad visitors right up to the base of the Horseshoe Falls, tempting the water to turn them over, but the force of the water just pushes them back into a safe zone, never to be too close.

When we arrived, we witnessed a spectacular airshow...or perhaps a rehearsal…of seven swept-winged jet planes flying in formation, expelling white vapor trails across the brilliant blue sky. And they roared over us half a dozen times, showing off their incredible prowess, perfect in execution and form.

We moved on to the American side of the Horseshoe Falls and witnessed up close and personal the brute strength of the river that gives path to the water as it rolls downhill and over the rocky cliffs and falls to its death on the rocks below. And as wonderful as it was to experience this, nothing beats the view of all of it from the Canadian side. We took the Rainbow Bridge across the river, through Canadian Customs and over to where I got my best photos. If you can visit this in the evening, you would enjoy a spectacular light show as powerful beams of colored lights are shown from the Canadian side onto the falls, lighting them up in pink and blue and green…and it is truly beautiful.

After returning to the US, we decided to take a drive to the area called the Niagara Wine Trail. We found a local artisan wine maker, chatted with him for a while, looked over his fields of growing vines, and tasted three of his finest…2 Pinot Noirs and a Sauvignon Blanc. And I was amazed that these delicate varieties could thrive just 20 miles from Buffalo, NY. We purchased a bottle of the white and headed back to our hotel in Buffalo. Tomorrow we head down the east side of Lake Erie and into Ohio.