Goodbye Niagara

there is always something to climb!

Well it is time for us to say goodbye to Niagara, but not without one last chance to explore and have some fun.  We had spent a fair bit of time at the falls themselves and also downstream from the falls so we decided to see what adventures we could find in the upstream area.

Normally when there are fun places like islands to explore we are allowed to just run off and explore but for some reason mum and dad didn't really want us wandering off on our own.  Perhaps it was because we were at Niagara and the river there is a little more dangerous than the Maribyrnong!  Either way, it was way too cold to go too close to the water.  We still had a great time exploring 3 Sisters Islands.

Love AJ and Milla

mini falls above the falls

relaxing in the forest

mist rising from Niagara Falls

upstream from the falls

A Day for a Stroll... To Canada

Yep that's right, we went for a walk today TO ANOTHER COUNTRY!  I never really thought that you could just walk over a bridge and be in another country.  Sure it was a pretty huge bridge to cross the Niagara River from the United States to Canada.  I don't really know if the river is in Canada or the United States, if they share it or if it is no-man's land but we did stop to get a photo taken half way across.

Where are we? USA or Canada, or somewhere in between!

We had to stop at the other side of the bridge and answer questions about why we were going there before they would stamp our passports for us.  Once the passport was stamped and we walked out the door we were in Canada.

Now I guess when you go to another country there are all sorts of things that you can do, but do you know what we decided to do?  Find somewhere to rest!

Resting and trying to work out what to do next!

Mum and dad surprised us and we bought a pass for us all to visit some of the crazy fun things that were around...  First stop was to play mini-golf with some dinosaurs.

After my first hole-in-one in Canada!

Next we wandered through a wax museum.  It was terrifying but exciting.  Luckily it was too dark to get photos of us screaming!  Then we went for a ride on a giant ferris wheel to get a good view of the falls and all that was around it.

Riding high

Oh and of course we went treasure hunting (geocaching) and our treasure hunt took us to a cemetery!

Found the spooky treasure!

We wandered around until it got dark so that we could see the coloured lights of Niagara Falls.

Waiting, waiting, waiting for dark

Red mist over Niagara

After walking all day long we were pretty tired but we had to walk all the way back to the United States!  Of course that meant stopping for photos on the way back, half way across the bridge.

Back in the middle of no-where on the bridge

The view of Canada from the bridge

It was pretty amazing spending a day in Canada and doing all the fun things there but I am really looking forward to wandering around the forest areas of New York state as we keep exploring around Niagara.

Oh and it was pretty cold today so I was really glad that we went shopping yesterday and I had a new warm winter jacket to wear.  Don't tell mum and dad, we are still pretending to be annoyed about being tricked into going shopping!
Love AJ Pickle

Manipulative Parents

After starting today in the middle of the night, travelling through a few different states by train and then  spending all day exploring the US side of Niagara Falls, all I really wanted to do was to go for a swim and to relax in the spa and all AJ wanted was to eat dinner in the hotel buffet.  Now seeing that the hotel we were staying in had both a pool and a hot tub, as well as a huge buffet that should have been pretty easy right?  Wrong, it was too early to go to dinner and not everyone even wanted to go swimming.  Mum didn't even pack bathers so she didn't want to go swimming at all, sure she was prepared to sit by the pool if we went swimming but first she needed to find something to read.

I thought that I would be helpful and give mum the magazine that was in our room.  I should have checked to see what the magazine was about before I gave it to her, it was a magazine about all the places to shop around Niagara.  Big mistake.

Before I realised it, mum had convinced us that we should all go shopping instead of doing what we wanted to do.  Sure it involved suggesting to us that we go shopping tonight, for just a few hours and then spending all day tomorrow in Canada.  The other option was to eat dinner at the hotel and hang out at the pool and then go shopping all day tomorrow.

I am pretty sure that mum wouldn't spend all day shopping - she hates shopping.  Even dad, who loves to shop, wouldn't survive an entire day shopping.  It really isn't worth the risk.  So now I am off to do some shopping but look out Canada, we are heading your way tomorrow!
Love Princess George

Science Project Inspiration or A whirlwind tour of Niagara

So after a really long train ride through the early morning hours from Cleveland to Buffalo and then a squishy taxi ride to Niagara with a Japanese backpacker we were all pretty exhausted.  We could have spent the day relaxing at the hotel but we were pretty excited to get out and explore - we could hear the roar of Niagara Falls from our hotel and wanted to check it all out.  We knew that there was going to be heaps to do so we figured we would go straight to an information centre to see what we could find the best things to do.

Before we knew it, we were signed up for a tour of the Niagara Area where we would get so see some really cool places that were too far for us to walk too.

First stop was a whirlpool downstream from the falls.  We made sure we actually stayed behind the fences here - it was a pretty big drop to the water and the water was moving pretty fast.  My swimming is much better than it used to be but I don't think I would be able to swim in a whirlpool, especially in the cold!

I'm staying on this side of the safety rail!

Now the tour guy said that the river wasn't really high today, that heaps of the water must have been diverted through the power plant.

Ready to look through the power plant

That sounded pretty interesting so next stop for us was the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant.  The power plant was pretty interesting.

AJ wants to build a power plant now!

I wanted to learn more about the falls and the power plant but we had to jump back on the bus to see what else we could find.  Next stop - relaxing at the aquarium.  Now the aquarium is tiny compared to the Melbourne Aquarium but it was pretty cool.  The seals were great.  I especially liked that the aquarium rescued animals and looked after them.  They even had a tank full of seals who had to stay together because they were blind.

The busy tour didn't stop there.  Next we headed to the craziest museum ever, it was a museum of Niagara, not just the falls but all the crazy people who went over the falls in barrels!  Really, so many people decided it was a good idea to float in a barrel over a ginormous waterfall... for fun?

There is no way I am going in one of these!

We saw what was in the barrels and the mess they ended up in when they were pulled from the water downstream so I don't think that there will be much chance of me jumping into a barrel to drift over any waterfall, especially Niagara Falls!

All this touring and we still really hadn't seen the actual waterfalls.  Luckily that was the next destination for us.  All I can say is WOW - the waterfalls were amazing, the Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls and the Bridal Falls too.

There was so much mist from the waterfalls that there were always rainbows but no way to get to the bottom of the rainbow to look for pots of gold.

Under the Rainbow

We did get to go almost to the bottom of the waterfalls but since it was the off-peak season, some of the paths were closed and this was as close as we could get...

Our family under the falls

... It was still close enough that we needed rain ponchos!

Rest Time

We found a few places to rest throughout the day, some were more comfortable than others!

A Leafy Resting Place

We wandered through the parks to different lookouts to see the true beauty of the falls.  There were so many beautiful places to explore.

We finished off the day watching a movie about the history of Niagara Falls.  It told a few different stories, one about the Native American history of the falls, the story of the first crazy person to go over the falls in a barrel as well as the story of a brother and sister who survived the falls.

I am super exhausted and need some rest and relaxation but this place is amazing, I can't wait to explore some more tomorrow.

Love Princess George