Niagara Falls

March 19, 2005

I've been itching to go up to Niagara for a long time, so last weekend Anthony and I took a little adventure to Canada! The scenery between Pittsburgh and Niagara falls was really cool. Wide open space seemed to extend out in every direction for a huge portion of the drive from Pittsburgh to the falls. We saw lots of funny signs (notably "Quaker Steak and Lube," and "Fireworks and Karate," I have a picture of the latter). We also passes many, many vineyards that I'd like to go visit in the summer (I'm not into wine, but I bet it's really beautiful!)
We got to the Falls on Saturday afternoon,  and headed to the casino to exchange some currency. Unfortunately, Anthony's license had expired, so I had to venture into the casino alone. I wanted to take some pictures for Anthony, because it was just surreal in there, but apparently the guards won't allow you to take photos on the floor. I couldn't believe the ornate decoration on the ceilings and walls, endless rows of slot machines, and the sea of faces "making donations" to the casino. The smell of smoke saturated everything inside the casino and I really stunk by the time I emerged from exchanging our cash.
We went and had lunch at the Tony Romas (where I got a delicious pork sandwich), and spent the rest of the blustery afternoon checking out the waterfalls. I don't really have adequate words to describe the falls; they were absolutely breath-taking. Each time I looked at them I was completely astounded at God's amazing creation. I would definitely recommend that you visit if ever given the opportunity.
After wandering around and taking pictures for an hour or two, we went up in the Skylon Tower to get an arial view of the falls. Anthony took some gorgeous shots of the falls from the tower. At 7pm, lights illuminate the falls in different colors and it's just beautiful.
On Sunday, we drove around looking for the Daredevil Museum (which we later discovered is on the American side of the falls). We stopped at a convenience store and picked up some crunchie bars (and English candy bar that is very well loved in the Allen household), then found somewhere to park and walked along a little stream that ran next to the lake. There was a cute older couple there trying to feed the ducks (and getting very frustrated with the seagulls for running off with all of the bread). I took lots of photos of the seagulls sitting along the little wooden bridge that crossed the creek. There was also a very chubby black squirrel there and he managed to escape with some of the bread (he was so cute and cuddly looking!). We walked around a bit, taking pictures of the rapids and the mist rising above the falls, and then headed home.
I am so thankful for this awesome experience and I really hope to get back again some time for another visit.

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