An Afternoon At...

On Sunday I headed over to the Falls with some out of town friends to ride the Maid of the Mist for the first time. I'm not sure why it is the case, but it seems that most locals have yet to take the short and very wet boat ride to the base of the falls. I, for one, am so glad that I finally did. It truly is an amazing experience and thankfully it doesn't have to be a once in a lifetime one either. I plan to head over and ride that boat again and again and again until the summer's end. And if you know what's good for you, you will to.

Until then, here's a mini picture show to wet your appetite (no pun intended):

Niagara Falls, as most of you already know, is actually made up of two massive fresh water waterfalls owned by two separate nations. Ours in the States is aptly named the American Falls while the lovely Canada is home to the Horseshoe Falls. Both are equally awe inspiring and come with their own plethora of site seeing activities on their side of the Niagara River.

We didn't have time to explore the Cave of the Winds and I gotta say I wasn't too upset about that. I have a slight aversion to rickety wet slippery stairs. Even though I was assured it is neither rickety nor slippery and that the stairs are actually re-built once a year I still think I'll have to work myself up to that one.

It was so difficult to take pictures of the Horseshoe Falls. The sheer volume of water is astonishing. Look at the center picture above; you can hardly see through all that mist! And once you get you closer, well be prepared for you and your camera to be sprayed, misted and flat out drenched. But don't get me wrong, it's lots of fun. We were all smiling ear to ear.

Here you can get a better sense of the Horseshoe Falls' overall shape. I was able to snap these as we were headed back to the dock. The boat ride is about a half hour and unfortunately seems much shorter. There are two boats that run every 15 minutes. So while one is headed out, the another is on it's way back. Which, as you can see, makes for some fun pictures.

Next time I head over I plan to pack a picnic lunch and hunker in for an entire day spent relaxing at the Falls with a good book and waterproof shoes.