Super Fun Adventure Times: Niagara Falls up close!

Day 23 -- Niagara Falls, ON

Google Earth measurements (straight line between locations)
Distance from Vancouver: 3410 km
Distance from Kingston: 245 km

Today, we went to see the falls! We started with a bus ride from our hotel (we didn't stay on the waterfront) to the falls. We were lucky because there was a bus day pass left in our room by whomever stayed there last. After looking at the falls for a bit, we went on the Maid of the Mist for a close-up view of the falls. The American Falls were really nice and pretty but the Canadian Horseshoe Falls were really misty so it was hard to see them in detail. But as the boat got closer, we all got incredibly soaked! It was so much fun! It felt like we were under a giant shower.

In total the boat trip took half an hour and gave us a great experience of the falls. Afterwards, we walked towards the Canadian Falls to the "Journey Behind the Falls" tour which is an elevator ride down to almost the base of the Horseshoe Falls. At the bottom, there were tunnels that takes you behind the falls a little bit and you can look out tiny holes to see the falls. It wasn't spectacular, since it is just like looking out the window on a really rainy day. Except the water is coming from Niagara Falls! However, the really cool thing that was also at the bottom was the Observation Deck, a viewing area near the bottom of the falls. I really enjoyed standing there, closing my eyes, hearing the roar of the water and feeling the mist and wind blow against me. That was my favourite experience of the trip! Laura preferred the Maid of the Mist because the Journey Behind The Falls promotional photo looked like you could go to a cavern behind the falls, but that was not true. I thought that the Maid of the Mist was more fun overall than the Journey Behind The Falls but standing next to the falls was better than any single moment on the Maid of the Mist.

After being completely soaked twice (we dried off quickly in the hot weather, except for our socks and shoes), we had some frozen yogurt and walked back to the bus stop. The frozen yogurt was very very melted -- it was like drinking out of an ice cream cone. We bussed back to dry off and make dinner plans. We were early so we took another walk around the outlet mall across from our hotel but while we were inside, a huge thunderstorm started. It was really pouring, as if someone was dumping water from the roof. We decided to drive to dinner instead of taking the bus down to the falls (free parking with dinner).

Luckily, by the time we got to our dinner reservation at 8pm, the weather cleared up. We had dinner on top of the Hilton (33 stories up) so that we could see the falls being lit up (9pm) and fireworks (10pm). We had a nice and long dinner to enjoy our last night "on vacation". Tomorrow, we will be in Kingston and getting ready to move in!!