Monday, August 17

Monday, August 17

I had signed up yesterday for a 6-hour, all-inclusive tour of the Canadian side of Niagra Falls for today in which they pick you up right at the KOA campground where I am staying. At 9:30 I was met at the door by the nice tour guide, Nick, in his air-conditioned van, along with the only other people on this now rather personalized tour which was an Israeli couple (never did get their names straight, but they were very nice and we had a good time together). I am just going to post the pictures from today, not in any special order, and see if I can write any text alongside.

The first picture is me with the American Falls in the background. I think it is the one taken after the Maid of the Mist boat ride (see below) where I refused to wear my blue poncho.

The next are at the side of Horseshoe Falls.
We did a tour behind Horseshoe Falls. All you could see was solid white (water) from the open portals at the end of the tunnels we were in which are drilled into the rock the Falls are falling over. But you could sure FEEL and HEAR the water and the power of the Falls! The yellow ponchos didn't keep us very dry either.

The blue ponchos are what everyone (else) was wearing when we went on the boat "Maid of the Mist" which goes right up to the base of both the American Falls and Horseshoe Falls. I was so hot after waiting in line 45 minutes in the hot sun (it was over 100 degrees, counting the humidity factor!) that I opted not to put on the poncho at all; I enjoyed getting soaked by the heavy mist. One of the pictures is of others trying to get their ponchos on in the strong wind we had there and another is me after being soaked on the boat (my hair looks wet but my shirt doesn't look wet in the picture.)

A buffet lunch on the 15th floor of the Sheraton Hotel was included in the tour package. The view was spectacular; we could see all three Falls from there. (The third one is the small Bridal Veil Falls you can see just to the right of the American Falls in the lunch picture.)

The flower picture was taken along side a floral clock we visited. We saw many other things on the tour, including the power-generating stations, famous buildings in the area, the main street where all the activity was the night before, special gardens, the area below the falls where the water forms a whirlpool, and the largest casino (or so they claim) in North America. The building was maybe 20 or 30 stories tall; I don't know if it was casino on all the floors. Sorry I didn't include a picture of it here.