We Fell for the Falls

Last week Jo and I came back to New York from Vermont. It was another beautiful drive in the northeast hill country. We are going to slowly head back south and then west for the winter.

I didn't believe that New York had anything but big cities. Well, so much for TV and the media. New York is absolutely gorgeous! From it's forests to it's farmland it is breathtaking.

When driving along the various roads, one thing in particular impressed us. The people there are particularly proud of their property and take care of it to the extremes. They have huge mowed lawns and multiple natural looking flower gardens. We love the old-style architecture of the eastern buildings and homes. Since the east was settled first, then obviously their buildings were the first built in the good 'ole U.S.of A. carried over from the “Motherland” of Merry Old England.

We came back to western New York to see THE Niagra Falls. There are two falls that fall on either side of an island like they are falling off of the face of the earth. The American Falls which do not touch our neighbor Canada and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls which separate Buffalo, New York from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally there was roughly five billion gallons of water an hour that fell over the falls. Now there is approximately half of that because much of the water is now diverted to a hydroelectric plant.





Jo and I took a boat ride to the base of the falls on “The Maid of the Mist”. This is a must-do for any visitors to Niagra Falls! We were awed by the primal power of the full force of the water pounding down from approximately two hundred feet above to the rocks and river below. The force of it blows a constant gust of wind and sprays a deluge of mist on all who want to know the falls intimately. Luckily the tour operators provide their guests with cheap rain ponchos (which we kept for emergency use and stashed in the car.)

After the boat ride. We decided to get even closer by taking a walking tour to the base of the American Falls. This tour was originally supposed to go behind the falls via a path and a small cave. Unfortunately over 50 years the path has eroded so that we could only follow a man-made boardwalk to the front/bottom of the falls. This boardwalk is rebuilt every spring because of the ice that goes over the falls during break-up. The tour operators were kind to their guest also by providing ponchos AND sandals. It's a good thing too because the water was gushing over the boardwalk and over our feet. (The used sandals can then be donated to a program which distributes them to poor communities in the world.) Our pant legs got soaked because we didn't wear shorts. We were limited in the photos that we could take because our camera is not waterproof. The ponchos were imperative because we were right up against the falls. We were so glad it was a sunny and hot day. We were lucky because the previous month was cool and rainy in New York. God was smiling down on us that week because the weather was beautiful.

Before we went on the tours we were able to go up on a two hundred and thirty foot tower/ overlook to get a very good look of the falls. We took a lot of pictures from there as well as from the tours. The whole experience brought wide smiles to our faces and kind of left us giddy. I can't express it because it takes all of your senses to experience it. We loved it. 'Nuff said.