When planning the route for our road trip I saw that visiting Niagara Falls would only add about an hour to the day's driving. That is not much when it comes to seeing such an iconic place! I mean, look at this...
at first I was a little disappointed. When you walk up it becomes clear that the better view is on the Canadian side. You can really only get a side view from the railing. Of course, they make you pay for a better view! Only a dollar, and it's worth it.
Also, what the heck is up with smashed pennies being a dollar at national parks! Of course I got one, but I complained about it! That is such a rip off!
Here is a shot from the 1 dollar viewing platform! I mean...it really is so spectacular!
When doing my research I kept saying we weren't going to ride the Maid of the Mist because it seemed expensive, but once we got there it seemed a little anti-climactic to not take a ride down to the falls.
So of course we bought tickets.
It's pretty cute. There is a boat ride on the Canadian side too, but you get red ponchos.
As part of your admission you get these stunning souviner ponchos. I almost kept mine, but Travis convinced me I would probably never use it.
They much for a pretty cute selfie though.
I really think the boat ride is worth it. Even though it is FREEZING. Look!
Once you get to Horsehoe Falls they sit the boat there for a few minutes and let you take it in. It was too misty to get my camera out, so here is an iphone shot. I couldn't see ANYTHING because of the spray on my glasses, so I took them off and got freezing cold spray in my eyes! Haha, it was pretty thrilling being down there with your poncho whipping around! Beautiful.
On the way back to the dock you feel a little like you've been through the ringer. That big tower has the viewing platform on it. You take elevators up from the boats and they are super heated. It feels so good! Someone needs to have a hair dryer/straightener stand for when you get off the boat. My bangs looked crazy!
You can walk up these steps to get close to the falls. I was too cold, but Travis ran up there. See him waving?
My favorite thing in the gift shop were these socks! Too bad they only had them in kid sizes.
And what could be more spectacular than Niagara Falls? Why this beautiful ice cream stand, just minutes from the park entrance! Breathtaking!
We had a hard time finding a place to eat, and ended up at Merge in Buffalo.
The food was ok, but it was SO EXPENSIVE! I got vegan potato skins, and this was them. Those potatoes were a little bigger than a quarter and it was ten dollars! We were cracking up about how little food we got for $50. We ended up stopping for fries later because we were still starving! Boo Merge!
We drove a few more hours to our final stop. Cleveland!
