Niagara Falls, Day 2

July 9, 2015

We set the alarm clock to get an early start and woke up before the alarm went off. After watching the weather report, we made the decision to wait until the band of rain showers passed. It started raining around 9:00 and continued to rain steadily until around noon. We had to adjust our original plans for outdoor activities today and do some of the indoor things. We took our raincoats along just in case the rain showers returned. Tomorrow and Saturday are forecast to be sunny with a pleasant temperature in the mid 70’s. That will be perfect for all the outdoor activities we want to take part in. When we left the campground at 12:30, it was still drizzling a little, but we were anxious to get our sightseeing started. We decided to start with the Niagara Gorge Discovery Center and check it out. It’s a hands-on center that includes interactive displays and a 180 degree multi-screen movie theater showing the history of the Niagara River and how it formed the gorge. 

After visiting the Discovery Center, we walked on the path along the river where we could get our first glimpse of the river and the Canadian side.

From there, we went across the street to the Aquarium of Niagara. It was not something we would have chosen normally, since we have been to some really great aquariums in Florida and other places, but with the uncertain weather we were having it, was a good choice. We saw some interesting exhibits of Lionfish, the difference in the two kinds of lobsters, and the prehistoric-looking Sturgeon.

From the Aquarium, we walked to the Visitor’s Center in the Niagara Falls State Park to watch the movie that takes you from the historic to heroic events related to Niagara Falls. That was very interesting.

We walked through the park to the water’s edge to view the falls for the first time in person since we got here. It was awesome!!

We could see the boats on the Canadian side from where we stood. They use the color red for their boats and raincoats and the US side uses blue.

The Observation Tower was filled with people who had been on the Maid of the Mist boat tour of the American and Horseshoe Falls. The boat tour leaves from the bottom of the Observation Tower. It made me anxious and very excited to take the trip ourselves tomorrow.

There was a lot of mist coming up from the falls and at times the fog moved in to hide some of the falls from view.

We drove along the upper river area where the water was rushing and churning over the rocks as it made its way to the edge of the cliff and over the falls.

Driving through the city to Goat Island, Bob noticed this building that looked like an Indian carving from a totem pole. Very unique!

We drove over the bridge to Goat Island to check out where we would go to do the Cave of the Winds hike and visit the Top of the Falls Restaurant. 

The skies cleared and the sun finally came out as we drove back to the campground. The crowds had been light today, probably due to the rainy weather. We relaxed a little before dinner and made plans for tomorrow looking forward to a sunny day. After dinner, Bob, Auggie and I did our usual evening walk. Tomorrow would be a better weather day!