Monday, June 17, 2013

"Ladies and Gentlemen, This is Niagara Falls"


Those are the words spoken on the loud speaker as the Maid of the Mist boat gets near Horseshoe Falls.

As mentioned in my last blog post, Laurie and I went to Niagara Falls from June 10-14. I plan on doing a series of essays about many different aspects of the trip. We had a lot of fun in the three full days we were there. The falls are big and beautiful. There is a ton to do and getting bored is not an option. The scary thing is Niagara must be the biggest tourist trap in the world. There is no shortage of vendors, gift shops or restaurants willing to take your money at ridiculous speed. We did get burned by a few overpriced or undervalued attractions and restaurants.

We did a lot of things over the course of three days. We visited both the American and Canadian sides of the falls. We stayed in Niagara Falls, Ontario but spent an entire day at Niagara Falls State Park, NY.

First and foremost, there is a myth that the American side is not pretty and there are no views. False. The Canadian side is prettier, there is more room to spread out and see the falls, but the American side is also nice. The state park is well maintained and getting around is a snap.  If you ask me the rumor that there are no views on the American side was probably started by a Canadian.

To me, there are two types of attractions. There are those that are directly related to the falls and those that are meant to appeal to tourists (traps). We did both types. Even though I refer to tourists attractions as traps, I still enjoyed them and was surprised by my own interest.

When you consider how many people live within eight hours of Niagara it is no wonder why it draws eight million visitors a year. I don’t know how many people reading these essays are considering taking a trip but I hope these posts help.

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