The Wind Cave Tour with Tom at Niagara Falls

If you really want to experience Niagara Falls, you have to give in to the tours:)  Not usually our thing but we wanted to get close to the falls of course.  We did a Grey Line Tour that picked us up at our campground on Grand Island, Cinderella Motel and Campground.  Tom, our guide, had been doing this for 13 years and was great.  He is what we in the west think of as a "typical" New Yorker, gruff, abrupt, a nice guy and mother hen all rolled into one.  We had a great time!

Our first big stop of the day was the Wind Cave Tour in which you take an elevator to the foot of the American Falls and then walk a series of wooden steps and platforms to get up close and personal with Bridal Veil Falls.  The top deck, just a foot away from the falls, is called the hurricane deck:)

Oh yeah, they give you sandals and a nifty poncho to help you out:

Off we go for the day....








with Tom our tour guide

 This is what we are going to do, the Wind Cave Tour,  used to have an actual cave that you stood in behind the falls until it collapsed some years ago.

the Wind Cave Tour, Mike took this pic from our next stop;)

into the building to the elevators.....

the thunder of the falls is deafening!

this pic I took looking toward Horseshoe Falls shows what we will be doing next!!!  The Maid of the Mist!

off we go up the stairs.....

the closer we get, the wetter, time to put on ponchos.....

note the water behind us!!

next deck is pretty wet!

and here I am on the hurricane deck!! Between the wind and water it's all you can do to stand upright!!

some people don't bother with ponchos, after all it's hot and humid outside:)

FUN!