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!

The Falls and Skylon Tower, Canada

After that nice hike in the morning on the Whirlpool Trail, we decided we needed a nice dinner at the top of the Skylon Tower just across the border in Canada.  Great views of the falls and later, at dark, the illumination.  What a treat!

looking at the falls from the Canadian side with the American Falls and Bridal Falls on the left and Horseshoe Falls on the right separated by Goat Island the Horseshoe Falls are in Canada.

from street level the falls are stunning this time of day, about 6:30pm eastern

We took the Rainbow Bridge on the left across the Niagara to Canadas city of Niagara Falls

the Skylon Tower

at the top of tower in the revolving restaurant 

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this part of Niagra Falls, Canada, sure looks like Vegas from the Stratosphere!

night time views were great but we had reflection from lights in the dining room

illumination time!

back down on street level.....still looks like Vegas;)

Whirlpool Trail, Niagara Gorge, NY

I read up on this trail ahead of time and decided it was a must do. Not disappointed!  Just beautiful with a lot of stairs:)  In the Niagara Falls area this hike starts on top of the gorge and you must descend "about" 500 rock steps to walk along the river to the whirlpool, a 90 degree turn in the river in which raging rapids are entering and making the water swirl in a counter clockwise direction.

looking down into the Niagara Gorge from the rim

We can see the Whirlpool coming up and a tram passing overhead on the Canadian side

lots of stone steps of varying sizes

the current is so swift here that you are not allowed to get in the water, this is the whirlpool area

overhead a Canadian tram crosses the Whirlpool

Check out the rapids, amazing to stand next to!

further upstream you can see how crazy the water is

the rim of the gorge up above Mike

once again we are amazed to be in a place like this!

this jet boat took people into the whirlpool for the ride of their life.....we decided to do it later:)

looks like you get soaked and have a lot of fun....will let you know!

the Whirlpool from above on the rim

Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, Buffalo, New York

As I mentioned last post, I took a lot of pics in the gardens, of course:)  Here are a few.  Most of them are orchids because they had a really great orchid collection.  My daughter, Felicia, loves orchids.  This is for you Felicia:)