Niagara Falls 2022 Part 2.

 Day 3. Sept 8. We woke up at 8-ish….such a treat to not have to set an alarm and to be able to get up “whenever”, with “whenever” being as long as it’s before 10 AM since the free breakfast at the restaurant is over at 10 AM.  With coffee at $4 a cup around here, I want to make sure I get my fill for free before the day starts! 

A bit about our hotel. When I first started to plan this trip I figured we would stay at one of the 3 or 4 large places that overlook the Falls, they are pretty expensive, but hey, how often do you come to Niagara Falls? But when I started pricing them out, I just couldn’t bring myself to spend that kind of money, I mean, to get a good view of the Falls you’re looking $300 and more per night. Plus all the applicable fees & taxes. (Heads up anyone planning a trip, the hotels here charge resort fees the same as Vegas and other resorts do) And really, how much time do you spend in your room? In our case, hardly any. 

So I thought, hmmm, maybe one night at a fancier place and then move elsewhere, but ugh, unpacking and then repacking and hauling a suitcase somewhere else just sounds like a waste of time. 

I read reviews on every possible review site, all the pros and cons of places to stay and I eventually decided that the Holiday Inn directly across from the casino sounded the best for us. And it was perfect. There is a main restaurant with a really good menu (called Coco’s Steakhouse) with indoor and outdoor seating, as well as an outdoor wood fired pizza place. It’s right beside a Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville (shades of Vegas!) and across the street from all sorts of other eating places. As well as a one block walk from a convenience store for those emergency late night snack attacks. Those attacks are real.

The hotel itself has an indoor pool, an outdoor pool and hot tubs and saunas and the rooms all have a balcony, which you don’t get in a high rise hotel and I do like a balcony! 

We did not have a view of the Falls, but honestly, you don’t need one as you will see them dozens and dozens of times every time you turn around…from above, below, behind, beside….as often as you want.

 

The staff were amazing, as a matter of fact they even phoned me when we were on our late shuttle from the airport to make sure we were OK and still on our way. Awwww….thoughtful. (All right, I know they really wanted to know if we were still coming so that they could rent our room to someone else in case we were not going to be there, but still….I can pretend it was genuine concern) 

Also, the free breakfast that was included daily was a real breakfast that you could order from an actual menu, not a self-serve continental, so that was a bonus, except that I don’t eat breakfast. 😩, although Steven had an omelet or some other type of breakfast daily. And not to sound like a cheapskate, but that saved us at $30-$40 a day….meals are not cheap here. Oddly enough, orange juice is not included in the breakfasts and a small glass was $5 each, but sometimes you just need some oj. 

So. Here we are on our first full day. The weather is beautiful, very warm and humid, it’s like a Caribbean heat, which surprised me, especially for September. I walked outside in jeans and instantly turned around and put on some capri’s. (In my room that is, not in the lobby. 😮) also, my hair instantly turned into a Brillo pad of frizz, a state in which it stayed all week.  When I say it was humid there, I mean humid! I spent the week looking like Roseanne Rosannadanna. Seriously. No sleek and silky hair for me.

First thing we did was to head down the street, actually it’s a hill, towards the Falls to redeem the pass I had bought online. The hill was pretty steep actually, easy to walk down, but hell on my knees to walk up. I’m not nearly in as good shape as I think I am. The streets are lovely, lots of flowers and everything is so green. 

You can see that the streets are nearly empty of people. It was glorious! No crowds, no line-ups, no kids, just a bunch of us old folks huffing and puffing our way up the hills, glancing both sympathetically and knowingly at each other, feeling our age.

The Welcome Centre (where our online passes were to be redeemed for an actual card to be scanned) at the bottom of the hill was closed, lack of staff I guess, and the sign said to go to the Queen Victoria Centre a block or so away. But at this corner you get your first really good look at the Falls; the American Falls are “right there” along with Bridal Veil Falls, and the Horseshoe Falls are only a short stroll away to your right. 

It was a pretty amazing sight to see. As we walked towards the Horseshoe Falls, I thought it was starting to rain, but it’s the mist from the Falls. I had no idea that the mist was that strong, even when you are a ways away. The roar of the water was incredible.

You can see the dampness on the roads. I decided to not use my good camera because of the constant mist at this end of town, so most of my Falls pix are from my smaller one. 

Anyhow, we “oohed” and “ahhhed” and then I went inside to redeem our tickets, which was super quick but of course they funnel you through a gift shop first. The pass that I bought (there are 3 different ones) gave us admission to 5 attractions as well as a 2 day transit pass. We had plans to do certain things,  the “wet” things on a different day, but The Journey Behind the Falls was at the same place where we got our passes, and there hardly a person in sight, and since we were already here….we decided to check it out. 

You descend 125 ft in an elevator and then don your poncho when you emerge and walk along a tunnel towards the viewing spots which are literally behind the falls. The noise is incredible, you can hardly hear yourself speak. The tunnels are 130 years old, I guess they knew how to build things to make them last back then.

Actually behind the Horseshoe Falls! You can continue along and go on the observation platform which is beside the bottom of the Falls and watch as 1/5 of the world’s fresh water comes crashing down beside you. 

When we emerged back into the light and left via the ubiquitous gift shop we decided to walk to the Wego stop, which is the transit system and take it up to the Aero car which was another of the attractions on our pass. It’s an antique cable car that crosses the Niagara Gorge. It’s 3500 ft high and a 1 kilometre journey. It takes you over the Niagara Whirlpool, which was formed 4,200 years ago and depending on the level of the river and the force of the Falls upstream will “whirl” in a counterclockwise or clockwise direction. The tram is over 100 years old (a little disconcerting as you are dangling over 3,000 feet above the roaring water!) and crosses the international border between Canada and the USA 4 times during the journey. So you can go to the States without a passport and come back without using the ArriveCAN. 🤔🤪. It was fun, especially for me as I love heights. 

As we left we were once again funnelled through the gift shop and we hopped onto the Wego bus and decided to get off at the Niagara City Cruises spot and check out the boat that takes you “under” the Falls. 

Don’t even think of driving your vehicle around, parking is a ridiculous price and the Wego has stops almost every block. Half the time there was no one else even on it. 

The Maid of the Mist is no longer the name of the Canadian boats, they are now The Hornblower and the USA side kept the Maid of the Mist name. It’s run by the City of Niagara, thus was a separate attraction that is not available with the other passes. The boats leave all day long, every 15 minutes so there is no need to pre-book a time, especially in the off-season. As there was no line up, we decided to purchase our tickets and go now. There was an ice-cream stand before the ticket booth and Steven decided to have a cone. $6, which isn’t really that horrible. She asked him if he’d like 2 scoops? “Yes please.” “Two different flavours?” “Sure”  “Cone or dish?” “Cone please.” “Waffle cone or regular?” “Oh, waffle I think, thanks”.  

Can you see where this is going? I could.

$6 cone ends up being $12! He almost had a heart attack….hahahah! I don’t think he would have shared if I had asked him too, lucky for him I’m not a fan of ice-cream. 

Anyhow, we walked down to the boat and were handed poncho’s again and put them on and boarded, and the boat left right away, no waiting, but as I say, they leave every 15 minutes anyhow. There were a few people on, but plenty of space to stand at the front, the sides or up top, wherever you chose. 

It was amazing! Going that close to the Falls was really breathtaking, you can feel the vibration of the millions of gallons crashing down, it’s incredibly powerful. The mist is more than just a mist, you get drenched! Half the time you can hardly even see, the wind blows your poncho all over and the water is everywhere. It was a blast! 

The US boat going back, their ponchos were blue, ours were red. This is the last picture I took before I had to put my camera away as the water was getting wild.

Passing by the American Falls towards Horseshoe, before we realized how wet and crazy the ride was going to be!

After that experience we needed some sustenance so we headed back to our hotel area and went to Jimmy Buffet’s for beer and a sandwich. It was hot outside and we were dry by the time we hiked up that hill and sat down.

After all that, it’s only 2 in the afternoon. We looked at each other and wondered how we were going to fill the rest of the day. Hmmmm….is that a casino I see?