 After an earlier morning drive from Columbus, Ohio, to Niagara Falls and a long afternoon of riding The Maid of the Mist, we capped the night off sampling beers at The Niagara Brewing Company  We ordered The Big Bang flight to try all eight beers on tap: Honeymoon Peach Raddler, Niagara Premium Lager, Amber Eh! Ale, Dare Devil IPA, Hennepin Stout, Niagara Brewing's seasonal cream, wheat, and red Irish ale. Our favorite was the Peach Raddler. It wasn’t too sweet and was light enough to enjoy without feeling too full.  We ordered some chips and guacamole to go with the beers and enjoyed the view from the patio before catching fireworks over the falls. It was a great way to end our short day in Niagara Falls!
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 Niagara Falls is on many peoples’ bucket list. It is the most powerful waterfall in North America after all. These falls weren’t on my immediate list of places to visit, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to spend my 2018 Labor Day holiday on a road trip from Nashville to Niagara Falls.  We got to Niagara Falls late Saturday afternoon and hopped in line for The Maid of The Mist. We took turns going to see the falls from Prospect Point as we waited in line. As soon as I saw how fast the water was flowing, I was in shock. The volume of water that gushes down the steep cliff side is mind boggling. After a quick wait in line, we took the elevator down to our boat ride to see the rushing waters of The American Falls and Horseshoe Falls. We had the best time admiring the rainbows from the top deck of The Maid of the Mist while being showered with the falls’ mist.
 After a 30 minute ride, our feet were soaked, so we went to the car to change shoes and drive to the Canadian side. We had a long wait on The Rainbow Bridge, but we finally made it into Canada! The Canadian side was so much prettier. There were beautiful, grassy areas with people, lawn chairs, and blankets strewn all around . It was a lovely place to park the car and stroll around.
 We walked upstream toward the falls through Victoria Park and watched the sunset over the water. The view of the rushing water was spectacular even though the sun was behind us. When the sun had set, lights were projected onto all three falls. We saw them light up with deep red and bright blue colors before we left to grab a beer at The Niagara Brewery.  We almost didn’t make it back to the waterfalls to see the fireworks. The show only went on for six minutes, so there was barely anything to see. When they finished, we made the walk back to our car and stopped to grab a few souvenirs for home!
We may have only spent a few short hours in this wondrous place, but we saw the glory of the waterfalls up close, and that was worth every minute of the two-day-long drive!  The Maid of the Mist is an iconic boat (in a series of boats going back nearly 180 years) that takes people close to Niagara Falls, and the ride was the number one thing we wanted to do on our trip. We thought we were being smart by ordering tickets online, but we still had to wait in the line to get to the ticket counter. Tickets are single-use and aren’t for a specific day, but they are good for the entire season. If something had come up and we needed to go another day, we could have!  The line was pretty long, but the boat leaves every 15 minutes.We moved across the platform and down the elevator quickly. Just before we got on the boat, we were handed the famous, bright blue ponchos. Somehow, we claimed a corner spot on the American Falls side of the boat that fit the three of us perfectly. We put on our ponchos and got our cameras ready just in time for anchor up.
The boat ride starts next to The American Falls, so we were immediately up close and personal with the crashing water. The boat moved very slowly, so everyone could enjoy the view. It gave us time to look back and see the observation deck and the rainbow that the mist was creating.
 We slowly continued past the rocky bottom toward Bridal Veil Falls, and we waved to all the people getting soaked while walking to The Cave of the Winds. We slowly continued around Goat Island to get to the main attraction. Horseshoe Falls is the giant waterfall that most picture when thinking of Niagara Falls, and the Maid of the Mist took us into the heart of it. The water is so powerful, as it gushes down a 174 foot drop, that it constantly spews a heavy cloud of mist into the air.
 The mist absolutely soaked us, and it was difficult to see anything around us. For a while, we couldn’t even see that there was water flowing behind us! When the boat circled around, we got to see the other side of Horseshoe Falls before heading back to the dock. After the boat ride, I walked up to the staircase to get a closer view of The American Falls. Amazingly, I got even wetter here, but feeling the water on my face was well worth it. This view alone made up for the unfortunate fact that we didn’t make it to The Cave of the Winds on Goat Island.
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Talkin' 'bout Tacos:
I'm Taylor, aka Tacos! I am sharing my journeys and experiences from across the world, hoping to inspire travel and adventure in all who read! Archives
July 2024
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