The Falls

Wow.  I don’t think Cas and I have stopped moving all day until this very moment.  Where did I leave off?  We decided to have our anniversary dinner in our extremely fancy hotel room via room service.  I don’t know where you’d find a better view anywhere, and this town is so crowded everywhere that it was very nice to just sit with Cas and have a great meal.  There is a Tony Roma’s attached to the Radisson, and we had them bring us dinner.  We had picked up some wine on our walkabout adventure earlier in the day.  It seemed the smartest thing to do- when you have a room that nice and a view that spectacular, you should eat in the room and enjoy every bit of that view.

This morning, we got up and checked out of that hotel at the last moment they allow it.  We weren’t in any hurry to surrender that view.  We asked them to watch our luggage at the desk, and we headed to the falls.  The first thing we did was have lunch.  Our breakfast was hotel room coffee and a pair of the granola bars we had purchased way back in Jasper, so lunch came early today.  We were at a restaurant right by the falls with a fantastic view.  Essentially, everything in this town either has the great view or it has to compensate with some other appeal or draw.  

After lunch, we went to the spot where they book the Hornblower cruises.  Most people have heard of the Maid of the Mist boats.  Those are the ones that depart from the American side.  The Hornblower departs from the Canadian side.  We had actually booked our Hornblower cruise while we were on the train from Toronto to Niagara, so we were all set, there.  We did see an exceedingly long line out front, though, so we kind of noted that for later.  What we did accomplish while we were in that area was booking our trip on the zip line.  There’s a really long line they have that goes parallel to the river and sails you in the direction of the horsehshoe falls.  We couldn’t go right away, though, so we booked the first time they had- at 5pm.  We had the Hornblower at 9pm, just in time for the fireworks show they do over the falls.  It was all working out great.  

Cas wanted to try a helicopter ride, so we called the place and asked about wait times and such.  They said you could just show up and go, so we took a very crowded bus to their out-of-the-way location.  When we arrived, we had just enough time to go on their tour and accomplish everything else we had on the books for the day.  That’s when they hit us with the one hour wait.  On the phone only 20-30 minutes before, they said we could just show up and go.  We didn’t have that extra time in our schedule.  We had to go to the Radisson, retrieve our bags, go to the far less fancy hotel, check in and make it to the zip line place by 5.  The extra hour wasn’t available.  We just left and went about the business of switching hotels.  

When we finally had our bags in the correct hotel and our room for the night secured, we headed to the zip line place.  It was pretty great.  We had filled out the waivers in advance, and we were wearing helmets.  Cas and I love a good helmet-wearing, waiver-signing event.  This zip line wasn’t like the ones we had done previously.  This one was extremely simple,  You sit down into a harness and you’re gently sent on a glide over the water.  Previous zip lines we’ve done require the user to jump off and occasionally, manage his own harness, right down to slowing the zip and stopping at the end.  This was the self-driving car of zip lining.  No worries, though- it was completely pleasant and fun.  

When we finished that, there was the obvious effort to sell us videos and photos of the experience, but we both agreed that we looked awful in the video, and several of the photos were unflattering.  We said a thing our niece Zoey says sometimes- and we’ve grown fond of the very polite decline it provides.  “No, please.”  Honestly, it’s cuter when she says it, but we like it, too.  

From that adventure, we went on a mission to find dinner.  The walk took us up a bit of a hill, and by the time we selected a restaurant, our feet were pleased we had found chairs.  We sat at an outdoor bar attached to a seemingly fancy pizza place, and were dismayed to find the bar area swarming with bees.  They don’t bother me much, but Cas’ face looks different when there are bees around.  He looks (and is) very uneasy.  I offered to sit elsewhere, but when it was clear that the bees were all around that restaurant patio with no break in sight, we figured we should head down a few doors.  We ended up at a place with outdoor seating, and apparently, only two or three bees.  It still bothered him, but not as much or as often.  The real bother to me was the snail’s pace with which the food and drink were served.  By the time we got our dinner, we asked for the check as soon as we could get it.  We explained that we wanted to be in the boarding area for the Hornblower well in advance of its departure, and that meant a hasty retreat back down to the river.  With that, we paid as we ate, then we walked very quickly to the boarding area.  

We got there in time, donned our red ponchos and headed to the top of the boat.  It was really great.  We went past the falls and got close enough for the mist to hit our faces.  I was happy for the cheap, plastic sheet, as we were wearing shorts and short sleeves, and it would have been a little chilly without protection from the moisture.  We booked the 9pm cruise because that one sails around during the nightly fireworks show.  It was a really neat experience.  We stood on a boat in our red, plastic ponchos, watching fireworks in the sky over Niagara Falls.  Wow.  Just wow.  

Of course, afterward, they tried to sell us photos they snapped on the way in, having used a green screen to make us look like we were out on the falls in perfect sunshine.  No, please.  

As for the rest of the day- well, we got back to our hotel, and it’s almost tomorrow.  So much to do.  I think tomorrow, we may try the “Journey behind the falls.”  Mostly, I want to avoid feeling like I am in a hurry tomorrow.  Cas is down with that plan.  No rushing around.  It’s the very end of an extremely good vacation- no need to make it more work than it should be.