Niagara Falls

I know I am MONTHS late in posting this, but we had an awesome four day trip over Memorial Day weekend to see Niagara Falls and the LDS church history sites in upstate New York and Ohio.

First stop- Niagara Falls!!

We started our trip by driving through Ontario to get to Niagara Falls (it is quite a bit shorter than going the US side, and since we have enhanced drivers' licenses . . . ). I think it was the first time our kids were in another country! We had a blast seeing the Canadian side of the falls first. It is a very touristy district with lots of fun things to see and do. Since everything was fairly expensive, we told the kids we could choose ONE fun touristy thing to do as a family, and everyone agreed on the sky wheel. $40 something later we enjoyed some awesome views of the falls!










We enjoyed browsing the gift shops and of course Jon had to do his "raptor" impression in front of the dinosaur mini golf place. . . The canadian side of the falls definitely has an arcade/ casino/ tourist feel which adds to the fun.






The falls, of course, are spectacular from the canada side because you get a full frontal view of both sets of falls. Even though it rained that day, we loved seeing the falls and walking the entire length down to the end where we enjoyed the visitor center.









Can't beat a cotton candy break and some awesome views of the falls!!





We headed over the the US side where we spent the night and came back the next day to see the US side of the falls. Jon and Marcus did the "Cave of the Winds" tour, where you take and elevator down to some walkways at the base of the American Falls and have fun getting really wet! They give you a complimentary poncho and set of sandals to wear, and even though Jon rolled up his pants, he was soaked! One of the walkways is called the "Hurricane Deck" for obvious reasons . . .





view from above:



Funny story as we were waiting for Marcus and Jon to be done with their tour - - a whole group of Chinese women saw us and started taking pictures of us. One snuck up really quiet close to Cynthia and took a picture from the side, and a few more came up seeming to not want to spook her and started taking pictures. As soon as Cynthia noticed what was happening she started smiling and posing, and of course Lillian wanted in on that action too. Those Chinese women started tittering and snapping pictures, all excited to see such blonde children and clearly siblings- - and wanted pictures with all of us including me and Tyler. It would have been even better if Jon and Marcus had been there. Wow- I haven't posed for so many pictures since my wedding! Ha Ha- we are famous now among a group of Chinese tourists!

There is a nice state park to walk around in and pathways seriously RIGHT up to where the falls drop off. It kind of made me queasy, though having my children that close to the raging water dropping of the edge, even though they were perfectly safe. The curse of a mother, I guess! It was spectacular though!