Niagara Falls and Toronto

It’s that time again where we packed the car for a long road trip. Our trip took us up to Niagara Falls on the US and Canadian border and then across Canada, back down into the US at Boston and home again. Our route map is below.

It was an 8 hour drive up to Niagara Falls and we arrived late Saturday afternoon. We stopped at a placed called ‘Duffs Wings’ in Buffalo on the US side. This turned out to be a very ‘duff’ idea. We were recommended to go there by some other tourists when we were in Yellowstone Park earlier this year, as this was the best wings on the planet, apparently !! Nothing to see here.

The border crossing was relatively quick, only about 30 minutes. We were immediately overwhelmed by the falls – they were just there in front of us. I admit I was expecting them to be higher but they were impressive just the same. We checked into the hotel and went walking along the waterfront as it was light until about 8pm. It was quite busy and being a weekend added a few extra visitors. The town of Niagara itself is quite ‘cheesy’ or tacky really, reminded me of the Gold Coast in Australia. It is a tourist trap of amusement venues and trashy places made just for the tourists and mainly families. But I couldn’t find an ice cream shop which was both suprising and disappointing. We walked for a while and it was truly beautiful. The water was running so fast, so furious and there was so much of it. It was like ‘wow’.

Deb and I went running the next morning and it is one of the most scenic runs I’ve ever done. There are attractions on the US and Canadian side of the falls so we had to cross back over to the US for half a day to see some of the falls and walk across the huge viewing platform. I was excited to do the Cave of the Winds steps walk which is a very wet walk up steps to the base of Bridal Veil Falls. This was spectacular and it is the smallest of the 3 falls that make up Niagara Falls. You get issued with a yellow poncho and sandals because you just get wet from the spray from the water pounding down the waterfall. It was very powerful. Batman appeared and got soaked thus the cape had to dry off later on my backpack. For Melissa McCarthy fans, this is at the end of the movie ‘Tammy’ when her and her mother make the bucket list trek to see Niagara Falls.

 

 

We took the mandatory 20 minute cruise into the base of the falls and got soaked again in our red-issue poncho. The falls are much bigger when you’re at the base amongst the crashing water and I have to imagine steering that boat in that strong current is no easy feat.

Our dear friends (P&AH) had thrown down the challenge to do the zipline so, we headed off to take that challenge. It was late in the afternoon, the line was long and my patience was thinner than usual. So we decided to do it the next morning before we headed off. While many others had the same idea, we were up on that platform within 20 minutes getting our ropes and harness on and watching others zip off the edge into the air. We all launched together and I took the lead, screaming. But it wasn’t long before Deb and my sister zoomed passed me towards to the end – probably because they had a bigger breakfast than me. My sister wins the best starfish pattern award and I dare say that was largely fear induced. We had a blast to say the least and managed to catch a glimpse of the falls as we zipped down the line. At the end of the line, there is a brake that pulls you up with a sharp stop and your legs swing up and forward but we each watched the end approaching and hoped to God it would stop us else we would be splat in the huge padded cushion at the end. I would recommend doing the zipline to anyone at the falls – it’s different and loads of fun.    

 

500 photos later, we loaded up the car and headed towards Toronto via a lovely little place called Niagara on the Lake – a street full of quaint little shops and places to eat set in an English period. We raided the lolly (candy) shops, tested the ice cream shop and bought some bakery treats to enjoy with our cup of tea later. 

 

  

Toronto was very busy city. We only had one shortened day there to explore so the hop on/off bus was our best means to see a lot in a short amount of time. I have since renamed this bus tour to the stop-stop bus because it took so long to finish the full loop due to the extensive road works and construction and narrow streets. We were so glad to get off at the end. We planned to go up the popular CN tower but learned that it was $40 so we ditched that idea quickly. Instead, my sister confessed she wanted to see the Bata shoe museum. Well this was interesting. Not somewhere I would normally visit but we did see the worlds largest and most comprehensive collection of shoes. The one pair that grabbed my attention was the high heeled shoes belonging to Gene Simmons of KISS. I had secretly hoped there was a pair of Batman’s boots but no such luck. (My sister seemed to photograph many of the shoes and I"m yet to understand why?) We finished with lunch at one of the food markets and then started the long drive to Ottawa. The drive out of Toronto was horrendous to say the least. The traffic was busy, slow and made more frustrating by the road works. We were glad to get to Ottawa albeit late.