Sept 24 Fantastic second day at Niagara Falls. AWESOME 4-D IMAX, Boat trip to the falls, and more

What a day!!!!  The locals say it has been an unusually nice September and these two days have been perfect-80 or so and blue skies.  Guide said it was as nice a day today as they ever see!  By the way, we were told there are so many more activities here on the Canadian than on the American side.  If you're going to come, stay on the Canadian side!!!

When the air is cool, the mist from Horseshoe Falls looks like a geyser.  This was at 7 this morning.   The American Falls are downriver on the left.

We took a 6 hour bus tour of several attractions.  Our guide said if we weren't nice to him today, he'd have his relatives in Ft. Erie shut the falls off.  He also said he hoped we had all read the fine print on our tickets, which said BYOB:  bring your own barrel.

We took the outside elevator - the yellow bug - to the observation deck, which is the top layer of windows in the round tower, the Skylon Tower.  The deck s 775' high and you can see 80 miles around.

 This was outside the windows,  I don't know what they do on it, but I'm not signing up, even though it was tethered to the wall.  There was a spider suspended from the top of the windows.

 

          This reminded me of 1987 when Tom had the lead in a fundraising musical for our son's
           high school.  He played a Canadian Mountie and sang Nelson Eddy's song.

                         Here are our barrels and our frightened looks as we went over the Falls.

 This is the Aero car, which was invented in 1916 by the same man who invented derigibles, the first computer, and several other things.  It is 220' above the swirling vortex of Whirlpool Basin.  We didn't ride it

We weren't allowed to take pictures in the animated 4-D theatre called The Fury, which taught about the formation of the falls.  We were given ponchos.  First, it snowed on us.  Then the rain came.  Thunder and lightning.  More rain.  The floors shook.  It was just awesome!!!

 The floral clock was built in 1950 by the Ontario power companies.  In the Spring it is planted with over 15,000 pansies.  They're removed before the hot summer and replaced with grasses and herbs.


We went behind the falls in tunnels which were 125' down and totaled 650' in length.

This is a boat like what we rode.  All the red is passengers in ponchos.  We were soaked!  No way were we going to sit inside the bottom deck!

This is how close we were to the Canadian Horseshoe Falls, above, and the American Falls below.  The falls on the right are called the Bridal Veil Falls.  They aren't the tallest falls in the world, by far.  A glacier formed in Wisconsin during the last Ice Age, which formed the lakes.  Scientists figure that in 55,000 years the falls will have eroded away.  During the winter, an ice boom 1.7 miles long is placed in Lake Erie to hold the ice as long as necessary before letting it go.

Approved and non-approved daredevils have attempted to run the falls and others have crossed them on tightropes.  A man named Blondin carried a 56# stove, lit a fire in it, cracked 2 eggs, and cooked them on it.  Nick Wolenta had permission to cross it.  60 attempts by14 people.  The first to succeed was a 63 year old woman teacher and her kitten in 1901.  Today Canada charges $10,000 and America $20,000 for a rescue.

Fishing is good in August.  20-30# salmon come from Lake Ontario to spawn at the base of the falls.

Niagara Falls City, Canada
Tourists used to come in nice weather and stay in small motels.  Once casinos were allowed, tourism increased dramatically to between 13-15 million annually and during all 12 months. Several corporate skyscraper hotels now are here.

The border between Canada and America is in the center of the river.

There is a Stanley Thompson golf course that was built in the 1950's.  It is one of the top 25 courses in North America.

Hydro plants are in the deepest part of the gorge and fuel power for areas 8 hours away, like Ottawa, Canada and NYC.

We drove past very nice old homes that look onto the river.  The guide said they are some of the original homes in town.  Many are now B & B's.

Wine country is just downriver from the town

There are some fine wines because the soil has only been farmed about 150 years, not hundreds of years such as land in France or other areas.  It is the same latitude as Burgundy, France.

Ice wines are developed here.  The grapes are left to freeze a number of times.  It becomes pure nectar and a wonderful dessert wine.  On a scale of sugar, some sugars may be 3 or 4, but this nectar is 18, 24, 30 "count".  Good with chocolate or a sticky cheese.