Niagara Falls

After a rain soaked drive, we pulled into a KOA near Niagara Falls. The campsite was packed with July 4th revelers. We were parked next to Lady Gaga’scharity skinned RV for the weekend. We thought perhaps she was hibernating in the trailer that was being towed behind it, but alas she was not. Oh well. I guess expecting to meet two celebrities on this trip may be too much to hope for.

On the 4th of July, we decided to skip the falls which would, of course, be nuts and visited Old Fort Niagara instead. There we saw a battle reenactment between some Brits, some Frenchies and some Native Americans. I’m sure there was some great history behind it, but really we just showed up to see grown men play dress up. Our favorite part was watching the “dead” men drag themselves under trees to spend the rest of the battle in shade. Um, way to keep it accurate guys.

That evening, we went to the town of Lewiston down the road to catch their fireworks display. Being used to huge crowds on the 4th, we showed up around 6:30pm and got a great spot. Then we sat there for 4 hours! Apparently, it doesn’t get dark up here until way after 10pm. And then the display lasted only 15 mins at the most! It was worth it, though. The time waiting for the display was a fun one, too. Some people tried to have their own display in their back yard and ended up catching their deck on fire. We happened to be sitting next to the town’s police chief who hopped into action and told someone else to deal with it.

The next day, we hit Devil’s Hole for a fun hike down, and then up some crazy stone steps. Along the trail, jet boats screamed up and down the river fighting the rapids; looked like a fun time. After a good hike, we went to visit Jeena’s aunt Ruma Jethai. She cooked us an amazing chicken curry lunch and talked about all her travels in life. It’s really awesome realizing people that you’ve known forever have the same sense of adventure that we have. It was really great catchin’ up with such a great lady!
That night, we sat back, enjoyed a fire and ate processed (but kosher!) meat on a stick… like the good Americans we are.

Sunday, we went to the great Niagara Falls! The falls were amazing! The town around the falls? Depressing as all get out! We stood in front of many abandoned buildings staring across the water at a gleaming and bright Canadian side of the falls. I haven’t yet been able to renew my passport so we couldn’t head to the fun. I know now what it must have felt like to live in east Germany. Jeena, passport holder as she was, was considering smuggling me over the border in a suitcase, but with all the hot dogs I had the night before she couldn’t shoulder the weight.

To maximize Niagara’s fun, we bought the Discovery Pass which allowed us to visit all of their attractions.

Maid of the mist: Awesome boat ride to the bottom of the falls. We got soaked!

Wind cave: Not a cave any more but still pretty cool! Walked past tons of tame gulls and their babies on the rocks. Nature’s neat! The smell of bird poopy is not!

Discovery Center: We discovered this was boring! There were a few cool history things, but most of their displays were in need of an update.

Aquarium: Awesome, if you have never been to a good aquarium! This was by far the most depressing place next to the town of Niagara. It was probably great in the 50’s but now it’s just fish in small tanks, which, as a person who is not one to be caged, felt a little sad. I wanted to rescue all the animals in there, but most of them need water, and we can only hold so much aboard the RV. I know the workers there do the best with what they have, but c’mon Niagara: Update yo’ stuff! Apparently they were just granted $25mil from the state to improve the park. Doesn’t seem like much to me, but hopefully they can use it wisely. I hope the town bounces back, because there really needs to be a better backdrop to America’s oldest state park.

Next: Westerville, OH!