6.7.2012 – 6.7.2012  36 °C

Early start today as we planned to drive from Cleveland all the way up to Niagara Falls. Our drive today took us from Ohio up thru Pennsylvania and into New York State.

I have the same comment to make about Cleveland as I did about Toledo (and many other cities).. Cleveland is another ghost town. It was once a big industrial town, today it seems to be only half active… Yesterday afternoon when we were walking down to the RR HoF the town was virtually empty.. 2pm on a work day, empty downtown? ? ?

The first part of our drive was from Cleveland and thru the Ohio lakeside to the Pennsylvanian border. The trip was really pretty, lots of little clapboard houses surrounded by trees and fringed by the lake. A nice interlude after the emptiness and derelict-ness of the Cleveland suburbs. Once we hit the Pennsylvanian border we went straight out on the interstate and straight thru Pennsylvania. Once we hit the freeway we also started to hit the traffic (empty towns yet heaps of traffic you might ask yourselves? Trucks is the answer) so by the time we hit the New York State border we were keen to get off the interstate and back onto a by road that headed up the lakeshore to Niagara.

Our morning tea stop was at this pretty little boat ramp on the banks of Lake Erie which had a replica Spanish galleon… not too sure what the story is there (felt pretty random) but still interesting to see. We knew we were getting further and further north because the trees were thickening back up and the large corn fields were starting to become more and more sparse. The corn fields were being replaced by small acreages with manicured lawns and huge houses parked on the banks of the Lake. Clearly this part of the country isn’t struggling like the Mississippi Delta or the Mid West!!

Our lunch stop was on the southern outskirts of Buffalo, NY State, the gateway to Niagara! We found an interesting park setup. We drove to a state park to discover you had to pay to park and stay in the park.. considering, we only wanted to eat lunch this felt like a bit of a waste of money so we decided to leave. Just as we were leaving the car park we saw off to our left an opening in a big fence, behind the fence was another picnic area that seemingly was free to use? Anyway this is where we had our lunch today in the shade of the trees next to the state park!

Sadly, Buffalo too shows the ravages of industrialisation gone broke so we didn’t linger to check out the beauties the town has to offer (I’m sure there are plenty but we were in a hurry to see Niagara). Half an hour down the road and we had arrived at the most amazing waterfall I’ve seen to date. Driving into the NY town on Niagara I understood why the reports had all told us to stay on the Canadian side of the border. The town of Niagara is surrounded by old derelict (although I think still working) factories and power plants.. Bloody Awful! Here we are at one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world (and arguably one of the more beautiful natural wonders in the world) and it is surrounded by old dumpy factories!!!! I know I’ve been on my hobby horse for a number of blogs but seriously, I don’t think American’s even notice what is happening to their towns and cities.. I’m sure they must see it as someone else’s problem!

In saying all that about the town of Niagara the actual State Park (that you enter to see the falls) is really well done and is quite beautiful. We drove into the park and started our wander around to see the falls at their finest. Luckily, the sun is shining today, the weather is hot and the breeze coming off the falls is SUPER welcome. When you get up close, the first thing you notice is the sound.. It is not a quiet noise, it’s this all pervasive roar. The next thing is the white mist cloud that billows up above the trees. Then the buildings, ferris wheels, space needle thingy and the crawling ants (people and cars) come into view, which all morphs into the Canadian side of Niagara. Lastly, you see the gorge and then right next to it you see this huge seething mass of water falling off the edge of the plateau and down into this never ending cloud of mist. The first site of Niagara is pretty amazing! Niagara is at the point where Lake Erie flows down thru the Niagara River and into Lake Ontario (and eventually out to sea via the St Lawrence River). If you look at a map your first instinct is that the water would flow from Canada south down into the States, however, this is not the case! The water flows northwards!!! Niagara falls is actually three falls, what happens is that the Niagara River actually flows around an island creating a few different falls. The main fall is the Horseshoe falls (named because it is half mooned shaped), half of the falls is in the US and the other half is in Canada. The other two falls are all in New York State. By seeing the falls from the US side we were able to get up very close to the American falls and the Horseshoe falls. The only problem with the US side is you can’t get a great appreciation for their beauty because you can only see them from the top.. Once you cross over to Canada you get the most amazing view of their majesty. Niagara offers some pretty amazing waterfall experiences. On the US side you can catch a boat (Maid of the Mist) that takes you right up to the base of the falls (raincoat provided and necessary)! You can walk down and stand under a part of the falls (raincoat provided and essential). You can walk out to an observation deck and just check out the falls. Plenty of ways to relieve your wallet of its money and you to spend your time!

It was really hot walking around looking at the falls (even with the coolish breeze wafting off the falls and the very occasional spray) so after we had wandered around for about an hour, and consumed an ice cream, we all decided to get back in the car and head over to the Canadian side to find our hotel, get a cold drink and just relax.

We joined the traffic jam on the bridge and started the slow crawl over the river and into Canada. Immigration and Customs took the usual half an hour (not too bad this time around) and then we had arrived at the nut house that is Niagara, Ontario! No joke, Niagara, Ontario is like Vegas but minus the endless number of casinos. Lots of rock music blaring out from every bar and restaurant. This is surrounded by putt putt courses (I counted at least four of them within a block), video arcades and amusement rides. You name a way to spend your money and I reckon you’d find it in Niagara.

We dumped our stuff at our hotel (lucky we had pre-booked, the town seems to be packed) before we headed downtown for a cold drink and some groceries. We cooked up a tasty stir fry, did some domestic chores before D and I headed back downtown to see the nightly ‘light up’ of Niagara.

We actually happened to be down on the lake on the right day because Fri nights is one of the night’s where fireworks are set off over the town. Second lot of fireworks in one week!! How lucky are we? The fireworks created so much smoke, which mingled with the fall spray that most of the town was shrouded in fog so thick that we couldn’t see the lit up falls!!! We’ll have to come back tomorrow night to see them in their glory. Being out at night also meant we got to see Niagara in all of its glory. Every shop was open, bathed in neon lights and blaring out music. D describes Niagara really well, he reckons it is the town version of Sideshow Alley at the Ekka/ Royal Easter Show.. And that is dead on.. picture side show alley in a permanent operation and you’ve got the township of Niagara, Ontario!

Song of the Day- Chicago, Niagara Falls