Our plan after leaving our friends was to head for Niagara Falls, which Rob had never seen. I had been there once I think, probably when I went with my family to Expo 67 in Montreal. We stopped for a quick overnight in Albany, but didn't make any sightseeing or photo stops along the way. We were both ready to be home and also wanted as much time at Niagara as possible since we would be there only one night. So even though the drive through Massachusetts and New York was really beautiful, I have no photos to show for it. Sometimes I am amazed at the photos I don't think to take. An excuse to go back, perhaps?
Niagara bills itself at the Honeymoon Capital of the World, and since this was sort of an anniversary trip, it seemed appropriate that we visit. We arrived mid-afternoon, plenty of time to meander around and see the falls. I managed to snag a hotel right next to the park, ostensibly for a view of the falls, but we couldn't see much for the trees anyway. The nice thing is that we could just head out the door and walk to the falls, as the park was just about a block awa.
Right across the street from our hotel was this building, which I didn't know at the time is a famous Art Deco building, formerly the United Office Building, now a luxury hotel. What caught my eye were the carvings, which looked Mayan to me, but my eyes not being what they were, I really wasn't sure until loading my pics onto the laptop and zooming in. Apparently this was a popular architectural style at the time. Beautiful, but seems a bit odd to me to have Mayan carvings in the frozen northland.
What can you say about Niagara Falls? Words fail, they really are too magnificent.
You can tell from the pics that it was a cloudy day, in fact I think it had quit raining just after we arrived at the hotel, and held off the whole time we were out walking. I did get in my usual photos of birds and flowers. Too many pics of even these beautiful falls will get boring, you can easily get sensory overload. But being there is different, I could stand there and watch the water pouring down for hours. Just mesmerizing.
Looks like a convention going on here.
Amazing how the birds will stand out in the middle of all that rushing water, or even bob around in it.
So in addition to the classic Maid of the Mist boat ride you can take if you are anxious to see the falls up close and don't mind getting wet, you can also buy a ticket to walk down to the Hurricane Deck and stand in front of Bridal Veil Falls. Guaranteed to get you soaked, and these people had a hard time standing up when they got close. Everyone I watched backed up to the falls, as the force there is tremendous.
We thought we would stop the next morning and see the falls from the Canada side, but the day was wet and rainy, and that was enough to turn us off that idea. So off we set for our daughter's house where we would spend our last night away before heading for home.
