Niagara Falls & Niagara on the Lake

I am trying to cover all of our 2-week trip this week, so bear with me.

On Sunday after having breakfast with our family, Hubby and I drove northward toward Buffalo, NY.  The drive was interesting and really pretty in places.  For instance, this rainy scene in Pennsylvania was nice.

 However, since we were on a mission to make this 8 hour drive before dark, we didn't take any side trips to explore the beauty around us.

Okay, let me be honest right up front!

DO NOT GO TO NIAGARA FALLS ON LABOR DAY WEEKEND!

Once we got into the little town of Niagara Falls, the traffic was unbelievable!

I have never seen such crazy driving in my life.  Well, maybe in Rome, but not in the US of A.  EVER!

After we finally got settled into our hotel, we thought we would take a walk down the street and see what we could see.

PEOPLE! PEOPLE! PEOPLE!

If we had not made reservations for two nights, I would have voted to take our chances elsewhere.  But, common sense prevailed and we decided to try to find a place to eat.  Outback sounded like a pretty safe place and there wasn't a line.  The food was terrible and prices were doubled what we pay at home.

We thought surely the Falls would redeem the experience so far, so off we went.

Oh my goodness, the press of humanity was almost unbearable.

As far as the eye could see, all the way down to the Falls was a solid mass of people.  Big, little, dressed, undressed, every ethnicity on the planet, few of which spoke English.

We finally made it as far as we dared go and found a spot to wait for the lights and fireworks.  After a couple hours we were rewarded, only to realize we were seeing the American side and not the highly recommended Canadian Falls.  Oh well, it was still beautiful and I got some great shots that I won't bore you with.

Then, we had to trudge back up the hill to the hotel with even more people than before.

Folks, just let me bear it all right here and now.

I really do try to love all people as God would have me to, but I hate being immersed in them.

So, after a good nights sleep, we knew we had to do something to redeem this part of our trip.

We took the Hornblower boat ride into the Falls and it was amazing.

One of the most enjoyable things we did was to take the White Water Rapid tour. We were able to get up close to the awesome power of the water in this river.  And this is how I spent the walk.

By this time we were getting a bit savvy and took a bus down to see the Canadian Falls that we had missed the night before.

  Unspeakable power and beauty!

We then decided to get our car and drive to Niagara on the Lake, a quaint little village a few miles north.  Along the way, we pulled over at a little scenic spot and this was the overlook.

Brave souls getting as close as they dare to the Whirlpool Rapid at its raging worst.

Another pull-over revealed this amazing view.

Notice the trucks waiting to cross into the US from Canada.  They weren't moving!

Niagara on the Lake is a beautiful little village and where I would stay should we ever return.

There are beautiful homes and flowers in abundance.

Shops line the street for blocks.

On the way back to our hotel we happened upon these views and I found this marker so interesting.

We hated to leave this amazing evidence of God's creative hand.

But, there were more places to see the next day.  And that will be tomorrow's post.