Meet Phil, our tour guide through Niagara Falls, New York. Phil represents everything about New York. He's got the attitude, the stance, the accent, the look. Phil is New York. Why is this important? Niagara Falls is a busy place with people from all over the world visiting. If you have ever been to a theme park, a national park, or hell, any mall in America where there seem to be crowds of people who have to navigate a location together, you know why having a good tour guide to get you through fast and efficiently is highly valuable. Of all the kinds of people in the world, a New Yorker is a perfect tour guide to get you through the lines, the roads, the hold-ups and the overall madness. If you have ever been to New York, you know what I mean. It's everyman for himself and every man has a sense of entitlement.
The best part about Phil was that everywhere we went, he knew someone. It wasn't like he just knew of them or simply knew their name. No, Phil was every body's best friend. Every Park employee who saw Phil made it a point to chat with him. The snack counter employees had a juice waiting for him before he even arrived. I'll bet a million dollars anyone who knows Carl knows exactly the kind of person I am speaking of. People bent over backward to help Phil out and get his group through quickly. Anyhow, back to the story. Let's review our tour.
We were the only tour group who had the name of their tour guide printed on the tour group stickers. Everyone else had a generic sticker.
This is the whirlpool. Niagara Falls drains water out at night to help power the city. When they do, the water stops churning from counter clockwise and spins clockwise on it's own. When the city returns the water, it returns spinning counterclockwise.
If you drive to Canada, you can do a zip line over the whirlpool.
American Falls. This part of the tour is called Cave of the Winds. You walk closely up to American Falls and you get really wet. The park service gives everyone a yellow rain poncho and a pair of sandals (which you must put on even if you brought your own sandals). If you look closely, you will see Carl. He is NOT wearing a yellow poncho and is dressed in black.
Only Carl :)
View from The American side looking at Canada's side. The mist is from the falls.
Upriver.
The tall tower you see is where Carl and I took an elevator down to ride Maid of the Mist boats. These boats take you right up to both American Falls and Horseshoe Falls.
Top of American falls.
Nikola Tesla Monument. He was an electrical engineer and inventor. This monument is a duplicate of the one made to celebrate his 150th birthday. The original is in Zagreb, Croatia.
I am thinking of creating my own postcards out of the photos I take. What do you think?
Phil chatting it up with the trolley driver.
Begining of the Maid of the Mist tour....
On the Maid of the Mist boat ride, you get a blue Poncho, no sandals, and you get more wet than on the Cave of the Winds tour.
The observation tower as seen from below it.
Our Boat is getting closer to American Falls. The wind picked up and it felt like it was raining.
Can we say power?
Now we get to watch people do the Cave of the Wind tour as we ride past on our boat.
This is a favorite shot. On the boat, I felt like an immigrant trying to get to the US on a boat. We were packed together like sardines and the closer one got to the falls, the more choppy the waters were.
This is where the ride ends for us and begins for all of those people you see in the line we never waited in (Thanks Phil).
We kept our sandals on for the day. They were made of foam and quite comfy.
If you don't feed the squirrels, they will find a way to eat your food anyhow.
The next part of tour was a 3d/4d film about Niagara Falls. Save your money, it was meant for kids. The plot line sucked and was undeveloped. The effects were cool... They spray you with mist from the ceiling every time they showed he falls. The closer the shot of the falls the wetter you got... and they added wind.
While we were waiting for our movie, we played a trivia game with the other people in our group. All of the questions were based on facts about the falls. Carl and I won. Below is our prize.
After the tour ended, we headed over to the Canadian side for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe.
Andy, this shot is for you. Patti Smith.
Canada really made their side of Niagara Falls fancy.
Michael Jackson's Hard Rock Cafe square.
We decided to drive through Canada toward Michigan. It was a beautiful drive with a beautiful sky.
We're heading back west. Today we're driving from Michigan to Minnesota. Currently, we're in Madison, Wisconsin. This is a very beautful city and the thunderheads above are breathtaking.
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