Niagara Falls

 3rd October 2022

Today is shaping up well and with sunshine and only light winds this morning, the falls look stunning from our hotel window. We are hopeful that crowds won't be excessive today, as it is Monday, and we plan to do the falls in the morning before the masses arrive.

After a filling breakfast, we set out on foot to walk along the hotel strip where you can get great elevated views of the falls from the many lookouts along the path.

American Falls and the bridge to Buffalo

Cruise boats approaching the Horseshoe Falls

Posing before the falls

Eventually we meet up with the road down to the falls Welcome Centre, but once again the walk along the river toward the Horseshoe Falls takes a long time as every few metres you need to take another photograph. Cruise boats are already out taking sightseers out to the falls, where they get absolutely saturated. Fortunately, ponchos are supplied to provide some partial protection. 

Our plan is to do the Journey Behind the Falls activity which takes you through a range of man made tunnels that exit behind the falls. There are also some great observation decks just alongside the falls if you don't mind getting a little damp. We also had ponchos. There were already plenty of people there but the crowd was not overwhelming.

Carole and Sharon in one of the tunnels behind the falls

A wall of water looking out of the tunnel

The side of the falls from the observation platform

Carole and Sharon on the upper observation platform

Lower observation platform where it was hard to stay dry

But a lot easier for us than this lot

                                                                                  

Once we had completed or journey behind the falls, it was close to lunch time, so we thought we would take advantage of the free shuttle bus system that operated around the falls, called WEGO. There were three routes, red, green and blue. The first bus we came across was on the red route which went to an outer part of town called Lundys Lane where there were restaurants, factory outlets etc. We asked the driver if she could recommend anywhere for lunch and she suggested the Flying Saucer Restaurant, apparently a family favourite of hers. Not to be deterred we climbed aboard. It seemed like a good idea because selecting a restaurant is a bit of a lottery and here we had a clear recommendation from a local. 

Lundys Lane

Unfortunately our driver forgot to drop us off at the restaurant on our way out along Lundys Lane, so we got to see a lot more of it than we wished. The further out we travelled it morphed into trailer parks and accommodation for migrants workers. On the way back into town, we did get deposited at the  restaurant with many apologies from the driver about her earlier memory lapse.

The Flying Saucer Restaurant

There is no mistaking the Flying Saucer Restaurant, because it looks like a flying saucer. It was busy and very popular with the locals. It was diner sort of food, with burgers, wraps and a few Mexican twists including quesadillas which the girls opted for. Serves of chips were generous and we were told we had to try their famous meat sauce which could be used for dipping or inundating your chips in. Dipping was fine with us, but only for a taste. It was close to what the Americans call Chilli and too rich for us. The food was good, but very filling.

Inside the flying saucer

Quesadillas

Chicken Caesar wrap (with modest serve of chips)

We struggled out of the restaurant, quickly paying our bill before the desert menu arrived and sought the next journey of the red bus to get us back to town. After a short wait the bus arrived, we jumped on board, and were able to get off at a stop near our hotel.

John and Sharon decided to have a rest. I was keen to go for a walk to check out the old hydro power station, so Carole and I went for a walk which turned into a trek, but we did get to see much of the remains of the now decommissioned station which closed in 1999, and has been replaced by larger and more efficient generating capacity upstream. 

The old hydro power station

Further on from the power station we had great views of the rapids preceding the falls.]

The remains of a Scow that broke away from its anchor during a dredging operation upstream from the falls.

The men were rescued by using a canon to fire a safety line across to the island to haul them back across the rapids

The International Control dam that was built to allow diversion of the water from the Niagara river into the power stations

Eventually, after walking many km we caught a green shuttle bus back to town, and a red one back within walking distance of our hotel.

After only a short break, we met up with John and Sharon for a pre dinner drink, before deciding we would try the hotel restaurant again for dinner, but only if they could assure us that they had salmon and meatloaf on the menu tonight. Having gained their assurance we settled down to a nice meal.

Retiring to our rooms after dinner, the falls we alight again tonight and I managed to capture some shots of the Horseshoe Falls in the various colours.

It wasn't long before the fire alarm went off in the hotel. The lifts were shut down and the fire brigade called. After about 30 mins, and the fire dept arrived to investigate it was declared a false alarm.

Off to Toronto tomorrow, it has been an eventful day, with once again excellent weather.