Niagara Falls, NY

 Yesterday, we got up early, took showers at the bathhouse, and headed out to find Niagara Falls attractions.  We purchased a discovery pass on-line which gave us admission to five different attractions.  The first one was the Maid of the Mist which is a boat ride down below the falls and is quite an experience.  We were given disposable ponchos to wear and it did protect most of our clothes.  The falls from this perspective were absolutely glorious:

During the most spectacular part of the boat ride, we had to keep the camera under cover because we DID get wet.

After the boat ride, we decided to go ahead and get wet some more at the Cave of the Winds attraction.  If we thought we were close to the falls on the Maid of the Mist, that was nothing!  On the Cave of the Winds walk, we were given yellow ponchos and sandals which make really neat shower shoes.  This was our opportunity to get up close and personal with the falls!

The specks that are yellow in this picture are standing in an area called Hurricane Deck very aptly named for the force of the wind and water.  I think Cave of the Winds was even more impressive than Maid of the Mist but both are the highlights of the park.  It is also interesting that Niagara Falls State Park is the oldest state park in the United States and draws visitors from all around the world.  We were on the Maid of the Mist with a Chinese tour group and also met some folks from Australia, a couple on their honeymoon from Italy, and several others who couldn't speak English.

To conclude our day, we rode the trolley around the park to the visitor's center where we were parked. 

The dogs were certainly glad to see us and we treated them to a car ride to find a gas station.  We ended up at Sam's Club in Niagara Falls and later took the truck to fill it up as well.  After supper, we headed out once more to find a PetSmart so we could get some canned food (Duke is reluctant to eat just dry food and we ran out of canned food while in Canada).  It is probably a good thing we had to go all the way to Buffalo because there is some road construction and we will have to detour when we leave on Sunday.  Always better to find out before Pat is towing the fifth wheel!  Storms woke us up during the night and once Abby settled down, we all went back to sleep.  

Thus ends another day in our adventures.

EASY LIVING!!