July 1st - Day 19
This trip has ben full of first experiences for our family/kids. Today, the big one was that our kids ventured out of the country for their first time (other than Aubrey, who has already been to Canada and Mexico), first seeing Niagara Falls from the US, then venturing across the bridge to the Canadian side of the falls. And, having the Mucci family with us today for our adventures, made it even better.
A few highlights from the day:
Upon arriving at Niagara Falls, we made our way to the Maid of the Mist for a boat ride up to the base of the falls. There is a very good reason that they give rain ponchos prior to boarding; as everyone still got soaked even with them. I would have hated to not have one. When nearing the falls, the mist (if it is even considered mist at that point) was so heavy that you could barely see anything in front of yourself.
As mentioned above, we ventured into Canada to see the falls from the Canadian side. It is a very different experience. On the US side, it is a NY State Park. On the Canadian side, it is very commercialized. So when in Rome…We rode the Ferris Wheel, walked through a number of shops, and found Sweet Jesus for “lunch”. The same child who proclaimed our stop at the ice cream factory in La Mars, IA was our best stop of the trip now proclaimed Sweet Jesus as the best thing we did today.
Following Niagara, as we made our way back to our campground, we stopped in the small town of Lewiston, NY. For many African Americans, Lewiston, NY was the last stop on their journey north via the Underground Railroad before crossing the Niagara River to enter freedom in Canada. It will be fun to see how this fits together with our stop next week at the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historic Park in Maryland.
We ended the day by eating dinner at the Silo in Lewiston, overlooking the Niagara River. The Silo is known for their “Haystack” sandwich which was featured on Man vs Food on the Travel Chanel. With that, there is no question what I had to order…
A few pictures from the day:
