Day 66. Thursday 4th July. Niagara.

Today we rest. 

The plan is to do some more washing then visit the falls. Rather than fight the traffic and the need to find  car park etc., we decide to catch a bus. There’s a stop right outside the campsite and buses go very 15min. 

Everyone’s at the fenced barrier to stop or dissuade people from falling over and straight into the surging water.

What a spectacle the Falls are! Stupendous, comes to mind. I don’t think anyone could be underwhelmed, on first seeing them. With a huge plume of mist rising up from the Horseshoe falls, obscuring where the water actually comes to the bottom of the falling.

Unfortunately photos cant do justice to the spectacle. Clearly it’s preferable to view them from the Canadian side. The second smaller falls, the Bridal Falls are on the American side but better viewed from Canada, directly opposite.

Being 4th of July and American Independence Day, there were probably thousands of people milling around but the viewing area is about a kilometre long, so you didn’t have to wait long to get past the hundreds of Indians packing the rails.

Its a hot day. Must be in the low 30’s, but what makes it challenging is the humidity. My guess it was around 90%!! That meant we had to find a bar to hydrate. So much for teetotal principals…:)

Along the promenade is a statue of Nikola Tesla. How appropriate. It was Tesla, a Serbian, who invented AC current and his principals were tested here at Niagara. A genius, sadly many of his inventions were stolen from him. He died a bitter man.

Visits: 16

7 Comments:

  1. John Cowell &Margaret

    Hi Jen &Dennis lovely pics of you and the falls,Whats your target for this leg of your trip

    • Hi Margaret & John, our plan is to keep heading east then cut down into the US. Check the route on the page, Route Stage 2.

      Hope you enjoying great weather in Blighty..:)

      Us

  2. Great timing to hit ‘the falls” as the water levels in the great lakes that feed it are VERY high this year! Just think…there have been times when there was so little water in the upper river that you could easily walk across without getting your feet wet.

    In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s they used the falls to entertain people in the worst possible ways. The would take an old derelict boat or barge, round up every stray dog, cat, cow and horse…then advertise it as a “captured pirate ship loaded with wild and ferocious animal to go over the falls. They would light it on fire and send these poor creatures over the falls. All for some perverse, sick pleasure of the mobs that gathered to watch. Then there were the tight rope walkers that were bet on as to whether they would make it. And the people that would go over the falls in a barrel with few surviving.

    If you have time look up the “Love Canal”, an toxic waste dump used by unscrupulous companies in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s before it was brought to light in the news. And it hasn’t been cleaned up properly to this day!!!!!

    Great viewing of you blog again 😉

    cheers, Bill

  3. Meanwhile, over on the other side of the continent, the temperature in Anchorage on 4th July reached 90F / 32C.

  4. Just saw you in toronto!!

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