Water Wonderland

We finally arrived at Niagara Falls State Park – America’s oldest State park.  As we drew closer, we could see mist rising between buildings!  I was so excited, I could barely contain myself!  We initially pulled into the wrong parking lot (that cost $10) and a very nice ranger lady came over with a map and told us where we needed to go – to the RV parking lot, which was FREE!!!  We parked and loaded up what we needed and conveniently (John would probably tell you a whole different version of this) I packed a sort of fanny pack that slides onto your belt and is just the right size to carry everything we needed and a water bottle.  Since I don’t wear belts and John does…

Anyway, we bought our wristbands to ride the trolley and made our way straight over to the Maid of the Mist boat launch.  Thank goodness there wasn’t a line and we were able to get right through and onto a boat in a short amount of time.  Which was AMAZING because of this:

It was so unbelievably hot and so humid that we were wet before we even made it to the falls.  Then, they handed us these nice, blue saran wrap ponchos, which we all foolishly put on immediately, so that we could be warmer and sweat even harder while we waited to board the boat.  No biggie.  Soon we were on and they took us out to the waterfalls.  Trista was anxious to get wet and was very disappointed when we went by the American Falls and just got a bit of mist.  I told her to be patient and we went up toward the Horseshoe falls and there was water EVERYWHERE!  It was such a water wonderland!  There was literally water everywhere you looked, if you were even able to keep your eyes open!  This morning when we told the kids that we were going to a waterfall, they thought it sounded boring.  Niagara is not just a waterfall.  I loved every second of it!  Once we got off the boat, we decided to walk up the mist trail and make sure any spot that had remained dry through the boat ride was thoroughly drenched.  I had puddles in my shoes!  It was so great! 

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When we got back to the exit area, the place we had reserved for this evening called and asked if we were coming.  There was still more we wanted to do, but we still needed to get checked in before they gave our spot away and we had heard that the spots were narrow and didn’t want to be backing in and finding hookups in the dark, so we made our way back and drove over to our RV spot.

One of the things that I REALLY wanted to do was see the falls lit up at night and one of the things John and the kids really wanted to do was walk the bridge over to the Canadian side and get a stamp in their passports and say that we went to Canada on our big US adventure.  John and I decided that it was late, and we should forgo seeing the lights and head back over in the morning.  Now, keep in mind that we do not have a car, so once the RV is parked, we don’t have our own transportation.  When we made this decision, we figured that the cost savings from not towing a vehicle would pay for plenty of Uber rides.  We are not city mice, we are country mice and we have never Ubered or Lyfted or anything like that, but I really wanted to see those lights.  I did a quick search to see what it would cost, and it said that an Uber back to the falls was $12 and could pick us up in 20 minutes.  We agreed that we would have sandwiches quickly for dinner and could be ready in 20 minutes.  So, I downloaded the app and set it all up and requested my first Uber.  Too bad his 20 minutes was actually 7 and we were scrambling to get in the car when he arrived.  He drove us right where we needed to go, and we were excited that we had figured it out.

Levi was already exhausted and we knew it.  For this reason, I had packed our Ergo baby carrier (Levi has not quite exceeded the weight limit and we tried it out before we left).  We loaded Levi onto John’s back and decided to start out by crossing the Rainbow Bridge (Seriously that is what it’s called).  If you have ever lost a pet and had someone share with the you the story of the Rainbow Bridge, you will know what I am talking about.  When John was looking at things to do, he told me we could walk across the Rainbow bridge and I responded, “Do you really think that’s a good idea?”  When we mentioned it to both my brother and Trista their immediate responses were, “Isn’t that where pets go when they die?”  Anyway, we have crossed the Rainbow Bridge – both ways and we are safely back in the USA. 

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Crossing into Canada was fun.  The border agent was very nice and even stamped the kids’ hands with the stamp.  We walked around on the Canadian side for a bit and saw the beautiful gardens and the falls lit up in the darkness.  It was so beautiful!

The kids were quickly running out of steam, so we crossed back over the bridge and decided it was time to head home.  I could not make my phone get any signal of any kind (it had been fine in the same location earlier in the day) I was re-booting and trying to connect, while John was trying to see what he could do with his phone, he had some signal, but had not downloaded the app.  John and the kids were sitting on a curb and I was standing behind them.  All of a sudden, we heard water and Trista yelled, “LEVI!”  He stood up, pulled down his shorts and just decided to pee right there in the parking lot.  After a collective Carkeet gasp!  We all burst into laughter, John and I tried to mask it as best we could, but he just looked up at us and said, “I needed to pee.”

After several attempts and wondering what one does when one Ubers somewhere and can’t get enough signal to uber back… I finally got the signal I needed and booked the ride as quickly as possible.  We loaded into the car and within seconds, Levi was sound asleep.  We had the windows down and there was a warm breeze and a bright yellow (nearly full) moon with a single cloud around it low in the sky.  Now we are back in our rig, the kids are sleeping, and I am updating the blog while we run some laundry.

New adventures tomorrow…