Right before the 4th of July, we took a short trip out east to visit Niagara Falls.
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| While Daddy was presenting at a conference, these two explored Buffalo for the first time! |
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| Clare was inspired to play hockey by this statue... |
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| ...and then twins had the chance to explore the USS Little Rock sitting at port on Lake Ontario. |
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| Luke got his military fix! |
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| Once Daddy's conference wrapped up, we Ubered up and walked... |
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| ...towards Canada... |
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| ...and began our walk across the Rainbow Bridge... |
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| ...towards our hotel (the Sheraton) on the other side of the Niagara River. |
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| What an interesting way to visit a new country! |
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| Halfway across the bridge we reached the international boundary line... |
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| ...and, for the first time ever, the twins were in different countries at the same time (Clare--US; Luke--Canada)!! |
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| We checked into our hotel and, from the rooftop, saw the fantastic view of the American Falls... |
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| ...which became neater and... |
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| ...and neater as day faded into night. |
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| How cool is this?!? |
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| We also caught our first night of evening fireworks, this shot taken from our hotel. |
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| The trip was only two full days at the falls so we woke up and started our ambitious agenda. First up was the 'Maid of the Mist' boat tour. |
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This short excursion gave us a closer view of the American Falls...
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| ...but the ultimate goal of the cruise was to get... |
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| ...closer to the Horseshoe Falls! |
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| As we got closer and closer... |
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| ...it got louder and more wet... |
...and, sadly, it was so intense that this video is the last to ever be taken with my digital camera!!
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| For this experience, we descended over 100 feet in an elevator and walked through tunnels... |
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| ...to access viewpoints where we could see the falls (mostly the intense rush of water) through portals. |
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| We also were able to go outside and be right next to the falls. |
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| This created some great views up close of Horseshoe Falls... |
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| ...and proved to be much less wet (I didn't even don the parka!). |
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| Next up was lunch with a view at Table Rock Restaurant. |
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| The views right outside were amazing... |
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| ...and it was hard to stop staring as the water kept falling! |
See for yourself!
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| Our last tour of the day was of the Niagara Parks Power Station where we learned how, for 100 years (until 2006), the Niagara River was used to generate electricity. |
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| Luke also learned a little bit about Nikola Tesla's role and ties to Niagara Falls. |
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| The final part of this tour had us walking through another tunnel... |
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| ...aptly called 'the Tunnel'... |
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| After some rest (for Dads) and pool time (for twins), we headed towards the Skylon Tower for dinner. We took an elevator (on the side of the tower overlooking the area) over 400 feet up to the rotating restaurant at the top. While we ate dinner, we made it 2 times around and the views were amazing! |
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| We saw the span of the Rainbow Bridge we crossed to enter Canada the previous day... |
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| ...the American Falls back stateside... |
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| ...and a mighty impressive view (with rainbow!) of the Horseshoe Falls we were close to earlier in the day. |
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| The day took its toll on Dad, so when the kids needed even more, Papa took the twins go-karting!! |
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| On our second day, we started out at the Butterfly Conservatory. |
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| ...where we got up and close with... |
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| ...these colorful creatures. |
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| There were a lot of them for sure... |
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| ...too many for these two to count!! |
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| High five at this sculpture for a successful visit! |
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| Our last couple of activities involved appreciating the Niagara River that feeds the Falls. |
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| So, we hopped one of this fancy aero cars to get a view from above of across the swirling waters of the Niagara Gorge. |
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| And, they were swirling indeed, Class 6 rapids to be exact! |
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| Two of our group were content with the experience... |
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| ...while one wasn't so sure they wanted to venture near the edges of the aerocar! |
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| Our final stop of the day was at the White Water Walk... |
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| ...where we were able to hike at water level to see the beauty of the Niagara River. |
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| It was a short, scenic route... |
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| ...and we even learned what makes the water appear so green. |
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| It ended up being the perfect end to another fun day of touring Niagara Falls. |
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| All that was left was pool time for these two... |
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| ...while Daddy and Papa relaxed looking down at this view. |
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