Niagara Falls is a city in Canada that lies along the border between the USA and Canada. It shares a name with Niagara Falls, New York, which is situated on the opposite side of the Niagara River. Both cities are named after the immense waterfalls that flow over into the gorge below. The Niagara River connects Lake Erie to the lower-lying Lake Ontario.
Seeing Niagara Falls at some point in my life was high up on my bucket list, so when my dad and I saw cheap flights to Buffalo, NY, we pounced. Immediately after arriving in Buffalo, we drove the short distance up to Niagara Falls, NY, where we stayed for the majority of the trip.
We spent the first full day at the falls on the American side, starting the day with the famous Maid of the Mist boat tour. 10/10 experience even though I was blinded by the water droplets on my glasses for half the ride. I also found it quite cool how all the ponchos on the American side were blue while all the ponchos on the Canadian Hornblower were red; it created a nice duality between the two countries.
We spent the rest of that day exploring other points of interest in the region. Nearest to the falls was the site of the Schoellkopf power plant that was destroyed by a rockslide in the 1950s. Further down the river was the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant, which serves as the current hydroelectric plant for the American side, which provides electricity to a large portion of the state of New York. The journey north ended at Fort Niagara, which sits on Lake Ontario. Although we didn't go inside fort, I did get my picture taken next to a cool stone lighthouse.
That night, we hurriedly made our way back to the viewing platform over the gorge to catch the nightly firework show at 10pm and see the lights illuminating the falls in a variety of colors.
The second day of the trip, we ventured across the Rainbow Bridge into the Canadian side of the falls. Crossing the border on foot was quite a cool experience, so I had to post up next to the international boundary line along the bridge.
Once across, we began walking along the river bank and I could not stop taking pictures of the falls. The views from the Canadian side were truly immaculate. From the Canadian side, you could see the American and Bridal Veil Falls in full effect, and could get much closer to the Horseshoe Falls than you can on the American side. We eventually stopped for a quick lunch at the famous Tim Hortons before meeting up with our tour guide for the afternoon.
We started the walking tour off with views from the top of Skylon Tower, a 775 ft observation tower that overlooked the falls and surrounding areas. Along the tour, we were given the history of the falls, some geographical context, and how modern day Canada capitalizes on its hydroelectric potential with their power plant systems.
After leaving the tower, we headed toward the Niagara Parks Power Station, which was the first major power plant used by Canada and now serves as an educational and interactive museum. Once inside, we took a long elevator ride down to the bottom of the gorge, following the path that water once took from river upstream, down through the penstock and turbines, and eventually back out through tunnels that fed into the river downstream. At the bottom of the elevator, we got to walk through one of the long tailrace tunnels that led out to an up-close view behind the falls.
After resurfacing, we spent another hour or so exploring the museum, learning about the history of the technology used in the plant, and even getting to watch a demonstration that used a large Tesla coil to create music from high-voltage discharges of electricity. Upon exiting the museum, I got to see some of the infamous Canada geese (and accidentally stepped in their... droppings), and then took one final photo before heading back toward the border.
As we began walking back toward the Rainbow Bridge to end the day, we were suddenly met with a huge, full-sized rainbow that stretched out across the falls. Genuinely one of the coolest natural phenomenon I've had the pleasure to experience. It certainly made for a great ending.
