Day Two - Niagara Falls (from all angles)

            Who knew there were so many different angles to view Niagara Falls. We spend all day today in Niagara Falls, Canada, visiting the various places of the park and going to all of the major attractions.

            We started by seeing my first 4D movie, The Fury, which was about the creation of the Falls. Being the nerd I am, it was pretty interesting. Immediately after the movie, we went through the Journey Behind the Falls, where we got an up close view of Horseshoe Falls. There were even a couple of places that were literally behind the falls. It was pretty cool, even though all you could see was a giant wall of white water/mist.

            After grabbing lunch, we got on a Maid of the Mist boat and rode it to the base of Horseshoe Falls. You really don’t appreciate the sheer size of the Falls until you are right up on it. Mist was everywhere and if you didn’t keep your poncho securely on you (which was nearly impossible because of gale force winds), you got soaked.

            From there, we caught a bus to the White Water Rapids. The rapids here are Class VI, which means stay the heck out of them if you want to live. Of course, there have been stupid people through the years that tried swimming them, riding them in a barrel, or tight roping over them. One story I read about was a woman who attempted riding them in a barrel with her dog. After being stuck in a whirlpool for six hours, rescuers pulled her barrel out of the water. She had suffocated to death, but the dog survived by sticking its nose to the only air hole, cutting off air supply to the woman. I probably shouldn’t, but I find this kind of funny. I guess there’s a reason dogs are “man’s” best friend, not “women’s.”

            The other places in the park that we saw were the whirlpools and the floral clock (which is redesigned every year and never has the same design twice).

            Throughout the day, we saw several critters, including a chipmunk (I cleverly named him “Alvin”), a groundhog, a beaver (who was chewing on some wood), and a raccoon (caught in the act of stealing food out of a trashcan). The most interesting creature was saw was a large, black squirrel, or as I called it, an “African-American” squirrel (although I guess it would technically be an “African-Canadian” squirrel).

            I finally got a small dose of sports, albeit with a Canadian flavor. While driving along the river, we saw a guy on roller skates doing cool tricks with a hockey stick and a ball. He was flipping it up in the air, spinning, and catching it in seemingly impossible ways. You definitely don’t see that in the States!

            My sports adventures will pick up tomorrow as we go into Toronto. We are visiting the CN Tower for sure (which is attached to the Rogers Centre, the home of the Toronto Blue Jays) and are hopefully going to visit the Hockey Hall of Fame.