USA; Niagara (Canada)
We drive up to Niagara and watch the mercury fall. Autumn is far more advanced and many of the trees are bare as we approach Niagara. We stop in a place called Dubois and visit Macey's & Sears. Two more 'American things to do' ticked off the list.
Halloween is massive here. We love the decorations. The best we saw was two dirt bikes in a field with skeleton's riding them. The road was too narrow and too busy for us to be able to take a photo.
We visit Gobblers Knob of Groundhog Day fame with Punxsawtawny Phil. It's about 8 miles away from the main road and we are genuinely surprised when 2 other cars also turn up. The sun is out and we have a pleasant stop. This is Frank predicting how many more weeks of Winter?
We spot a quaint store in a picturesque autumn leaved valley with a sign just saying "moonshine". We have to stop and fortunately there is no traffic. (The roads we are on are narrow and windy and have huge stretches of no overtaking or stopping)
We are given a shot of moonshine and after drinking it can barely speak!
The Guinness hats come into their own. It is freezing. We are a bit late in the season for seeing the Elk rut but with a bit of luck we may spot some. So just in case we don't, we take a photo with a statue :)
We've walked in the park and been on the look out for about an hour. We had given up spotting any Elk and were heading back to civilisation when we spot a small crowd at the side of the road. We find a turning spot and managed to get back. We are rewarded by a small herd.
Iconic American school busses.
And there are the Canadian falls. We thought after Iguassu that we might be disappointed but we are not. It has been raining for quite a few days so the volume of water is above average and is spectacular.
A wonderful dinner in a restaurant overlooking the falls. We hadn't planned it this way but as we were dining the daylight finished and the lights came on the falls. So with no effort we had perfect timing. Notice we now are wearing sweaters indoors!
It is raining as we walk back and the lights that illuminate the falls catch the rain. Frank captures the Tower hotel behind to achieve a great photo
The Canadian falls lit up with the coloured lights. Every 10 mins or so they would go back to white.
It wasn't really necessary to go on the Maid of the Mist to get wet as it was still raining.
We choose to take the tour behind the falls. They have created a tunnel behind the falls with two port holes. You can't see much - just tons of rushing water but what is amazing is the noise. Then you come out onto a platform so you can get even wetter!
We had been led to believe there wasn't much at Niagara. Even though we were there out of season (the season ended two weeks before we got there and quite a lot of things were closed) we found heaps to do. There is a surprising number of children's entertainment features. This was dinosaur mini golf. There was the waxworks, Ripley's believe it or not, amusement arcades, Guinness book of records, house of horrors etc.
We drove to Niagara on the Lake (Ontario). It was a beautiful place. Some amazing homes. No shortage of money around here.
So while the autumn was more advanced here, it was still beautiful (although freezing and plenty of rain)
We could not believe it when these people went in the open basket across the river. We are huddled in the gift shop, with our beanies on, our jumpers, our jackets and we are still cold. It is raining and windy. They are nutters.
The American falls on the left and Canadian on the right. This is the view from our hotel window.
And that was Niagara.
Despite the weather, and having to spend an extra day, so I could spend hours shut up in the hotel to apply for my job (no fun and only a very short time to turn round the application) we still had an amazing time.
Next stop Miami Beach - and back to warm weather :)
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