New York – Niagara Falls (Jul 7-9, 2019)

We finally made it to Niagara Falls. Another bucket list check off for Lorraine.

We stayed at the Niagara Hartland RV Resort, which had a nice pull through reserved for us. We were shocked, however, that even though RPI made the reservations for us this was not a $10/night charge. We were told that they give us 50% off their regular rate which is $19/night plus electricity. Needless to say, we decided to only stay three nights instead of 7 because we had Maiden Mist Reservations on Tuesday and didn’t want to spend all that money and then probably will be bored.

“Niagara Falls State Park is the oldest state park in America, established in 1885 at the Niagara Reservation. Over 8 million visitors explore Niagara Falls State Park annually.
Niagara Falls is comprised of three waterfalls, from largest to smallest, the Horseshoe Falls (also known as the Canadian Falls), American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls.”

So our trip in the US side of Niagara was amazing. Lorraine was so impressed she said she wanted to lay in the way below the falls on a raft and just watch the falls. Of course, she probably would of been thrown over by the waves. lol. Here are the pictures from the US side.

Entrance to this state park is free. No cost to see this magnificent Natural Wonder.

View down to the Cave of the Winds – which we will visit soon. This is where you walk under the falls.

Close up of the Cave of the Winds which is rebuilt every year.

The power plant buildings on the Canadian side. Lorraine wondered why someone has not renovated this and made hotel rooms. What a big draw that would be.

Sunday night when we arrived we went to the falls to see the lights and catch the fireworks. After walking around for hours on the US side, we finally walked across the US/Canada border to Canada. It was funny to just be able to walk across the border. When we got to the Canadian side, they asked how long we planned on being there – which we said only for a few hours. Easy peasy.

The interesting thing here was that the traffic to cross over to the US was horrendous. One of the Canadians told us that it was taking over two hours to drive across. We are thankful that our waiter at lunch told us not to drive but to walk.

The border crossing into the US. All the back up!

As we walked the bridge over to Canada and back, Mike stood in the US and I stood in Canada and we kissed across the International Border. Yep, really touristy but we had fun.

Once we were on the Canadian side and walked for hours there, we decided not to stay for the lights and the fireworks. We were exhausted. Of course, we were told that if you were going to see the lights and the fireworks, you need to see from the Canadian side and to plan on being there until after Midnight. Here are views from the Canadian side. When you are on the US side, you see the water flowing away from you and on the Canadian side you get to see that full waterfalls.

View of Horseshoe Falls from the Canadian Side with a Canadian boat doing its trip.

American Falls on the left and Bridal Falls on the right.

View from the Canadian side of all three falls.

Hopefully you can hear the rush of the water. Turn your volume. up.

Tuesday we booked the Niagara Falls American-Side Tour with Maid of the Mist Boat Ride tour on Viator for $199.90 for two. This tour included
a journey to the edge of the rushing water by boat on the Maid of the Mist and by land on the Cave of the Winds walking adventure. Half-day Niagara Falls tour Ride on the Maid of the Mist boat in season Visit famous Niagara Falls attractions including: Horseshoe Falls, American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls View the Falls atop the American Observation Tower and explore the adventurous Cave of the Winds in season. While the tour guide thought the boat ride was not worth it -because he only has done it a ton of times – we thought it was great. Here are pictures from the tour.