Niagara Falls

At the end of May, we had a long road trip ahead of us, driving from SW Ohio to NE Pennsylvania for my Grandfathers burial and memorial service. When I plugged the route into the GPS, I noticed that one route would take us all the way across Southern NY (basically on the border of NY/PA). I quickly added in how far off course Niagara Falls would be, and found that it was only about an hour added- two hours round trip.

We decided to take the Niagara Falls detour and split the trip into two days- day 1 from home to Niagara Falls (6 hours) and day 2 from Niagara Falls to Susquehanna, PA (4 hours).

We left Thursday around noon. We had planned to leave earlier, but it had been SUCH a busy week and we hosted our huge annual bonfire on Wednesday evening so we hadn’t been able to get anything prepped for our trip until Thursday morning. After the 6 hour drive, we arrived in the Niagara Falls area and were starving, so we swung by a Mexican restaurant and ate dinner around 6. After the restaurant, we headed to our Airbnb. I had read reviews online that mentioned that it was a great Airbnb, but the neighborhood was a little bit sketchy. As we drove, we were very aware that we were in a less than ideal neighborhood, and as we pulled up to the Airbnb we knew that weren’t in a very safe place overall. We checked out the Airbnb and felt satisfied with the inside and the safety mechanisms in place, and decided to go ahead and stay there for the night. Still, I would not recommend this place to anyone with small children or who doesn’t have a husband who is a (ex) police officer. The neighboring building were halfway boarded up, there were homeless people on multiple streets around us, and it just seemed like the type of place that things could go downhill really fast.

After we unloaded at the Airbnb, we wanted to drive over and see the falls that evening. It was around 7:30pm, and we knew we didn’t have a lot of daylight left, so we drove the 10 minutes to the falls. I have bad news for those who want to go to Niagara Falls: the neighborhoods didn’t improve much. The whole area was so run down and many buildings were boarded up, even as we approached the actual falls. Once you got into the actual Niagara Falls park, everything was nice and well-kept and seemed safe, but we were so saddened to see how run-down the area was. It seems like an area with such a huge tourist attraction should be able to use their influx of money to create a nice area.

Anyways…we arrived at the parking area for the falls (which was free after 5pm!) and hustled over to the falls to see it before it got dark. When we approached the water, we realized we were at the TOP of the falls, so our view was actually of the river that runs over the falls. This is “Prospect Point” on the map. There was no way to see the actual falls from where we were, plus there was construction that blocked much of the view. We were running out of daylight, and pretty disappointed. (The picture below on the right shows our “view” of the falls…construction and people).

Thankfully, we had read a book all about Niagara Falls and the book told us all about Goat Island and the hermit who once lived there! We could see Goat Island from where we were standing, and we decided to book it over to the island to get a better view of the falls. We walked across a footbridge and then to the point of the island that juts out over the falls. It was probably about a mile walk from where we had parked the car.

Now, THAT was a much better view. Incredible, especially right at sunset. It was breathtaking.

Here we are standing at the spot on the map that says “Cave of the Winds” looking at Bridal Veil Falls and American Falls. The people behind us in this photo are standing on “Luna Island” and Rainbow Bridge is in the background.

As you can see, the view of the falls from the American side is more of a side view. If you want to see those falls from straight on, you have to go to the Canada side of the falls. Which is why many people say that the Canada side has a better view.

We decided to run over to Terrapin Point so we could see Horseshoe falls and this was so cool. We were SO close to the Falls, and loved watching the seagulls ride the water until they got to the very edge of the falls and then they would take off and fly. I guess it was the bird version of a thrill ride! (The picture left below shows Terrapin Point as we were walking up to it, then the two other pictures show us standing on Terrapin Point).

The sun had set by this time, so we made our way back to the American Falls and went onto Luna Island (accessed by a walkway). It was dark by then and they had the lights show shining on the falls. So even if you go to Niagara Falls at night, there is plenty to see!

Honestly, Luna Island was the most nervewracking part of Niagara Falls because there was one small rail and it was literally over the edge of the falls. If any kid climbs that rail and slips…it would be bad. You all know I’m a pretty free range parent, so if something makes me nervous…it’s pretty nerve-wracking haha. So, if you go to Niagara Falls and you have a very busy or active toddler, or a fear of heights, or a fear of your child plunging over the edge of a giant waterfall… I recommend not going on Luna Island!

It was well past 9pm now, so we walked (in the complete dark haha) back to the car and headed to our Airbnb for the night. Every night at 10pm there is a fireworks show over the Rainbow Bridge, and the kids really wanted to see it, but were needing to get to bed, so we skipped the fireworks.

In the morning after a great nights sleep, we got some breakfast at the Airbnb and headed back to the falls. This time we decided to fork over the $$$ (everything we had done/seen so far had been free!) and do the Cave of the Winds. Now, I am not sure why it’s called Cave of the Winds, as there isn’t really a cave. It is windy, but that title makes it sound like the majority of time is spent in a cave, and it’s windy- which is not the case.

We purchased our tickets, watched a little video about the history of Niagara Falls (fascinating, truly! It felt like the BEST kind of learning- the type of learning where it comes alive because we were able to SEE what we were learning about). We went back outside and got in an elevator that took about 30 seconds and went down 175 feet (about 12 floors). The elevator opens and we are in a cave, which had a walkway that we walked down. We emerged into the sunshine and were instructed to put on our ponchos. It was dry and not at all windy at that point. There was also a pretty great view of Horseshoe Falls.

Side note: Seagulls have completely taken over Niagara Falls. I have no idea what they are doing to manage them, but whatever it is – it’s not working. There were seagulls EVERYWHERE. They had no fear of people and were literally building nests and laying eggs 1-2 feet off the path. They were also pooping everywhere. Little soapbox rant: this happens when a species has no natural predators. Because of all the people and all the tourism, we have chased away (either naturally or purposefully) all of the predators (foxes, coyotes, hawks). Because there are no predators, there is no population control and it is getting out of hand! One of the employees said that sometimes they bring in a hawk, but I cannot imagine how one hawk could even begin to curb this overpopulation!

Ok- back to Cave of the Winds. Once we had our ponchos on, we went to the stairs that lead up to the bottom of the falls. (Bridal Veil Falls on the map). The closer we got to the falls, the louder and wetter it got! But there were a lot of little alternative routes to take if you didn’t feel like getting fully deluged by the actual waterfall. There were plenty of places that you could walk to without getting very wet!

The views were INCREDIBLE. It was just so POWERFUL to see this mighty waterfall come roaring over the top. We had read several stories of people going over the falls in barrels or canoes, and even read about an 8 year old boy who went over the edge and survived. We were just in total and complete awe the whole time. (In the picture on the left you can see the people standing on Luna Island- see what I mean by there just being a small rail and then it’s directly down to the falls?)

We did climb all the way up and went under Bridal Veil falls- onto what they call the Hurricane Deck. They explained that the wind and force of the water is hurricane force on that deck. Again- if you want to do Cave of the Winds, but don’t want to stand on Hurricane Deck, you can completely skip that part!

However, this was our FAVORITE part!!! The POWER of that water!!!! It was so, so amazing to experience it.

Ori wasn’t a huge fan and Ezra was hesitant to go under the falls, but everyone ended up loving it and wanting to go back in after they had experienced it for the first time. I’m so glad that they had no age limits and we were able to take Ori with us. When we were at Red River Gorge for Spring Break we couldn’t find a single “activity” (horseback riding, kayaking, cave tours) that would allow a 2 year old to go. It’s not really much fun to go on vacation and then have to sit in an Airbnb with a small child while everyone else gets to go out and do something fun. It’s way more fun to be able to do it as a family!

Yes, everything was soaked. And thanks to some great planning (not), those were the ONLY shoes we had brought on our trip. Thankfully the dollar store carries some pretty great shoes and we were able to buy some flip flops for everyone!

And that was Niagara Falls! I highly recommend a trip to check it out. I’ve heard that the view from the Canada side is much better, and also that the Canada side isn’t quite as run-down as the US side. But you DO need a valid passport (Real ID does not count) to get across the border, so keep that in mind if you are heading to Niagara Falls!

Have you ever been to Niagara Falls? Did you experience the Canada side, America side, or both? What did you think of it? Is there anything else we should have done while we were there?