Maid of The Mist

"Maid of The Mist", named for an ancient Ongiara Indian mythical character, has carried passengers into the rapids immediately below both falls since 1846. Cruise boats operate from boat docks on both sides of the falls.

5/22/11 - Getting ready for the boat ride

All decked out in our blue raincoats waiting for the boat.

5/23/11 - Discovery Pass

We purchased the Discovery Pass which covered 5 different attractions. The cost was $33.00 and we felt the boat ride alone was worth that.

Fireworks over Niagara Falls

From the Canadian side floodlights illuminate both sides of the falls for several hours each night. When we got to the Canadian side it was packed with vehicles and people. After the fireworks we had a little over 2 miles to get back across the border and it took us an hour. This was between 10:00 - 11:00 at night and there were people walking everywhere with lots of small kids and the traffic was bumper to bumper. It reminded us of Las Vegas at night.

Cable Car

The Whirlpool Aero Car, built in 1916, is a cable car which takes passengers over the whirlpool on the Canadian side....we didn't do this.

Some pretty flowers

Some pretty flowers we saw while waiting for it to get dark enough for the fireworks over the falls. There were tulips everywhere!

Niagara Falls

Horseshoe Falls is the first picture....there was such a mist created by the falls you can't really get the full effect of the horseshoe (that's why the postcards look so much better). Note the boat in the water in both pictures...we are doing that tomorrow!The American Falls are the 2nd picture.

5/22/11

There are fireworks on Sunday evenings over the American Falls, so we headed over to the Canadian side @ Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. The wait going across this border was over an hour with vehicles in eight lanes they had open.

5/22/11 - Niagara Falls

After getting settled into our campground on Grand Island, which is located between the Niagara River branches, we headed to Niagara Falls State Park to get our first view of the falls. Niagara Falls are the most powerful watefalls in North America. They are located on the Niagara River, which drains from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario and forms the international border between Canada and the US. The most spectacular Horseshoe Falls is best viewed from the Canadian side, is 2,600 feet wide and 173 feet high. The American Falls are 1,060 feet wide and 70-100 feet high. We didn't have a very good day for photos and the mist was so high from the Horseshoe Falls it was hard to see them. But standing next to the falls it is hard to imagine the volume of water going over - it is an awesome sight.

5/22/11

Downtown Buffalo, NY and the Peace Bridge coming across from Ontario, Canada.....note the long line of trucks waiting to across the border.

5/22/11 - Niagara Falls, NY - 217 miles

We are headed to Niagara Falls today....(one more item to mark off on my Bucket List)! We fueled up in Ohio @ a Flying J and diesel was $3.99. Added two more states to our map today. We were only in Pennsylvania just under 50 miles, but on our way home in the fall we will be in the southern part of the state for at least a week. Once we entered New York we could not believe all the vineyards....they were huge fields and went on for well over 50 miles. We had a close call today, almost running into the back of Richard & Karen's Jeep Liberty. We had gotten off the Interstate, Richard was leading and he went around a curve going downhill and had to slam on his breaks because an overpass was marked at 12' (which we can't clear). After stopping in front of the overpass we determined that it was mismarked and we proceeded on under it very slowly with all of us a little shaken!

5/21/11 - Quaker Steak & Lube

We had dinner at this Route 66/Motorcyle grill that is known for their wings. We didn't have wings but the food and atmosphere were great. We counted seven really nice motorcyles hanging from the ceiling.

5/21/11 - Garfield Grounds

The grounds were beautiful.

5/21/11 - Garfield Library

After his death, Mrs. Garfield added the library to the main residence to house the president's personal papers and memorabilia. It became the first of many Presidential Libraries.

"Lawnfield" is the name of the Garfield Presidential Home and is one of the most accurately and completely furnished 19th Century Presidential sites. The house was also the site of the first "Front Porch" presidential campaigns. Garfield took office in March 1881 and was assassinated in September 1881, leaving his wife and a large family.

5/21/11 - James A. Garfield Presidential Site

The James A. Garfield National Historic Site was about 30 minutes east of downtown Cleveland, OH so we were off to see that in Mentor, OH....we can add one more Presidential Library to our list. James Garfield was our 20th President.

5/21/11 - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum

Thanks to our son-in-law Mike, we had four free tickets waiting for us. We enjoyed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and it's seven floors of exhibits. The only problem was it was packed with people. Cleveland was having their 12th Annual Cleveland All School Fest and I think every kid in Cleveland was there -- well almost! There were also four different Walk-A-Thons going on - so there were people everywhere. It took us awhile with all the traffic and foot traffic flow just to get to a parking area. We related to music prior to the 1962's much better than after 1965. It is located right on the edge of the Lake Erie waterfront and right by the Cleveland Browns stadium.

5/20/11 - Cleveland, OH - 267 miles

After meeting up with Richard & Karen we headed to Ohio (this is a new state for us so we had to get the sign). They are never very good pictures since they are taken out the motorhome window traveling down the freeway. We decided to get off the small country roads and try our luck on the Ohio Turnpike. We traveled 96 miles and the toll was $13.75. We are staying at a KOA in Streetsboro, OH about 30 miles from downtown Cleveland. KOA was having a Spring Special - pay for one night and the second night was free! That makes KOA Kamping more reasonable in price.

5/20/11 - Kendalville, IN

We got the coach back yesterday and the work they did looks GREAT! We left Bremen in heavy fog on Friday morning. Richard and Karen had left Bremen on Tuesday to visit family about 50 miles southeast, so we met up with them in Kendalville, IN to finally get started on our Adventure to the Northeast and the Canadian Maritimes.

5/16/11 - 5/19/11 - Bremen, IN

While we were waiting for the coach to be worked on in Bremen, IN we made a couple of trips to Elkhart, IN, did some sightseeing and met our dear friends John & Carol (from our Tempe, AZ church) for dinner in Plymouth, IN. It was good seeing them and we had a great visit with them even though it was too short. I took advantage of our down days and slept in all three mornings....it felt great!

5/14/11 - Bremen, IN - 591 miles

We got diesel today in Lee's Summit, MO for $3.89 (cheapiest we have had so far). We planned on stopping overnight someplace in IL and then going on into Bremen on Sunday morning.....but Pat decided he wanted to go all the way TODAY!!! We crossed the Missouri, Mississippi and Illinois Rivers and they were all flowing out of their banks. Our thoughts and prayers were with all the people that will be affected down river when they all join together into the Mighty Mississippi and head south. When we got to Pla-Mor Campground in Bremen our traveling buddies Richard & Karen were there waiting for us as well as three other Alfa's, two of which were going in to have a full body paint job done. By getting to Bremen late Saturday evening we were able to go to one of our favorite churches on the road Nappanee Missionary Church in Nappanee, IN. Nappanee is a town of 6700 that is right in the middle of Amish country but what an alive and dynamic Christian church it is. There are five services and the 8:00 am was packed out with 500-600 people. On Sunday we got moved into the little Minnie Winnie so that we could take our motor home in early on Monday for the 3-4 days they would need it to get the work done and be ready for us by Thursday. Five Alfa's all lined up!

The last night at Renee's just before we sat down to a great "Shrimp Boil" meal that Mike had fixed for us and some of their friends, there is a knock on the door and this truck driver says "He was suppose to deliver this new furniture to a furniture store, they had closed their doors and he was instructed by the manufacturer in High Point, SC to try to sell the products on truck...and that is what he was doing.... driving through the neighborhood! We went in the truck just to see how they pack furniture trucks, the furniture was very nice and discounted considerably. That was a new experience for us.

5/10/11 - Lee's Summit, MO - 456 miles

We got to Renee's mid-afternoon, got set up for the next four nights @ Lake Jacoma Campground (one of our favorite campgrounds). It really is a beautiful county park a couple of miles from the kids....so it is very convenient! Mike was home as he had not gone on the road trip with the Kansas City Royals, so it was special getting to spend time with him as well as Renee and Rachel. We ate out a couple of nights and they cooked great meals for us the other two. I went to a couple of Rachel's volleyball practices....it was fun seeing how good she is playing volleyball....sorry she didn't have any games while we were there. Our time there went by way to quickly!

Winter hardships and loss of wagons and life. It's hard to even imagine the sacrafices and hardships these early pioneers encountered on their trek west.

Various scenes in the museum

Going up the esclator - appearing as though you are entering the back of a covered wagon and it puts you in the museum.

5/9/11 - Kearney, NE - 353 miles

It was up early this morning, get fuel and be on the road by 6:00 am. We wanted to get to Kearney, NE in time to go to the Great Platte River Road Museum Archway. This is a 1500-ton archway built across I-80. The museum is very well done and depicts the pioneers heading west on the road that eventually became The Lincoln Highway. We planned on camping in their huge parking lot and ended up being the only ones parked there. There were no lights and at 9:00 pm some motorcycles showed up right behind the motorhome. We began to feel a little nervous, they went behind the archway buildings, the cops showed up and we packed up and moved to a Walmart for the night!

5/3/11 - Casper, WY - 1150 miles

We are back on the road for six months this time. We left Chandler, AZ on May 3rd, headed to Wyoming to see my mom before heading to the Northeast and going to the Canadian Maritimes to spend the summer. We were blessed to be able to spend Mother's Day with my mom, my special Aunt Dorothy & Uncle Kenny and their family and had a very nice visit.