Kermit is King: #188 - Niagara Falls!

Cool thing from the last 24: drinking water from Niagara Falls as it as falling. Yeah, you can do that.

The morning came soon enough, the muggy start to another hot day. I got up, took a shower, and read for a few minutes before starting breakfast. We had baked some potatoes at home and refrigerated them. This morning I cut some bacon and onions and fried them together. When that was about done, Katrina got up, added the pre-cooked potatoes, salt and pepper, and cooked some fried eggs to go with it. She was the potato ninja.

Once again, we appreciated the simplicity of camping with 2 adults. There was no whining, no fighting, nobody playing with things they weren't supposed to. Just 2 people cooking breakfast together, our neighbors just waking up, and the birds providing most of the morning soundscape.

We left after a little cleanup and went straight to Niagara Falls State Park. The parking lot was not even half full, the day was getting started, and when I went to buy tickets for the Cave of the Winds thing (not a tour, not a ride, what is it?), the guy said we should do it first because the lines get terrible later in the day. So we did. We went in to get our special sandals and then got in line for the elevator. It took us about half an hour to get down there; not bad, considering that lines yesterday stretched to 3 hours and they had to stop selling tickets.

Katrina at Cave of the Winds.
The waterfall at the back is Bridal Veil.

The Cave of the Winds consists of an elevator ride from the top of Bridal Veil falls (this is the small falls that is part of American Falls) to the bottom of the falls. Once there, you are given a yellow poncho to wear. And then you walk along a short path to a series of wooden platforms built right at the base of the falls. You can look right up at the people at the top of the falls, feel the water rush around your feet, and at the top, on the Hurricane Deck, you can shower in the water from the falls. This is where I got my drink. Katrina thought I was crazy. I thought she was crazy for missing such an opportunity. This was seriously awesome. We did not have the hoods up on our ponchos. Instead, we tied the neck really tight. It worked pretty well. We both got our shirts wet, but that's kindof the point, right? There is no tour guide, and there is no time limit. When you think you're done, you leave.

We went back up the elevator, strolled along the pedestrian bridge from Goat Island (the big island there) over to the mainland, and got in line for the Maid of the Mist. We had arrived at the part around 10:30, and finished Cave of the Winds around noon. The line for Maid of the Mist was not short, but once again, we had no one complaining of tired legs or a desperate need for ice cream or pretzels. It's noon on a hot day, and you know you're committing to a 2-hour gig as you step into line. So lunch will be late. Big deal.

Me, my wrinkles, and Horseshoe Falls on the
Maid of the Mist boat.

The Maid of the Mist has been running for 130 years. It's a 2-deck boat, so if you want to not get so wet, you can avoid the spray. The boat travels from a dock at the base of the falls to right under the middle of Horseshoe Falls (the big one). This is the very same boat and service that is featured on Superman 2, where Lois Lane falls into the Niagara River and Superman rescues her. It is truly impressive.

Most of the time, Katrina and I are underimpressed by things such as this. The Grand Canyon? We got there, stood near the edge, said to each other, "That's a really big canyon." And we left. We spent maybe 5 minutes there. She was pregnant at the time, so hiking wasn't an option, but it was not the "wow, we have to experience more of this" experience that we were expecting. Niagara Falls was different, and I don't know why. Really beautiful, impressive, and several fun and easy ways to experience the falls. Definitely worth the time and effort to go there.

At the Erie Canal.

After Maid of the Mist, we had decided to go to the Lockport Cave. Just after the Erie Canal was finished, there was an excess of water in the little town of Lockport. A guy named Birdsill Holly (who invented the fire hydrant, among many other things) build a factory there, and asked a company to blast a cave through the rock beside the canal. The canal water would flow through the cave and turn a turbine which would turn a drive shaft and provide direct mechanical power for the factory.

That white thing in the middle is
a natural Gypsum deposit

The Lockport Cave, original timber supports.

This worked so well that 2 other factories were built using the same water supply. It worked flawlessly for nearly 100 years, until the last factory went bankrupt, and electricity became easier to use than the water from the canal. So the tour starts on the Erie Canal (which you can traverse in private boats for cheap), and then goes through this cave. Totally cool. There are stalactites growing from the ceiling, and natural supplies of gypsum are plentiful in the cave. It was a nice 65 degrees in there, and we learned a bunch about the process of blasting in an era before big machinery or worker safety laws.

While waiting for the tour to start, we ate lunch at a pizza joint, and then browsed through an antique store. We walked out with much more than we had bargained for.

Katrina shared blueberries = sad face.

The tour finished at 5:30, and we made a grocery run to Aldi to get dinner and the veggies we needed to feed the missionaries the next day. Then we went back to camp. I wrapped my frozen flounder fillets with pepper, parmesan, and bacon, surrounded by tin foil, and baked it over the fire. Katrina breaded hers and pan-fried it. We had fresh blueberries and bananas, and sat for a while talking by the fire.

And then we headed to bed. A truly perfect day.

Below, some more cool pics from the day that I can't spend the time to write about.