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Peanut, "Wow, mom, now we can say we've been to all 50 states! What are we gonna do next?"

25 September 2008

Niagara Falls, Ontario (I know, I know, it's not a state!)







One of my biggest dreams was to visit Foz do Iguacu in Brazil. Remember the movie The Mission? It was filmed there. Tomcat and I were able to go for our 10th anniversary and it was even more breathtaking than I'd imagined. I'll never forget turning the corner of the slippery path, feeling the spray as the waterfalls loomed around me, and feeling tears fly out of my eyes. An Italian man

next to me also had tears and we stood there staring at each other, crying and jabbering in our own languages, sharing the same emotional 'wow'.

There's no way Niagara Falls could compare to that, right? Keep in mind there aren't any toucans flying around either! Still, I adore waterfalls in general and was really looking forward to seeing these up close and personal.
Detouring out of the 50 states for a day, we went to Niagara Falls on the Canada side.

The kids thought there was a fire outside our hotel when they saw smoke. They (and now I include Grandma) were in utter disbelief the next morning to see Horseshoe Falls directly below us.
Grandma was overcome at her “luck at seeing this”. She said it over and over all day long.

Walking the Journey Behind the Falls (tunnels underneath) was pretty cool. They have informational plaques along the way and lookout points where you can feel the spray. The kids were fascinated with the story of the youngest survivor to go over the Falls unintentionally. He was a 7-year-old boy, in just a swimsuit and life vest. I guess they had a boating accident above the Falls. His sister was rescued before going over and the captain of their boat died. We discussed “what-ifs” for the rest of the day. Ugh.

Everyone visiting Niagara takes the Maid of the Mist boat tour, as they should. We were looking snazzy in our rain ponchos, taking pictures, enjoying the sunshine when all of a sudden the boat turned and we were immediately SOAKED! We were in the middle of Horseshoe Falls. It was exhilarating and hilarious all at the same time. Pounding, pounding, water that just kept coming and coming! Such a roar! Peanut turned around with her moon face luminous and screamed, “Thanks so much for bringing me here! I LOVE this!” And Doodle turned around, her face literally dripping with inches of water, trying to copy her big sister, but she couldn't talk and just started giggling. It occurred to me that Little Man was missing and I looked down to find him in a huddle in the corner of the boat. Crazy kid. He actually remained the driest! Let's just say it wasn't his idea of a good time. Not even close. Although he liked talking about it afterwards!

2 comments:

  1. Ha ha!! I love the differences and similarities of Peanut, Doodle and Little Man!! Tio R and I decided Little Man was just being like a cat...why get wet if there is a dry place to hide? Stay Golden Little Man...

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  2. That looks awesome. I have been on the NY side driving up to Canada, breath taking. Did you get the hotel room with the heart bed?

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