Niagara Falls is on most people’s bucket list. When I was making the itinerary for our Maine Road Trip, I knew we would just be a few hours away from Niagara Falls on our way to Maine. As I started planning and telling people we were going to see Niagara Falls the most popular question I was asked was “Are you doing the Canadian side?” The answer to that was "no" because of the restrictions at the time for COVID. I was then being told that I should just skip going because the “Canadian side is better than the American side.” That kind of puts you in a funk, but I was like well we’ll see what we can see. I’m happy that we did because honestly only doing the American side is still a very good trip.
Niagara Falls is a State Park in New York. As you get closer to it you see a lot of touristy shops and casinos, which made me start to worry that this was going to be a waste of time. We parked our car and got out to walk towards where our tour, The Maid of the Mist, was located. As we made our way, we saw lots of trees and the sign for the state park. You could hear the roar of the falls in the distance. We checked in to our tour and walked over the overlook where we got to see the falls. And what a sight that was!! Niagara Falls is one of those places that pictures truly don’t do justice. The sounds, the breeze, the feeling of the mist hitting your skin, and the movement of the water is truly an experience everyone needs to do once in their life.
We boarded our boat, which boasts being fully electric, that gets you up-close and personal to the falls. You really get to experience the rush from over 600,000 gallons of water falling per second. The tour is about 20 mins long and takes you along the American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, and Horseshoe Falls (Canadian Falls). The boat actually takes you right in the middle of the powerful Horseshoe Falls! Needless to say, both Michael and I were soaked even though we were given complimentary ponchos.
After getting off the boat, we made our way back to the observation building. Though before we did that there was a trail that takes you up close to the American Falls. Michael and I walked as close as we could but the breeze from the falls and mist was just so powerful! We left probably even more soaked than before. We stopped quickly for our packed lunch. Though there are places to eat close to the falls.
There are a few geocaches around this state park which I had us hike around to get. We walked up to stand on top of the American Falls and watch the water flowing down from there and then made our way over to Luna Island and Bridal Veil Falls. That is one thing the American side has is that you can get up close to these majestic falls. We then made our way to Terrapin Point which overlooks the Horseshoe Falls from the American side. We followed one of the many trails to view the rapids before the falls before making our way back to the car.
So if you want to go to see Niagara Falls, but keep hearing “the Canadian side is better” don’t listen to them cause, while maybe it is, the American side is still really impressive. And honestly after we got done with our trip this part was one of favorite stops!
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