Niagara Falls

 Youngstown, New York

The journey from Michigan to Youngstown, NY has been our longest and most stressful drive to date.  It took us over eight hours on bumpy and sometimes very narrow roads through Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York to finally arrive at Lewiston KOA in upper New York.

About halfway there, I noticed in our rear view camera, that the way one of our bikes was hanging on the back of the 5th wheel didn't look right.  After a quick stop, we found that the rack's bouncing had caused the front wheel of my bike to come completely off!  So we decided to just take the bike off the rack and put it inside the RV for the duration of the trip.  Looks like I will be returning that bike rack and getting a different brand.  Luckily that was the only thing that fell apart this trip.  Well except for the mysterious sawdust that keeps appearing on the kitchen island every time.  Haven't got that one figured out yet.

Niagara/Horseshoe Fall

We decided that Sunday was going to be our best day to visit the falls since our timing here sucks.  Why I picked the 1st week in July I have no idea.  We have been told it is the busiest time of the year to visit the falls due to Canada Day and our Independence Day later in the week.   They weren't wrong.  The crowds were insane and the parking was even worse!  Dennis and I both got up the next morning with sore calves from walking the entire day.  But hey...we got 'er done and it was so worth it!

For you green thumbs out there, this is picture-proof of waist-high hostas in the park on the Canadian side! (Hint, their growing season started less than a month ago!)

If you have not seen the falls, you seriously need to put them on your bucket list.  Make sure you visit the Canadian side as their parks are awesome and the view of the falls is so much better.  We also took both boat rides so we could compare.  The US one is called the Maid of the Mist and the Canadian one is called the Hornblower.  Once again, we preferred the Canadian one as we felt it went closer to Horseshoe Falls and stayed longer.

New York view of the falls

About to board the Maid of the Mist	Canada in the distance
Seems like every time you turned around there was a rainbow!	A full rainbow over the Maid of the Mist
The falls from the observation deck	Falls from Goat Island
Views from Canada We crossed over to Canada on the Rainbow Bridge and was one of the lucky ones that had to pull over and get searched.  They were very nice about it as they went through the truck with a fine tooth comb. Word of advise ... leave your phone in the vehicle!
Aboard the Hornblower	View of Bridal Veil Falls and Caves of the Winds from Hornblower
View of Horseshoe Falls from Canada	View of Horseshoe Falls from Hornblower
View of American Falls from Hornblower	View of American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls from Canada

For the rest of the week, we hope to visit Whirlpool State Park, Devil's Hole State Park and
the Old Fort Niagara in Youngstown that was originally built in 1726 to protect the interests of New France in North America.

Notes from Dennis:
I absolutely hate getting wet unless I am actually swimming or showering.  So, I was not happy about the idea of standing on the open deck of a boat that was slowly disappearing into the GIANT cloud of mist from the falls.  However, I am very happy that I did not act like a ten-year-old and agreed to go on the short twenty-minute boat ride(s).  More than anything, watching the awe on the faces around us was the best part.

The roads in Michigan were very hit or miss... mostly MISS.  The roads are very harsh on a vehicle, nevermind a 5th wheel bouncing around back there.  We took it slow and easy and attempted to miss the larger holes.

The weather here is "hot" to the Canadians!  Yesterday, while we were at the falls, it was maybe 80 degrees.  I heard tale that in Atlanta, GA today, it was about 105 and humid.  Nope!  I do not miss it, thank you very much.

Back to the wee dram...