Niagara Falls USA

I was up early this morning (somewhere around 5:30am) but opted to lay in bed and read. After a while Thomas and I got up and ready for the day. Around 8:00am we left the hotel, turned left and walked along Rainbow Blvd. to 1st St. where we took another left. We followed 1st St. which took us onto a bridge that crossed the Niagara River over to Goat Island.

Once onto Goat Island we turned right onto Goat Island Road and followed it to Cave of the Winds. We were a little early and had to wait about 15 minutes before they opened the ticket window. We were two of only five people there waiting and I was excited that it wouldn't be crowded at the exhibit. We followed the roped off walkway, was issued a poncho and sandals and then we entered an elevator that took us to the platform that lead to the base of the American Falls. With the water falling from above, hitting and flowing over the rocks and wind it was a very wet experience. And as we went from platform to platform and got closer to the base of the Falls we definitely felt that Cave of the Winds was the perfect name - the wind whips around and sprays water everywhere. We made it up to a platform called Hurricane Deck. Being from Louisiana and having experienced a few hurricanes I think they aptly named this area. This brought us to the end and we made our back to the elevators totally drenched. The poncho and sandals helped some but not much. Thankfully it was a beautiful, sunny, and warm day which helped us to dry off relatively fast. I loved this tour - it was fun and exhilarating!

We had towels so we were able to dry off a bit and then sit on a bench in the sun for a while before continuing with our day. Off we went to Terrapin Point. This brought us to the edge of Horseshoe Falls. We took pictures, enjoyed the views and talked about how much we have loved this trip. Then we walked over to the Nikola Tesla statue and then crossed over to Luna Island which brought us to the edge of the Bridal Veil Falls and the American Falls.
At this point we had great views of the Cave of the Winds Decks, Bridal Veil Falls and the American Falls. We could also see the boats for the Maid of the Mist tour and the Observation Tower. Next we followed a trail along the Niagara River and crossed a bridge to Green Island and then over to the main part of Niagara Falls State Park.
We took paths that lead us to Maid of the Mist ticket booth. We got our tickets and followed the line to the boat. When I say line it really wasn't a big line, more like a trickle. Once on the boat it was a short wait for the ride to the base of the Horseshoe Falls. This was our second trip to the base of the Falls. We took the Hornblower Tour on the Canadian side a few days ago. We enjoyed the first trip so much we decided to do it again. We didn't get nearly as wet as we did at Cave of the Winds and we dried off much quicker this time. After the boat ride we made our way to the Observation Tower just to get some views. We took a few pictures, hung out, and then decided it was time to move on.

By this time we were hungry so we made our way to Hard Rock Cafe and had a leisurely and relaxing lunch. After eating we walked through One Niagara Welcome Center and looked around a bit. Then we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel. Tomorrow we check out of this hotel so we took some time to organize and pack and then we sat around and read for a while. Later we walked a couple of blocks to The Twisted Olive for some dinner before calling it a night. We had a great time in Niagara Falls and I am so glad we took this trip. We also came at a great time - it wasn't busy and there were no crowds - extremely enjoyable and we check off another item on our bucket list. We have one more day on this trip and we will spend it in the Buffalo area.