Niagara Falls…out of the ordinary

The first, and so far, only time I went to Niagara Falls, I was too little to go out on the observation platform. The trip to see the falls was a special treat for our family. Vacation was always driving to Erie, staying at the Maple Lodge Motel (Room 7 or 5, only—one had a kitchenette, the other was next to the communal kitchenette, long before the microwave and mini fridge in every room days), swimming at the Presque Isle beach with the whale water fountain (I don’t remember it’s number), then stopping for rootbeer floats in a frosted mug  somewhere near Sheakleyville in Mercer County on the way home. Sometimes we bought goats milk fudge there too.

That was vacation. Like chipped ham was lunch meat. It’s the way it was.

But one year we went to Niagara Falls for a day, driving through mile after mile of grapes in New York’s wine country as we headed north out of Erie.

This was back when they gave you real Nor’easter yellow raincoats at the falls, not the plastic bags with hoods you get today, and I remember having the sleeves rolled up to my shoulders and my fingers still didn’t show. I was maybe four-years-old. I couldn’t wait to get out under the waterfall! It took soooo long to get ready, but finally, Paddington-style hat and all, I was about to go out with the rest of my family.

Then someone noticed that cute as I was, I was way too little to go out on the observation platform without being in danger of slipping under the railing and into the churning water.

I’ve been meaning to get back to Niagara Falls, but if I don’t get there this year, I’m going to have to get a new passport. Starting in the fall of 2007 anyone flying between Canada and the United States will need a passport. That requirement extends to those who drive across the border in 2008, unless changes are made in the current law.

If you do venture across the border, look beyond the falls and the casinos. A few attractions my stepdaughter enjoyed were the Butterfly Conservatory, Aero Car and Ripley’s Believe It or Not.

 

If you go, let me know what you found most interesting by e-mailing your comments and photos to chris@howyouspinit.com.

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