Maid Of The Mist

Day 4
Niagra Falls, Buffalo
July 1^st

Our next destination was to Niagara Falls, NY.  I haven’t been there since college and even then, I don’t think I had a full experience.  The plan was to go on the Maid of the Mist and get a close up look at the falls!  I was so excited to do this.  I don’t think the kids had any idea of the magnitude of the falls.

The ride there was smooth.  We were checking the weather to see if the rain was going to be a problem and it looked like we’d make it there during a window of no rain.  Since we were driving through Buffalo, NY we wanted to stop by the birthplace of the buffalo wing!  Buffalo wings are very popular in our home and we needed to pay homage!

We made it to Anchor Bar in time for lunch.  We heard it may be crowded, but fortunately it wasn’t at all.  We ordered about 50 wings and a large pepperoni pizza.  It was a lot of food!  At home, only a few of us eat wings.  Joe & I always eat them.   Patrick is the only child that regularly eats them with us.  Bernadette occasionally eats them if I tear the meat off the bones for her.  After feeding Max his lunch of butternut squash, I gave him some of the wings (w/o the hot stuff) and he liked them so much he had around 2 or 3 wings!  The wings were really yummy and the pizza was really delicious, too.  We had plenty of leftovers to take with us.

 

We found our hotel right near the falls, got settled in and then proceeded to walk to the Falls.  Once we got there we found the place to buy our Maid of the Mist tickets.  We made our way to the boat and were given our blue plastic ponchos.

Since I was carrying Max with my baby carrier, I tore a hole in mine so his head could stick out and still be protected.

There were two levels of the boat we could ride on – we chose the top, of course!  As we approached the falls, it got windier and the mist started get heavier.  The kids were loving it!  As we got closer you could feel the power behind it all.  It was fierce and a bit scary at the thought of just getting closer.  It was definitely an experience.  The ride was too short because once we got there we turned around and headed back. 

We walked around some of the other viewing areas of the falls.  I loved the mist. 

The Canada side was so close, too bad we couldn’t cross over for just a while.  It was neat enough to be able see another country.

Back at the motel, we started munching on our leftovers.  We did so much walking that even Tommy decided to eat some wings.  He decided right there that he liked wings and ate a handful of them.  So far on this trip, Tommy has surprised me with the new foods he’s taking to – wings and burgers.  Wow.  That makes me happy.

Another great trip with new memories and experiences.  Thank you God!

The next day we were headed to Butler, PA to visit Joe’s brother Tom and his family!