Jim and Kim's Travels: A Reunion with Friends in Niagara Falls

After a wonderful visit with friends in Gananoque, it was on to Niagara Falls to meet up with our friends, Barb and Ed.

Our room wasn't ready. Would I like an upgrade? So this seems to be the trip of upgrades. Sign me up.

Interesting...a hallway and then...what was the bed doing there? Did I just get scammed?

But no...around the corner was our bedroom with a magnificent view! And a massage chair? Why not?

Spoiler alert! You'll see this view many times. Every time I looked at it, I thought it was photo worthy.

And a little rainbow appeared...it happens every afternoon when the sun hits the mist at a certain angle.

We stayed at the Embassy Suites on the 26th floor. It was wonderful.

Pretty ceiling in the lobby. It kind of reminded me of the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. In fact, Niagara Falls very much reminded me of Las Vegas.

And here we are reunited with our travelling friends, Barb and Ed. We met on an airplane going to China and realized that we were on the same cruise. We've been cruising and travelling together ever since. We had last seen them in October 2019 when we did a Mediterranean cruise together before the pandemic hit the world.

Barb looked pretty relaxed in the massage chair...

Our night view...

With fireworks...

In the morning, the mist was rising off the falls. Having coffee with this view each day was a highlight.

We decided to do a little tour. A boat journey, maple syrup tasting, 3-1/2 hours...it sounded relaxing.

In the background, in the water, you can see the remnants of a scow, which has been stuck there since 1918.

And before we knew it, we were doing our boat journey. It used to be called the Maid of the Mist, but the Canadian boats are now the Hornblowers. I don't know what boat journey I thought I was taking, but I had not planned to do this again. Once was enough!

However, here we are!

The Rainbow Bridge connects Niagara Falls, Canada with Niagara Falls, USA. The viewing platform in the foreground is the only place where Americans can see both the American falls and the Canadian falls at the same time.

The American falls...

The American falls with the smaller Bridal Veil falls on the right...if you look closely, you can see people standing between them at the top.

Yeah...totally given up on the hair by now.

Lots of spray from the falls!

No point in trying to stay dry...

Skylon Tower on the right behind the old Rankine Generating Station, which opened in 1905 and was decommissioned in 2006. It was reopened in 2021 as a tourist site.

And there you have it...wet and still smiling.

Back under the Rainbow Bridge...

Looking back at the American and Canadian falls...

From there we headed over to the Niagara Whirlpool, located in the Niagara gorge downstream from the falls. Its greatest depth is 125 feet.

Beautiful colours...

For $17, you can take the Aero Car across the gorge.

Barb and Ed still drying out from the falls...

Next stop, a tourist place. I remembered being here years ago. We did some maple syrup tasting and bought a few yummies.

This was pretty...

Back on our little bus, returning to the falls. The colours were so pretty.

Blurry shot of Clifton Hill...we didn't feel the need to do the real touristy things. The cruise was enough!

The lights on the falls at night come from here...new LED technology.

I wanted to do the "behind the falls" experience and then once we got there, remembered doing it before. Oh well, when in Niagara Falls...

Don't we look happy! 😃

Pretty much like a big rainstorm, although it was very loud.

This story was really interesting. The only person to go over the falls unintentionally and survive.

Another lookout beneath the falls...

We spent some time walking around the falls and the Table Rock Centre.

The prices at the restaurants close to the falls are pretty outrageous. An omelette at IHOP was $35. This Chicken Caesar salad was $33 and $35 if you wanted your chicken crispy.

Another beautiful morning...the weather was spectacular. Earlier in the week, the forecast for the weekend had been pretty rainy, but it was wonderful.

On Sunday morning, Jim and I headed towards Hamilton to meet up with two of my on-line friends. It absolutely poured on the way there, and we decided to meet closer by in Grimsby. My friend, Alicia, had told us that she stopped here one time and bought a donut at Tim Horton's. On the way out, a bird swooped down and stole her donut. We now refer to this place as the scene of the bird attack.

Jan and Alicia...I had not met either of them in person before, but we chat regularly on-line. So nice to meet in real life! Alicia has a healthy living program on-line. Her workouts are amazing for improving strength.

It was windy...and we were giggly!

Jim and Alicia's husband popped in, including Alicia's very shy puppy, Lord Darnsley.

I'll give you a different view of the falls...look at the parking lot on a Sunday!

Barb and Ed and I walked over to the casino...

Of course, it was uphill!

Very pretty inside. Ed got a coffee and waited while Barb won $100 and I lost $11.

Another little rainbow...

We went to the Keg located in our hotel for dinner. Expensive, but delicious! Someone has to pay for that view!

The different colours of the falls that night...

And with that our whirlwind trip of reunions was over. Time to hit the road...lots of traffic, but construction delays weren't too bad.

We broke the trip into 3 days. Gone are the days when we would drive from Toronto to New Brunswick in a day! Jim enjoyed a beer compliments of Ed in Riviere-du-Loup.