We went to Canada! (and not the one in EPCOT!)

[Beckers 1,136]

Brian and I have been talking about taking a trip to Niagara Falls for about 10 years, and just never got around to it. I have been twice (once when I was 2, and then again around 12) so I didn't remember much and really wanted to go back. Brian had 2 weeks of vacation scheduled and we hadn't planned on doing anything. We priced out a Disney Cruise because they had a Fl residents deal going on (my parents are FL residents and would have went with us) but it just wasn't going to work. So Saturday the  27th of July, I said to Brian, hey let's go to Niagara Falls. Next thing I knew, I was trying to throw together a trip! This slightly stressed me out  :1sm056pullhair:  because I like time to research and make sure we get a good deal, know everything there is to see, etc (hello spreadsheets!). We decided that would leave Tuesday after lunch and would come home Saturday.

 

We had a few things that made this trip different than others, I'm pregnant and my OB said we needed to stop every 2 hours so I could get out and walk, it's the longest car ride Adam has ever been on, and his food allergies. I knew that Canada was supposedly better than the US but I was still nervous about food. We have only vacationed at Disney and rented a shore house, so food hasn't been an issue on vacations in the past. Oh, and my MIL was coming with us. It was probably better than we had less time to plan, or in my case less time to panic. 

 

Brian had an apt Tuesday morning, so while he was there, I finished up packing, my MIL showed up and entertained Adam. We ate lunch at home, and planned on making sandwiches, etc to eat for dinner on the ride up. Brian was home by 12:30 and finished loading the  and we were on the road by 1:15. We were all of 2 miles from our house and about to cross the bridge and saw a car almost hit the toll gate on the bridge, I was hoping that wasn't a sign of things to come! 

 

I don't have any pictures from the ride up because I couldn't reach my camera, bad packing I know! A few notable things, Brian admitted he should have looked at the map better because he missed the turn for the NE extension of the PA turnpike and it added about 15 mins to the trip. We saw a truck that had a painting of Jesus and the devil arm wrestling, which was really odd. We made a pit stop at 3, by 3:45 Adam started to get bored, I had gone to the Dollar Store and bought some toys, coloring books, activities etc for in the car. I had wrapped them and labeled them so I knew what I was giving him. The first was a cookie sheet with magnets, I bought cars and dinosaur erasers and put magnets on the back of them. He was so excited for a present and was so cute "Thank you for the gift, I really love it" he played with them until we stopped at 5:30 at a rest area for dinner. We ate dinner and let him run around for a while and were back on the road by 6:10. We stopped at 7 to get gas, and at 7:25 I gave Adam another presents (notebook and stickers) to play with, once it got dark I let him play ipad for a little big ( I had bought him the Doc McStuffins app before we left) and at 9:03 we reached Lockport, NY. We were staying at the Best Western Plus in Lockport for the night. We had driven 424 miles.

[Beckers 1,136]

The reason for stopping in Lockport, NY was wanting to go on the   Lockport Locks and  Erie Canal Cruise the following morning. The hotel was about 10 mins from there. It was a pretty decent hotel, It was $120 for the night for 3 adults and Adam, we had a room with 2 queen beds and it had a little fridge which was good because we always bring soda, water, and juice. Plus we had some food that needed to stay cold. The hotel was clean, and they had really soft towels and I liked their shampoo and conditioner. The next morning they had a free breakfast, grits, toast, breakfast sandwich that you could microwave, some funky looking eggs, cereal and juice and fruit. Adam and I weren't impressed so we ate bagel thins with cinnamon cream cheese that we had brought but my MIL and Brian ate their food. They said the sandwiches were pretty decent for what they were.

 

We checked out and headed to Lockport Locks and  Erie Canal Cruise.

 

 

 

Adam needed a haircut before we went, I was busy packing and Brian and him decided a mohawk was needed... oh and Duffy joined us on our trip.

 

The boat we went on 

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

First!

 

Looking forward to more.

[Beckers 1,136]

Dry dock

 

 

Bad picture of the upside down train bridge. Part of it was smoking when we went under it, that was a little odd.

 

 

Lock 34, on the right is a series of 5 old locks that is now used as a spillway. 

 

We went through locks 34 and 35 which are the last locks of the Erie Canal. The white building is a museum but we forgot to go there. 

 

 

 

Between this lock and number 35, we were raised 49.1 feet. 

 

 

Pretty buildings along the side of the canal. 

 

 

Some info

 

Video of the gates closing as we get into Lock 35 and prepared to be tied to the wall. 

 

 

This shows you a view from the top of the locks (the boat goes through both locks, and rides about 20 mins up the canal and turns around and comes back through them again) You can get an idea here of how high we were and where the locks had to lower us down to to continue on the canal. 

 

Selfie

[alexwyattmommy 181]

Very cool, the locks.  Course now I have that song stuck in my head, thank you.

[alexwyattmommy 181]

I refuse to be the only one

 

http://bit.ly/pPT2qe

[Beckers 1,136]

A good view of the upside down train bridge. Remember I said part of it was smoking before? Look what is there now. 

 

The firefighters were pumping water from the canal and spraying the bridge. 

 

Here are the firefighter's waving to Adam. 

 

Since they had been spraying down the bridge, it was dripping when we went under it, which totally made Adam's day. 

 

A neat building and an old boat they are currently restoring. 

 

This bridge had to go up for us to continue our cruise. The neat thing is that when it is up, pedestrians can cross over it still. They said they school kids stand there and wait for it to go up so they can cross it while a boat passes under. 

 

This little park was about 5 mins from where we took the boat ride from, we ended up coming back here to eat our lunch (we still had stuff left from the day before to eat) they had bathrooms there too.

 

 

The cruise on the Erie Canal was about and hour and 45 mins. It was really worth it, I think it was about $45 for Brian, Adam and I. It was a nice relaxing ride and going through the locks was awesome. They explained some technical stuff about them, but that just goes in one ear and out the other for me. We took the earliest cruise they had (10 am) and there was maybe 30 people on the boat. It was nice because it wasn't even close to full, so you could spread out and move around easily. I would highly recommend doing it if you are ever in the area. 

[Beckers 1,136]

kfk

[Beckers 1,136]

I refuse to be the only one

 

http://bit.ly/pPT2qe

 

Lowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww bridge, everybody down!!! 

 

Funny thing is that is the one thing my friend and I remember when her parents took us on the same boat 18 years ago. 

[Beckers 1,136]

First!

 

Looking forward to more.

 

yeah for being first!

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I'm in! Love the mohawk.

[Beckers 1,136]

As we drove to the little park we saw, we had to stop and take this picture.

I'm not sure why the street sign is so insanely high? Brian is over 6 foot, to give you an idea of how tall it is. My dad said because of all the snow they get, but I'm not sure if he was joking or not.

After we had lunch we were heading to Niagara Falls. We saw this sign, and had to stop and take a pic with is. Me and my Odd Fellow lol. I hardly ever see my name spelled how I spell it, so that was great and the Odd Fellow made it even better. He is an odd fellow and I'm a Rebekah, just not the type the sign is for.

I think we were only about 45 mins from Niagara Falls. We stopped at Devil Hole Park on the drive to The Falls.

Whirlpool Jet boat rides. Brian wanted to do these but thankfully Adam was too young (have to be 6) and I wasn't doing it because of being pregnant. They look like fun if you are adventurous.

Selfie. I needed a nap at this point.

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

The locks tour seems pretty cool and I love the pics of the river from up high.

 

We did the Soo Locks in the U.P. when I was a kid....I bet I would appreciate it more now.

 

Brian is not that odd of a fellow as I recall.  He likes camping and beer after all.

[Beckers 1,136]

Next we stopped at the Whirlpool Scenic Overlook 

 

Great Wolf Lodge in the background and the Whirlpool Aero Car (we rode this later on)

 

 

Crazy people down by the rapids. 

 

Pretty Flowers

 

 

Next up was Niagara Falls State Park. We paid our $10 to park (kind of tricky but there are people with vest trying to wave you into their parking lots instead of the official State Park lot) we headed to the visitor center to get started. 

 

 

 

The 3 things we wanted to do first was the Maid of the Mist, The Observation Tower and the Cave of the Winds. The aquarium was on our list, if we had time. 

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Great pics!  Looking forward to more.

[Judy in Texas 150]

Oh, The Maid of the Mist! I've seen those crazy people down there. You were much braver then me!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

yes, it's true that in some areas of Western NY the road signs are extra tall because of deep snow.  But Lockport is not in a snowbelt, so i doubt that is the case.  Where INC and I lived before moving to TN, as well as the town we grew up in, was in the snow belt off of Lake Erie.  We averaged 165 inches/year, so the signs would often "disappear". 

 

The great wolf lodge was not there the last time I was over in NF, Canada.  Would be a nice place to visit, or spend a winter weekend. 

 

Those cable cars freak me out.  Freak....me....out! 

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

I refuse to be the only one

http://bit.ly/pPT2qe

It was going through my head the moment I read the words Erie Canal.

Enjoying your report SBB!

[Beckers 1,136]

We let Adam choose which we did first and he wanted to do the Maid of the Mist.

I had read ahead of time the suggestion of wearing shorts so the bottoms of your pants don't get wet and not wearing your good sneakers (tennis shoes, whatever they are called in your area) so your good shoes aren't soaked the whole trip. This proved to be good advice.

We bought our tickets and went right to the elevator that would bring us to the bottom of the observation tower and to the loading area for Maid of the Mist. They had just finished loading a boat as we had gotten down there so we were probably in the first group of 30 to load the next one (the US and Canada both have loading docks and were both running 2 boats).

He insisted on wearing his poncho as soon as he got it, it was hot so the rest if us held off for a few mins.

You can see behind us there isn't much of a line and the people aren't tighty pack in.

[Beckers 1,136]

I didn't take any pictures on the boat because I didn't want my camera to get soaked. We were WET! Mist is an understatement, it should be maid of the soaking or something. We stood on the top of the boat and had a great time, we were really getting pelted with the water. I wish I would have had a water proof camera. It seemed like we were by the horseshoe falls forever, we later were able to time the boats (from our room) and its about 7-8 mins that you are by the falls. The power of the falls and the noise is just amazing. Since we were toward the front of the boat and up top we waited for the boat to clear before trying to get off. This worked out for Adam because the captain came down and waved to him. This was another highlight for him. Firefighters and a boat captain in the same day!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Do you have any idea how lucky you are they now use disposable ponchos?  I remember riding that boat when I was younger and you picked a rain coat from a row of hooks to wear.  Those raincoats smelled like they had been in use since the Roosevelt administration.  Pick your Roosevelt...either way it's a long time for wet rubber to be in contact with sweaty skin, day after day, year after year. 

[Beckers 1,136]

These photos are from the observation tower (it is included in the price of your Maid of the mist ticket or you purchase it by itself).

I had to resist the urge to bump into every tool that was taking pics with their iPads.

[Beckers 1,136]

Do you have any idea how lucky you are they now use disposable ponchos? I remember riding that boat when I was younger and you picked a rain coat from a row of hooks to wear. Those raincoats smelled like they had been in use since the Roosevelt administration. Pick your Roosevelt...either way it's a long time for wet rubber to be in contact with sweaty skin, day after day, year after year.

When my parents took us (when I was 2) it was the yellow raincoats. The thought of that makes me want to gag. Other people's sweat and funk :barf:

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I didn't take any pictures on the boat because I didn't want my camera to get soaked. We were WET! Mist is an understatement, it should be maid of the soaking or something.

 

Yep! 

 

Here's a couple I took in 2009, showing how close you get, and what the mist does to a camera lens.  LOL.   

 

 

[alexwyattmommy 181]

Do you get to keep the poncho?  Because that is a cool souvenir.