William's Report
On June 8, 2001, Chris, Grandma, Grandpa, and I set out on a vacation to Niagra Falls, New York. The trip of over 300 miles took 8 hours. We left home at 6:45 with Grandpa driving and Chris navigating. For breakfast we ate at McDonalds in Hershey. I had a medium coke and 2 hash browns. For lunch we stopped at a restaurant that is called the Lighthouse Family Restaurant. That was in Bradford, which is a town close to the border of New York and Pennsylvania.
We stayed at a hotel called The Holiday Inn. We were 2-4 blocks away from the falls. An easy walking distance, but enough for Grandpa to get his exercise.
There was a balloon ride 2 blocks from the hotel. Chris, Grandpa and I went on it. It went up to 400 feet. You could almost see the whole city from up there, including some of Niagra Falls, Canada. We then walked the remaining distance to the falls.
After that we went to Canada. We went to the Butterfly Conservatory. We saw a lot of butterflies there that we never heard of before (or seen for thatmatter). One liked Grandpa and landed on the back of his pants. There was one elusive butterfly that we saw land only once to feed. The top of the wings was a reflective blue. We only got one shot of it (and not a very good one at that).
When we got back to the U.S.A., we ate at the restaurant at the hotel. It is called Denny's. Our waiter acted like Richard Simmons. His name is Phoenix. He got mad then, and said he was not as annoying as Richard Simmons. That was one of the funniest nights there.
Then we saw the illumination of the falls. That was very beautiful as was the fireworks.
The next day (Saturday) we went on the VIP tour. It lasted 8 hours. First we went to Luna Island and were between the American Falls and the Bridal Vail Falls. After that we went to the Journey behind the falls. We went within 2 yards of the Horseshoe Falls. It was really misty when we went out on the platform near the falls.
Then we did the Maid of the Mist boat ride. We started from the Canadian side. We went right under the Horseshoe Falls. This was my favorite part of the trip.
We ate at the penthouse at the Sheraton hotel. Then we went to the gift shop.
Next we went to the Great Gorge Adventure. We were walking very close to the lower rapids.
Next we went to the whirlpool. The water goes around the whirlpool once and then goes north again. The water coming in is going west and only goes into the whirlpool because it cannot make the lefthand turn. The Spanish Aero Car goes over the whirlpool.
After that we went to the Minolta tower and got some good pictures from up there. From there you can see the falls from above. We then went back to the hotel. Then we went swimming in the pool at the hotel.
Then we went up the parkway looking for Fort Niagra which is located at the mouth of the Niagra River. We found it, but it was closed. The people that were there told us that the fort opened at 9:00, and the demonstrations started at 10:00.
The next day (Sunday), we went to fort Niagra. Fort Niagra started as a house built by the French. They then turned it into a frontier post and fort. The rest of the fort was built later. They had companies there of the different nationalities. They were marching to the fifes and drums. The most interesting thing there was the medical person (surgeon). He recruited a boy scout and showed what he would do if something happened to the person. There were special demonstrations that day because it was the kings birthday.
The next place we went was Fort George. That is up the river in Canada. It used to go to just across the river from Fort Niagra. The way that Fort George is built, it can repel any enemy that is at the wall. There are places that stick out some for cannons to fire from. These places are high and you can see over the trees (well, the small ones at least). There is lots of wide open space in the middle, unlike Fort Niagra. The lookout post that was a few yards from the main fort. There were 2 levels to look from. To get to it you had to take a path under the 2 walls and climb a set of stairs.
That night we took one last look at the falls at night. We got a good spot on the observation platform. That was cantilevered over the river from the top of the cliff on the American side to the middle of the river. In the center of the platform there was a tower. It had elevators going from the top of the tower 4 floors above it to the Maid of the Mist that started from the US side (this is not the one we took).
The next morning (Monday), we started for home at about 6:30. I was the navigator this time. We stopped on the way for breakfast. As usual Grandpa found someone to talk to. After getting to Corning, we went to the museum of glass. We ate at McDonalds. After we ate we got off corse and had to retrace our steps. From then on we had almost no trouble getting home.
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