Niagara, the Beautiful!

On a handful of occasions, I have had the opportunity to see some of nature’s most magnificent features. Those moments included treks to Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Canyon, Crater Lake, Yosemite National Park and one of the greatest memories of this trip - Niagara Falls.

Trying to describe Niagara Falls could never do it justice. On paper, it is an incredible series of waterfalls with white foamy water cascading over in a constant outpouring of glory. In person, it is so much more than that.

My first morning in Buffalo began with taking a bus up to Niagara and walking over to the Falls area. I started out hopping on to the Maid of the Mist and getting an extremely up close (and wet) view of the falls. As one of the first ones in line, I got a front row spot at the front of the ferry and took in all of the glory emanating from this historic waterfall area.

After exiting the boat, I headed over to Goat Island and stepped out near the Cave of the Winds - yet another location After exiting the boat, I headed over to Goat Island and stepped out near the Cave of the Winds - yet another location where ponchos and flip flops came in handy to avoid getting your clothes soaked. The remainder of my time at Niagara was spent walking around getting angled pics from various locations of the waterfalls, the waterways and the land on both sides of the area.

The downside of this day was that despite having purchased my first passport prior to the trip, I was unable to travel into Canada to see the falls from the north. Although I did get to spend a few minutes in a neutral zone outside of New York the day before when I checked out the Peace Bridge, my hopes of experiencing the land belonging to our neighbors to the north were delayed until another time (thanks a lot, COVID!).

I took the bus back to Buffalo, took in a little bit of the nightlife, and then grabbed some pizza before heading back to the hotel. With Niagara in my rear view and only one more night remaining for my trip, I was ready to kick off the next day getting back on the road and checking out as much as I could on my way back to Philadelphia.