Niagara Revisited

Thirty years ago Ann and I visited Niagara Falls in the pouring rain. In fact it was raining so hard you couldn’t see where the rain stopped and the falls started! This time we were determined to see it on a dry day.

We had arranged to meet Mama Althea, Racheal’s first foster carer, and her friend Chan for lunch en route from our Airbnb. Racheal had responded really positively when she heard Althea’s voice on the phone the night before but the restaurant was very noisy and not Racheal’s favourite environment. She was very serious all through lunch, but happy again when we got outside into the sunshine. We hadn’t seen Althea for six years, so it was lovely to catch up with her.

According to the sat nav it should have been a 90 minute drive to Niagara Falls from our lunch rendezvous. It took double that, so it was 5.30 when we finally pulled into the very expensive car park. However the sun was shining and it was dry, which was the main thing. After Racheal had had her tea, we set off to listen to the incredible sound of 6 million cubic feet of water per minute falling 188ft from top to bottom of Horseshoe Falls, the Canadian section of the falls.

You can get very close to the top of the waterfall on an accessible walkway, but to get even closer we chose to do the ‘Journey Behind the Falls’. A lift took us down to tunnels where where you can look out through the wall of water and then onto a viewing platform just to the side of the base of the falls. Waterproof ponchos are provided, but they are not sufficient to keep anyone dry. Racheal sensibly wore her own! By this time it had gone dark and the water was reflecting the changing coloured lights shining on it from above.

Back up in the open we went for a final look before retreating to the restaurant for a hot drink. And then the drive home, which was much easier with less traffic on the roads.