Part 4: Waterfalls, Slides, and Ponchos

After leaving my Mom’s house, we stopped in Indianapolis to have lunch with two of my closest friends from college, Michelle and Jim.  I not only got to catch up with them but I got to meet their families and they got to meet the girls.  Somehow I forgot to take any pictures, but it was a great time seeing them.

After lunch we continued on.  We didn’t have a destination in mind.  Our plan was to go as far as we could hold out in the car before stopping for the night.  We ended up somewhere in Ohio, but I’m not sure where. 

The next day we arrived in Niagara Falls, Ontario.  After checking into the hotel, we headed down to the tourist section of the city.  During the summer, there is a fireworks display every Friday and Sunday.  We arrived on Sunday and made the mistake of telling Hadley about them.  We then had about 7 hours to fill until the fireworks at 10:00. 

First we went on the Niagara Skywheel, the Ferris wheel that overlooks the Falls and the city.  It was a fun way to get our first look at the Falls and to get an idea of the town.

Niagara Skywheel

Inside the Skywheel car

View from the Ferris wheel

From the Ferris wheel we had spotted the upside down house and dinosaur mini golf.  We also checked out the Mystery Maze and Fun House.

Upside down house

She spotted the bed on the "floor"

Trying to give her ball to the tricerotops

Giant dinosaurs

Crazy mirrors

Where's your tongue?

All of those things didn’t take much time, so we still had a few hours to wait until the fireworks started.  Unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to do any of the big attractions.  After looking through a few souvenir stores and wandering through a park, we settled in to wait for the fireworks.  While the fireworks were fun, we were a little disappointed as they only lasted about 4 minutes.

Lighting of the Falls

Fireworks over the Falls

The next day we had planned most of our big waterfall attractions.  We started out with the Maid of the Mist.  The ferry takes you right to the bottom of the waterfall where you are drenched with the spray.  It was my favorite thing, and Hadley and Gideon liked it as well.  Malia was not a fan at all though and spent most of the boat ride curled into Gideon’s side.

Waiting for the Maid of the Mist to take off

View of the Falls from the Ferry

After our trip on the Maid of the Mist

After Maid of the Mist, we visited the Canadian Midway and had lunch before starting the Journey Behind the Falls.  We donned another poncho and headed down on the elevator to get a view of the Falls from behind. 

Side view

Behind the Falls

We finished off the day with a viewing of Niagara’s Fury, a 4D movie that detailed the creation of the Falls.  Malia wasn’t a fan of the water spraying, so we left a few minutes early.  We were also treated to a rainbow over the top of the Falls before heading to dinner and the hotel for a dip in the pool.

Rainbow over the top of the Falls

The next day we visited the Butterfly Conservatory, White Water Walk, Canadian Midway, and Bronto’s Adventure Playground.  Out of everything, Hadley loved Bronto’s Adventure.  Both of the girls loved the slides, climbing, and just generally being able to run, play, and burn off energy. 

Butterfly Conservatory

Class 6 Rapids

White Water Walk

Canadian Midway

Bronto's Adventure Playground

Attacking Daddy

Our final day in Niagara we went to Bird Kingdom where we were able to hold and feed some of the birds.  We finished the day at the Americana Waterpark.  The waterpark had a great small area for Malia and Hadley had a blast going on the big raft slide with Gideon or me. 

Bird Kingdom

This was the longest vacation we’ve ever taken, and it was definitely an adventure.  The girls did amazing in the car.  It gives me a lot more confidence for future moves and vacations.  Who knows, we may have found a new way of traveling rather than flying.  I’m looking forward to our next adventure.