Well after a summer of amazing weekend trips, we finished off our adventures with one very ambitious weekend. Very ambitious.

Friday night at 6 we took off on a 5 1/2 hour road trip to Palmyra. We arrived at our "luxurious" (no visible bugs) travel lodge accommodations and packed our whole family into one hotel room (a feat we have never done, and the kids did great). We woke up the next morning and drove another hour and a half to Niagara Falls (the American side).


We have been to New York, Washington D.C., Hershey, and Philadelphia this Summer. But spending the day at Niagara falls was far and away my favorite trip we have taken. Jackson was almost paralyzed with excitement to see the "huge, huge, huge, HUGE waterfall." We started the day braving the falls at the Cave of the Winds. We all donned some stylish yellow ponchos and made our way down the rickety looking steps (why did I think this was safe?). Bennett cried. and cried. and cried. Was it the sound of the waterfall? The wet conditions? The crowds of people? No, it was the poncho that had him in a tiff. He spent the next 20 minutes clawing at the plastic trying to free his body from the yellow poncho of death. Aside from that it was fun to be so close to the falls. We even got Bennett distracted enough to take this semi decent picture.

Afterwards we sat through an imax movie. It was all about tales and legends of people going over the falls. It talked of Blondin the Acrobat who walked over Niagara Falls on a tightrope, the woman who went over in a barrel and survived, and a family who's boat stopped working throwing them over the falls, only to survive the fall. It was incredibly interesting and [dangit] made me cry again (why did becoming a mom have to make me stinking emotional? Even 101 dalmations makes me cry and I don't even like dogs!)

Afterwards we announced to Jackson that we were going to go on the boat (the Maid of the Mist) that takes us right by the falls. His eyes got huge and he got very quiet. "Are we going to go down the waterfall?" I guess watching the movie gave him the jitters, and he was petrified.


The Maid of this Mist was an unreal experience. We again donned ponchos (blue this time, a much more fashionable color) and walked on the boat. Bennett was an angel (he was a pro with the plastic clothing by this point) and Jackson was a zombie. He stared and stared at those falls. It was amazing to be in this little boat rolling and rocking with the rapids as we neared closer and closer to the enormous falls. The mist was so much I had to back into the middle of the boat at times. Greg and Jackson were loving it! It felt more like a thrill ride than I expected. Worth every penny.




The day was wonderful. On our weekend trips we often do things that are fun for the kids, but that wouldn't be considered "fun" for adults (aside from the joy of watching your kids have fun). But I think the kids loved Niagara falls just as much as we did. I would love to go back for more than a day and maybe spend some time on the Canada side.

Coming Soon: Part 2: