The Harvey Family: Anniversary Trip to Niagara Falls

Chris and I decided to visit Niagara Falls for our 10 year anniversary trip. It took about 8 hours to drive there and 7 to get back. The strangest part of the drive was going through up state New York because there was a whole lot of nothing other than grape crops growing all over. We were really close to Lake Eerie for most of our drive but we could only see it a little bit while we were in Ohio. We made the mistake of crossing into Canada at the Peace Bridge which seems to be where a lot of people cross over (way more than those just going to visit Niagara Falls). We waited in line for over half an hour and of course since I was driving, we got the slow lane (me and my luck...).

Since we had a lot of time to chill, here are a few pictures as we inched toward the check point.

Unlucky number 13, woops.

Some grapes growing behind one of the rest stops in Pennsylvania.

Once we got into Canada we really got to see how fast the Prius could go! He's never been over 100 before so the hundreds digit light was way brighter than the other digits. They drive in km/hr in Canda ;)

Yay, no kids!! (But we had been up since 4am or earlier...)

We stayed at the Sterling Inn and Spa and it was really a nice place. It was converted from an old milk factory.

Our room was super nice and huge.

The bathroom!

Looking back toward the entry.

On the first day we took a walk along Niagara Parkway which has incredible views of the falls from street level. It is a beautiful walk and the weather on our trip was absolutely perfect (high of 70 and sunny)!

An interesting tree.

We got our first views of the falls and were in awe (although we thought they would be bigger/taller).

The viewing platform on the left is the best spot to see the falls from the American side. I'm SO SO glad we decided to visit the Canadian side because the views were incredible.

People can go on a zipline along the falls which I bet would've been really cool.

If you look closely you can see where you can go down to the base of Bridal Veil Falls on the American side.

The falls really do look big when you compare them to the people up on the viewing area on the left.

Clifton Hill was an area that we had to walk through to get from our hotel to the falls and it was as touristy as it gets. Lots of food, candy shops, souvenir shops, and amusement rides.

For dinner that night we had pizza at Antica which was recommended to us and it was quite good!

The hotel served us breakfast in bed both mornings that we were there. It was really fresh food and nice to not have to go anywhere to get it. We got yogurt with fresh granola, croissants with jelly, hard boiled eggs, fresh fruit, orange juice, and coffee. I've never had french press coffee so that was a new for one me.

Thank goodness for instructions.

The second day, we got our fill of the falls from all angles. First we did the Journey Behind the Falls where you go down an elevator near the Horseshoe falls and get right next to the bottom of it. That was the best spot to really appreciate the power behind all that water rushing down.

The view as you come out of the tunnel, onto the viewing deck.

The Rainbow Bridge and American and Bridal Veil falls in the background.

Horseshoe Falls

Then with people so you can get a feel for the size.

The next thing we did was to go on the Hornblower Cruise which took us right to the base of all 3 falls. Even though it was a Friday, the lines weren't bad at all and we got right on the first boat. The worker told us that each boat can fit 700 people, but thankfully not that many were on there.

Selfie with Horseshoe Falls behind us.

The views from the boat were definitely unique and I'm so glad we did it!

Rainbow Bridge

Coming up on Horseshoe Falls

You can see the Journey Behind the Falls on the right

These next 2 are some of my favorite from the trip. Horseshoe Falls first (look how tiny the people on the street look).

American and Bridal Veil Falls next.

It was hard to get all the falls in the same shot, but this was the best I could manage as they ushered us off the boat.

Then the last view we had to get was from the top of Skylon Tower. We didn't expect to enjoy that view as much as we did, but were blown away with how cool it was to actually see the Niagara River beyond the falls that feed into the falls themselves.

Panoramic view from my phone actually did it justice I think.

The observation deck.

Later that night we went out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary and got all dolled up!

To top off the day, we headed back down to the falls to see the illumination of the falls which start around 8pm this time of year, and then fireworks at 10pm.