Niagara at Night

After leaving the O Canada 'Eh?! dinner show, I headed back to the falls to see the nightly illumination. As you can see to the left, it was a very foggy and rainy night! The large tower behind the shops is the casino, but it's almost entirely fogged in!

I had to illegally park to get these photos (many others were pulled off the road as well...I don't think the bike patrols were out that night) and it was quite difficult running thru puddles in sandals and a nice outfit (no rain gear..actually no coat either) carrying a camera mounted to an extended tripod!

I normally would have had more patience and stayed longer, but I was getting soaked to the bone and was worried about my camera as I didn't have a protective cover for that either & it was totally exposed!

For a Great Time in Niagara Falls,Call....

So, while in Niagara Falls, it was highly recommended that for dinner & an evening of entertainment I take in the Oh Canada Eh?! dinner show. Well, it was well worth the price paid to see their 3,406th production of this fabulous show!





They describe it as a musical celebration of Canada that features 45 songs either written or made famous by Canadians, like Shania Twain, Paul Anka, Anne Murray, Gordon Lightfoot & many more! They work the songs into skits that poke lighthearted fun about all things Canadian, French explorers, trappers, lumberjacks, Mounties, Anne of Green Gables, and hockey just to name a few!

The performers actually do all their own vocals and are accompanied by a bassist and a keyboardist. The performers are also your servers! So, it does get a little hectic bringing you out food and attending to you while skits are ongoing and making sure they get into their appropriate costume on time! No need to fear, the guests are always WELL taken care of and not so much as a hiccup in the service!

Here during dinner, we are being serenaded by a server who reminds me of the Gordon Fisherman! Oh, did I mention...the dinner was great too! Pea Soup, fresh garden salad, Alberta roast beef, Atlantic Haddock, Manitoba roasted chicken, Prince Edward Island new potatoes, new Brunswick vegetable medley, bread and maple chocolate mania cake for dessert! The dinner is served family style at a table of about 18 I'd say, so it gets you acquainted with your seatmates if you don't know them, Well, on one side it did, the man to my left was rather unsociable, he ate with his back to me, asking the wait staff to pass him something rather than his neighbors. Oh well....also, everything is VERY casual, come as you are, but come hungry, they will refill the serving bowls as often as needed!

They also get the audience involved too! In this skit a floozy from the wild west, steps out of her saloon and onto the dining area to serenade an unsuspecting cutie on whom she had a crush!

The skits were all so creative, and their voices were for a Broadway show! I could hardly eat my dinner as I was laughing so hard! The laughter was loud and continuous (except for the grump to my left). They even celebrate with you! The boy to my right was celebrating his birthday, they also sang to honeymooners, anniversary couples and 1 lady celebrating a new job!So, if you happen to be going to Niagara Falls, or, they also have a show in Canmore/Banff, Alberta, please reserve a ticket! It will probably be your best night out of your vacation! But, remember to call & reserve your seat early, its very popular with tour groups (4 tour buses were out back) and it only seats about 300 guests. Seating is assigned in order of purchase, the front tables cost about $10 more but well worth it. I didn't make my reservation until about a week before and there were only 1/2 dozen seats left in the whole place and the front row was all that was left. Please take it in, and don't go with a full bladder or you'll pee your pants from laughing too hard!!

Maid of the Monsoon

So what's a trip to Niagara Falls without a ride on the famous attraction Maid of the Mist??!! Still in my Gore-Tex from Journey Behind the Falls, I decided no time like the present (and lines were short too!) boarded Maid of the Mist VII for the drenching experience. Boarding was just short of the American Falls and you cruise up the Niagara River toward the Horseshoe Falls, eventually ending up underneath them, then returning to the dock.

Here you see 2 boats going in opposite directions past the American Falls.

The American Falls are 1100 feet across, 176 foot high and the daytime flow rate of the water over the brink is an astounding 75,000 gallons per SECOND! As you can see the bottoms of these are quite visibly rocky, perhaps that is the reason most adventurers that go over in barrels and kayaks, etc. choose the Horseshoe Falls.

Here's a closeup of the Bridal Veil Falls.

View of the American Falls from the deck of Maid of the Mist VII on the Niagara River.

Here is how close the boat actually gets to the falls as seen from pictures I tool the following day in New York.

The dark objects on the deck are actually people in their thin plastic royal blue rain ponchos! The kind you buy at the store for a dollar or two, but at amusement parks they charge more like $10! I opted for my tried & tested Gore-Tex! Excellent choice!

However, the spray as the boat got closer got more intense with every minute! Here I am still pretty distant and I am already starting to get the spray as you can see on my photo! I'm glad I decided to stand on the bottom deck near the rear. At least that part is covered! I am beginning to wonder if the folks up top aren't regretting their decision.

A few minutes later we were not even quite as far
as the stopping point, but by this time, I really needed a windshield wiper for my eyeballs and my camera lens! My chamois cover just wasn't cutting it! I really had zero visibility and the water was beginning to sting my eyes. So, at this point, I left the rail and headed toward the center with my back to the falls and my camera inside my jacket to best protect it. I think the term Maid of the Mist is a misnomer, it was waaayyyy more that a mist, it should be renamed Maid of the MONSOON! Anyway, it was rather enjoyable, but I would NOT recommend the top deck. Hmmm, just had an idea, I wonder if you can use Rain-X on a camera lens? That would have helped (maybe)!

Niagara Falls...the Canadian Version

Welcome to Horseshoe Falls in Niagara Falls, Ontario! Approximately 154 MILLION gallons of water rush over this 2500 foot curved waterfall every MINUTE, tumbling down 176 feet! This is of course during daylight hours....no, they don't exactly "turn the falls off" at night, BUT...between roughly midnight and 8 am up to 50% of the water is diverted upriver to the hydroelectric plants. Both the Sir Adam Beck II and the Robert Moses hydro plants provide clean renewable energy to thousands of homes on both sides of the border! They say it is quite noticeable, but the following day, the weather was rather poor, so I didn't get up early enough to check it out for myself!

To the left is a photo that I took while standing in Niagara Falls, New York only about 2 feet away from the water. The water flows past with such weight and force at 40 mph you can understand why the edge is so jagged. They say the falls are eroding back upstream about 1 foot every 10 years...it used to be much quicker, but the diversion of some of the water to the hydroplants has helped.

If you look in the bottom right corner of the photo to the left, you will see my next destination, on a large spot of bedrock immediately next to the falls.

This cataract is right next to the waterfall and peers directly into the heart of it. This tunnel was quite dark, damp and slick! The bursts of spray and gusts of water and thunderous noise were unbelievable!

Here I am at the bottom of the falls on the Canadian side on that walkout I described above. It was just a soaking spray and I am very thankful that I decided to don my Gore-Tex in lieu of their free very thin yellow ponchos! I even had to jerryrig rain gear for my camera, but even after a minute, that began to fail and fog up! Yes, that's me in the bright orange get-up.

Freighter Fun at the Welland Canal

Ahhh, I have found that the best thing about going on vacations that are spontaneous and not meticulously planned is that you can find adventure anywhere! I know, spontaneous is soooo not my style, but I'm working on it. After my wine tasting I was headed toward Niagara Falls on the QEW and drove across a rather large elevated bridge (in the far background) only to see a roadside sign mentioning this was the exit for the Welland Canals Centre. Hmmm, it piqued my interest and in a millisecond I veered across 2 lanes and onto the exit ramp! It was ok, not too much traffic & no one flipped me off or anything. After all, I did use my turn signal! Anyway, the town of St. Catharines is rather quaint and the people quite friendly! I found my way to the visitor center at Lock#3 about 1 hour before the 492 foot freighter Stephan B. Roman was expected from Lake Ontario headed to Lake Erie. Here it comes now! This is the 4th "revision" of the Welland Canal that connects the 2 Great Lakes and is 27 miles long and has 8 locks. Lake Erie is the higher of the 2 at 572 feet above sea level, and Lake Ontario is only 246 ft above sea level. Lock #3 raises (or lowers) the vessel 46 1/2 feet while in its 856 foot long chamber!


Slow & steady the captain maneuvered the freighter into the lock as workers above threw ropes down to tie it up to large round yellow cement objects then used a large winch to mechanically secure the ship from violently crashing about while in the lock.






After this was completed the motion of the ship was halted as it belched this awful mixture of coal, diesel and who knows what else into the air and my lungs!










All was secure at the front end, so shortly after alarms started sounding to warn of the closing of the gate on the Lake Ontario side. Surprisingly up to this point, only perhaps 5-10 minutes had elapsed it was quite a smooth operation! I am not sure what the purpose of the large crane like structure is that was lowered as the lock was closed.



















Water ports then began to open filling the 859 by 80 foot lock with 93,000,000 liters of water or about 22 million gallons or about 600,000 bathtubs full of water! Surprisingly it only took 9 minutes to fill 'er up! I would have expected a lot longer process. I also found out that a freighter would expect to pay between $5600 to $29,000 per passage to use this 27 mile shortcut. The fee is based on gross tonnage, cargo and number of passengers. If you were just a recreational boater, you could expect to pay about $200 for access. I suppose its not a bad deal considering the only options would be to either unload or go over Niagara Falls! Hmmm, a pretty good deal I suppose!


Here we are about 1/2 way done, at this point the water became quite turbulent and the ship started to migrate around in the lock. Sure glad they tied it up well! Below the Stephan B. Roman is raised up to its target and the south gate will soon open!

The north gate remained closed. This was the last freighter of the day so, I'm not really sure what happens to the water from here. I am guessing that hopefully the next one will come from the opposite way and the process will reverse draining the water out into a holding tank possibly and allowing passage to Lake Ontario.

One more really cool thing, as I went back to the car to get back on the expressway I had to cross a bridge, I didn't pay much attention to it on the way over (probably because I was excited), but it was one of 5 vertical lift bridges on this waterway (there are also 3 tunnels). As a freighter approaches it is cranked skyward parallel to the water, unlike drawbridges which I am familiar with!

Going down! And there goes the Stephan B. Roman!

Down and we're ready to cross & head to Niagara Falls!!!

Terriffic Tastings!

On my way to Niagara Falls in June, I decided
since I was driving thru icewine territory that I would give it a whirl. There were many to chose from but Legends Estates Winery in Beamsville, Ontario seemed close to the QEW and I had seen it on many road signs, so, I stopped in for a tasting. I chose well! They had a large selection of reds (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, pinot noirs), whites (chardonnays and Rieslings), fruit wines (apply, cherry, apricot, pear, peach and plum), and the grand finale....ice wine. Now, since I still had 1/2 hour to drive I thought it would be wise to limit my tastings, so, since I prefer the sweet sugary stuff, I started with their Merlot reserve. It was a nice dry wine, but like I said, I'm really into the sweet stuff! The hostess convinced me to try their fruit wines before I went any further. I do admit I really did like the apple chardonnay! BUT, I KNEW the BEST was still to come. So..we proceeded directly to the icewine, which was really what I was there for anyway.

I learned that icewine is rather a bit of a pain to make. Instead of picking the grapes as they ripen, they are picked in winter when they are frozen on the vine. Since they are frozen, they yield very little liquid, it takes about 20 frozen grapes to get the same amount of juice as 1 non-frozen grape. This is why icewine is sooooo expensive. BUT it is TRULY the nectar of the gods.

I had about an ounce sampling of all 3 (Cabernet Franc, Vidal, and Vidal Late Harvest) that they carry. The typical serving size for a "glass" of icewine is only a little more than 1 oz, its traditionally served in basically a cute shot glass on a stem. One would never drink a full wineglass of icewine....but, I think I would be reaaaallllly tempted! It was very difficult to chose, if they weren't so pricey I probably would have left with a few of each of them! (Well, I guess that could cause problems at the border though). After thoroughly enjoying them all, my favorite was the Cabernet Franc. It was a pinky color and although they describe it as "rich floral bouquet, full body and flavour, sweet balance to a clean acid, long fruity length with honey

clover showing throughout on the finish", I would describe it as a very sweet mixed berry that was as sweet as honey! Apparently its has won bronze in the All Canadian Wine Championships and bronze in the International Eastern Wine Competition and has been featured in Martha Stewart Living. Who knew Martha & I liked the same stuff??!! So, a few bottles and I was on my way. The hostess did alert me to an icewine festival in January when they feature the newest wines and pair them with scrumptious icewine desserts and icewine chocolates! Hmmmm, it is only 3 hours away!

Happy Birthday to the Girls!

My how time flies! Since I dropped Gracie at the kennel on her birthday in February, and Nadia's is exactly 1 month later, in March I was a good doggie mommy and went to Bent On Bones and ordered them a birthday cake!! We celebrated Nadia's 12th and Gracie's 2nd! Does time really go that fast?! Anyway, the cake was delicious (based on how fast they devoured it!) and was a carob cake with a yogurt type frosting! They even baked tiny dog treats for the letters!!


This was the first I had ever heard of such a thing but when I went in to buy their special birthday treats...I just had to! I am sure that I will never be able to get this pic again now that they know what the goodie is!!

G

Gracie was a VERY messy eater, picking up her cake and wandering about. Although, it was a nice thought that she wanted to share with Tigger. Nadia on the other hand, was very proper eating hers very carefully out of her bowl. Here's the celebrates mellowing out after the festivities.