Fall Break 2007 (Part 1 -- From Niagara Falls)

[Note: Part 1 of this post has been edited on Monday, October 15, 2007 at 2am after I reached back home from Niagara with a tiny portion of the pictures. Will do a more complete posting of my photos later on Monday or Tuesday.]

Hey guys, greetings from the other side of the border, from one of the natural wonders of the world, the Niagara Falls! Decided to drive up here via Detroit, through to Ontario to the Niagara Falls which is also the US-Canadian border.

Nice sunset driving into Canada

It was a pretty long and tiring drive out here last night; took me approximately 5 hours of driving to get us here at around 11pm last night (12 October 2007). Stopped over in a city on the way for a quick dinner at Taco Bell. We arrived at our "backpacker's inn" and it was this really antiquated place which was run by an old lady. It was a nice quaint place, except that our room had only a TINY bed and basically nothing else. Even the "PC" with internet access at the frontdesk was running (gasp) Windows 98!

Check out the room man, I wasn't exagerrating

Anyways, after freezing our butts off yesterday night, we checked out early this morning and moved to a more established place down the road. I'm now blogging at the frontdesk of Water's Edge Inn on my laptop. Nice place (definitely a ton better with a WORKING RADIATOR).

I haven't transferred my photos onto my comp yet, will probably do that later tonight and upload them into this post at a later date. I took so many photos today, with tons of them being duplicate ones. We headed over to the Canadian Falls (the Horseshoe Falls) on the Canadian side of the border first. Words just can't describe how majestic the falls were. It was simply amazing. It's impossible to see the base of the falls because of the tremendous amount of spray which is thrown up by the waterfalls at the plunge pool. From this side of the border, we could also see the American Falls in full sight. While walking along the sides of the gorge, we constantly got showered with spray from the falls. Glad I decided to put on my water-proof Coulombia jacket when I headed out.

Before setting off from the Niagara parking lot

Overlooking the Ledge of the Horseshoe Falls

Spray hitting me from the Horseshoe Falls

First rainbow sighting of the day (look closely at the picture to spot it!)

The American Falls and Rainbow Bridge (linking Canada and US)

Horseshoe Falls

Maid of the Mist boat heading out from the falls

Maid of the Mist

Double Rainbow!

Me and the rainbow

Another shot, I swear this is not photoshopped!

We went for a quick lunch of burgers at Canadian Falls before heading downstream, towards the Maid of the Mist boat ride. The boat ride took us close to the falls, where we got well and totally drenched despite the ponchos which we put on prior to embarking on the trip. It was fabulous to head so close to the falls and also to be inside the mist, where we could see multiple rainbows at some points in time.

The American Falls and Rainbow Bridge

American Falls

The "Act Cool" shot. Haha...

Rainbow Bridge (before boarding the Maid of the Mist boat ride)

View from the boat; at the bottom of the "gorge"

A rainbow which can only be seen from the boat. Full arch!

The rainbow again

As close as it gets

After weathering the "storm"

Rainbow Bridge from a different angle

Drove over to the American side and went for the "Cave of the Winds" walk, which cut really close to the Bridal Veil Falls. I was able to see a fall arched rainbow there and come within a couple of meters from one! Haha, and hence it shall be declared that there is no pot of gold at the bottom of a rainbow. I walked up onto this Hurricane Deck, which was really just next to the cascading Bridal Veil Falls and got nicely drenched.

Horseshoe Falls from the US side

Rainbow Bridge and the Canadian "resort" in the background

Rainbow again! Really close up this time. I was psyched!

Bridal Veil Falls

The American Falls

The bottom of the American Falls

A full rainbow within meters!

Freedom!!!

A "slice" of rainbow

A "slice" of the rainbow with me

We crossed over to the Canadian side and went to the small town in Niagara for dinner. That town was almost totally a ghost town, with majority of the banks, shops and eateries empty or closed down.

Crossing the US / Canadian border [Marker on Rainbow Bridge]

With our trusty Lonely Planet guide, we went to this place called Simon's Restaurant. That place is AMAZING. It was so run down and stacked full of papers and random stuff. I was pretty apprehensive heading in but WOW. There were license plates nailed to the serving area from people who have passed by. I spotted license plates as far back as 1918! We signed in on this "guest book", which was essentially a file with greeting and compliments from backpackers and visitors from all around the world. That was definitely one of the most amazing places we've seen today. There was an ancient coke/soft drinks dispensing machine, super old newspaper articles, Disney mugs dating back to 1918, countless decorations for the restaurant owner, Coca Cola bottles dating back to 1983, and the list goes on. I swear I was totally awed by the place. It beats any museum here FLAT. We ate our really classic "breakfast" dinners quietly, taking in the sights and feel of being in such a place. Jeff asked this old man who was there whether he was Simon and guess when the place was started? 1884!!! One freaking century before I was born! HOW COOL IS THAT!

Oldest restaurant in Niagara Falls (check out the vehicle plates!)

Ancient Coke dispenser

Hidden treasures

Breakfast for dinner! Yummy!

A beautiful sight greeted us when we stepped out of the restaurant

Came into our "new" hotel after that and kinda lazed around, watched *ahem* KENTUCKY BEAT LSU in 3 freaking overtimes! Number 1 LSU is down! (By the way, Michigan beat Purdue by a decent margin but shit... Mike Hart is injured, we're so screwed. That dude deserves the Heinsman Trophy.) As I was saying, LSU is down and CALIFORNIA JUST LOST TO OREGON STATE! What the hell? That means Ohio State is damned number 1 in the country once again! Ah!!! No!!!

Okay, looking back, this is a ridiculously long post and after I add in pictures to the post, this is going to look totally absurb. Too bad dude. My blog, I do what I want with it. Take care guys and good night from the starry night here in Niagara.

Best regards,
Wilson Tan
13 October 2007, Saturday
Niagara Falls - Water's Edge Inn Front Lobby