Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls, Canada. I'm not sure how you witness its magnitude and power, and not fall in love with God all over again.

Our family traveled to Niagara Falls when our oldest was two and I was pregnant with our second. To be honest, I don't have many incredible memories from Niagara (other than being in awe) as I was too busy puking in every bush and public bathroom I could find. Ah, morning sickness. I'm going to do my best to hit all the highs in this post, and spare you my personal lows.

We started off our journey with a drive to Niagara Falls, Canada from Ohio, USA the trip took us about 4.5 hours (nothing for our family). Once we arrived we checked in at the most remarkable hotel, Hilton Niagara Falls / Fallsview Hotel & Suites and ate some incredible Italian food at Antica Pizzeria & Ristorante. From our room we could clearly see the falls (as much as you can with the mist) and thus the wonder started.

We spent the next two days making as many trips (via walking / tram rides) over to the falls as we could. Each time it was like there was something new to experience: the cool of the mist on your face, the power of the wind, the roar of the water. I could spend hours sitting and watching that wonder. However, we had a two-year old with us, so we had to split our time between the falls and the gift shops. The pricing at the gift shops wasn't too outrageous and even being pregnant, I enjoyed the Canadian Maple Chocolate!

My only negative note on Niagara Falls is that once you leave the presence of the falls, you can get caught walking down this very odd road named Clifton Hill then Centre St. It was like taking a hard left turn and ending up on a cheap boardwalk of an old town beach mixed with a carnival. We're talking all the things: Wax Museum, Go Karts, Mirror Mazes and more. On it's own it would have been fine, but after leaving the serenity of nature at the Falls it simply felt odd. Then again, that's humans for you, we monetize everything.

Even with the weird human touch near the Falls, overall it was a great adventure. Niagara Falls was everything you can imagine. It was absolutely stunning. You have to take your family, everyone will enjoy it.