We had an early start this morning knowing that it would be a bit hectic at Niagara Falls and getting a campsite on Sat. night without reservations a challenge. We pulled into the campground at noon, secured a site right on the bluffs of Lake Ontario, then high tailed it for the falls. To say it was hectic is an understatement! The place was so thick with people that you could hardly walk thru the crowds. It seemed everyone was either Chinese, East Indian or Middle Eastern. The wind was blowing mightily, over 30 mph, and it was quite a scene seeing all the colorful saris and head coverings of the Muslim women blowing in the wind. We decided to embrace our inner tourist and headed for the Maid of the Mist. It was insane!! The sky had clouded up and was threatening rain while the wind had whipped up to quite a bluster. I don’t know what we laughed harder at, trying to put on our bright blue plastic ponchos or seeing how silly we looked once they were on! The ride was much better than we expected. The beauty of the falls, the force of the water pouring over the cliffs and being drenched in the mist all added to the thrill. We tried to take pictures when next to the falls, but between mist on the lens and getting drenched everything just looked pure white. As we disembarked from the boat, the skies cleared up and the day turned out to be crisp and blue, albeit still incredibly windy. The warm gusty breeze felt much like the Santa Ana winds from home. We had a great time walking along the river path and watching the torrent of water gush over the cliffs. (See today’s pic). Once back at the campsite we did a quick tour of the area on our bikes and then settled down to a lazy summer evening enjoying the vibe of the campground. On the huge grass expanse, with mature trees, overlooking Lake Ontario boys are playing catch with their lacrosse sticks and throwing footballs, kids are sitting in circles playing duck-duck-goose, and a father is playing soccer with his little girl. At the onset of the sun going down, Ned and I walked the few feet from our campsite to a perfectly situated bench and watched the sun slowly dissent over Lake Ontario for about 45 minutes. It was a spectacular show. When I turned around to look behind us, entire families, with their kids and dogs, were all sitting on the grass watching the sunset. The entire place was quiet just soaking in the magic of the moment. Now, as dusk has settled over the campground, there’s a sea of campfires and kids are playing flashlight tag on the grass and trying to catch fireflies. You can smell smoke and s’mores in the air. Ahh - the epitome of summer in America.
