We thought it would be fun to cross over into Canada and check out the falls from our Northern friend’s side. It was crystal clear blue skies and the day was quite warm with not much of a breeze, quite a contrast from yesterday. Once entering Canada we took the Niagara Parkway along the gorge and we stunned by the beauty of this area. The drive is thru a park and we passed botanical gardens, a tomahawk and woodcutters area, saw the flower clock and really just enjoyed the pristine beauty of the gorge. The parkway ultimately spilled out onto an area overlooking all three falls. It was really quite stunning and much more of a panoramic view than on the US side. (See today’s pic). The last time I viewed this was about 15 years ago and I remember it being much more tacky than this. It seems that the touristy kitsch shops are now all located on one main street somewhat away from the falls. The crowed was a bit more sparse than yesterday and didn’t seem so frenzied. We continued down the parkway following the Chippawa Channel and enjoying the scenic drive with all the homes overlooking the waterway. We finally picked up highway 3 or the Crown Road as it is known in Canada and drove for about 4 more hours. We drove through tobacco country (didn’t know Canada grew that!) and through rural farmland, passing several dairy farms along the way. We finally reached Rondeau Provincial Park, which is a small peninsula that juts out into Lake Eerie. We had originally planned on going a bit further, but I was getting car crazy and desperately in need of stretching my legs. This is a pretty neat provincial park, with a sandy beach area along the Eerie Lake side and a really cool marsh area on the Rondeau Bay side. Eager to explore the area, we took a 14 mile bike ride on the Marsh Trail out to the point. It was so cool to ride down a sandy road through marshes and hedges that were at times higher than us while dodging the bunnies and chipmunks. We stopped at a lookout tower to get an overview of the area and read about the unique eco-system of this area. We have a sweet camping site, with a huge tree (diameter around 4 feet!) shading us and most of the campground to ourselves. You gotta love Sunday nights!
