MAGNIFICENT

Magnificent.

A grand word for something awe inspiring, bigger than life, hard to fathom, large and powerful. A Wow word. A great, descriptive word that now seems inadequate. This past weekend we took a family vacation to see and experience Niagara Falls. Amazing. Huge. Magnificent. We spent two days walking around viewing different vantage points of the different falls. Niagara Falls has two sections separated by an island, Goat Island, which you can walk to and drive on to see Horseshoe Falls. Horseshoe Falls is actually "Canadian", but you can view it easily from the State Park. Actually, you're standing right next to it, and technically, I suppose you could jump in just as fine from the American side as from the Canadian side. American Falls is on the United States side. The smaller of the falls is called Bridal Veil Falls and is also on the American side, separated from the main falls by another island. They say that the Niagara Falls were formed when glaciers receded at the end of the the last ice age and that water from the Great Lakes carved a path on it's way to the Atlantic Ocean. I happen to think that a certain world wide flood played a part in their formation, although beyond that the details are, well, beyond me.

The Niagara Falls State Park website says this about the water flow...
Approximately 3,160 tons of water flows over the falls every second. This accounts for 75,750 gallons of water per second over the American and Bridal Veil Falls and 681,750 gallons per second over the Horseshoe Falls.
The water falls at 32 feet per second over the falls, hitting the base of the falls with 280 tons of force at the American and Bridal Veil Falls and 2,509 tons of force at the Horseshoe Falls.

Isn't that amazing?! It was amazing, and like I said, magnificent.

I took a couple hundred pictures, so if you don't see one you like here, ask me and I'll try some others!

On the second day of our time at the Falls, we did something that made the whole trip go from magnificent to MAGNIFICENT! It was a holiday weekend so I think there must have been at least a million people there, and I'm not sure that I'm exaggerating. There were hoards. Pushy hoards who kept getting their orange shirts in my pictures! HOWEVER, we were determined to push back! (oh, wait, did I say that?) Well, we didn't push, it was more like a gentle nudge. For example, a group of foreign tourists who are famous for taking LOTS of pictures were standing at the railing taking pictures of each other near the falls (not OF the falls), but at the railing with the Planet Hollywood sign across the gorge, in the background. Great, take a picture and mooove on. Oh no, wait a picture with me smiling, and then pointing, oh, and then its Wong's turn, and now, Cho's turn, and then Suzi Wong, and Benny Hanna. Okay, I'm embellishing the names, but you get the picture (or maybe you don't because there's someone in your WAY).

After all, we were AT Niagara Falls and wouldn't it be nice to take pictures of a WORLD FAMOUS WATERFALL WHILE YOU'RE THERE??!!

Now back to what made the trip MAGNIFICENT.

We took the Maid of The Mist tour boat. They say that they journey begins at the bottom of the Observation Tower. However, for us it began about 2 hours before when we got in line to buy tickets to go to the line that takes you to the line for the Observation Tower elevator and then down to the base of the Observation Tower where you’ll stand IN LINE to be provided with a souvenir rain poncho. This was one time it was well worth the wait! And Souvenir or not, without your pocho you'd be soaked! After waiting for our ship to come in (ha ha), we boarded The Maid of the Mist. The boat has two levels Wet and Very Wet, we chose Very Wet and stood on the top. Then the boat took us to the base of the American Falls! It was HUGE, it was loud, and the mist was more like a rain shower. When I think of mist, I think of the wet stuff that falls in fog or something light and sweet, this was much more! It was loud, and the churning waters rocked the boat a bit too. Amazing. Then the boat took us to the basin of Horseshoe Falls, we were about 200 yards away from the base of those incredible falls! We were in the midst of the crashing waters and right in front of the massive rocks that are at the base of the falls! It only lasted for a half-hour but we were right there, in the midst of it! I think they should call it the Maid in the Midst. There you are, you're right there in the midst of the power and intensity of the falls. It was a thrilling experience. The kids loved it, at least the older three. Titus was thrilled about the boat ride and Emily didn't seem to mind at all.

So that was the MAGNIFICENT part of our trip, but not the only place we visited.

And because I love you all so much, I'm going to tell you about that

Tomorrow.

Until you read again.