Niagara Falls

Thursday 7/10/08
We left Joanne and Dave’s at about 8 this morning. We had a pretty long drive ahead of us going to the Lansing, Michigan area. This is the first time we haven’t had reservations so we are not sure where we are staying. We found a nice campground and had no problem getting a site.
Friday 7/11/08
Ed decided to have the oil changed in the truck this morning so we didn’t get off until almost 10. We were making good time traveling through Michigan on our way to Canada. When we got to the border, we were following the trucks and by the time we saw we were to be in the auto line no one would let us move over to the line. They waved us over to the truck line. That’s where all the trouble began. The border officer wasn’t too pleased with us because we were in the wrong line. She proceeded to send us to the immigration office to have our passports checked along with a few other RV people. They were checked and then we had to go to the customs office where they took our passports and we were told to wait in the trucker’s waiting room. There we waited with the other RVers and truckers for about an hour and a half. The other RVers were released and they finally came and got us so they could do a search of the truck and RV. After about a 20 minute search of every cubby, drawer and door they said we could leave. Ed’s parting comment was “how did you like the RV?” So the lesson learned from this is when you are in Canada, don’t ever get in the wrong line. They don’t like it!
We finally made it across Canada and to the US border crossing. There they also wanted to see inside the RV. The Canadian’s must have called them and warned them about us. Ha, Ha.
We proceeded to find our campground which was about 12 miles outside Niagara Falls. This camp is a state camp and the sites are wonderful although it wasn’t a full hook-up. We only had electricity. Next time we need to be better prepared for dry camping. We didn’t carry water with us. This camp is right next to Lake Ontario and we could see the lake from our site.
After we set up camp, we took a drive to Niagara Falls to check out the place. By that time it was dark so we saw the falls lit up with flood lights of different colors. Another surprise we had that evening is that at 10pm they shot off some fireworks over the falls. This again made up for missing the fireworks over Mt. Rushmore.
Saturday 7/12/08
We got up early so that we could be in town by 9am because we were warned that the crowds would be large and we might not find parking. When we got there the place was pretty empty and we had no problems parking. The first thing we did was ride the boat Maid of the Mist which cruises the base of the American Falls and then the basin of the Horseshoe Falls. Even wearing the flimsy rain poncho they gave us, we got pretty wet but it was well worth the ride. We also walked the Crows nest trail which took us right next to the American Falls. After that we took the trolley to Goat Island so we could go see the Cave of the Winds. This trail takes you to the base of Bridal Vail Falls and you can even touch the falling water. For this trip we were again given flimsy rain ponchos and sandals to use in place of our shoes. This was good because we could stand right under the water fall. If you haven’t done this you need to experience it yourself.
We spent a few hours walking around the National Park looking at the other sights. In the afternoon we walked across the Rainbow Bridge into Canada were we walked along with about a million other people to see the falls from the Canadian side. This time they let us in without any problems since we were in the right line! But we did have to pay 50 cents to get out of Canada and cross the bridge back to the US side.