Amazing works of Nature - Camping in Watkins Glen (NY)

Vacation Dates: 15 - 17 August 2008

Route:

I-81N, US-22 W, US-11 N, I-180 W, US-15 N, RT-414

 

This was our second camping trip after the first one at Shenandoah National Park. Watkins Glen is a state park in New York. It lies in the finger lake region. This state park is at the south end of the Seneca Lake, the biggest lake of the finger lakes. Anyone who visits Watkins Glen is sure to fall in love with this place.

I remember we had just come back from our camping trip in Shenandoah on Sunday 10th August and were just talking about our camping adventure when we remembered someone telling us about Watkins Glen. That very moment we explored on the Internet and in an hour we had made our reservations for the campsite two nights. Watkins Glen has several campgrounds, some with electric campsites too. We booked in the Oneida Village. http://nysparks.state.ny.us/parks/info.asp?parkID=105

The state park is about 202 miles from Harrisburg and it take four hours by road so we decided to start on Friday afternoon. I had already done all the packing, this time we were also carrying an airbed with us. I also packed some dinner for us (vegetable biryani). My hubby came back from work around 1:30pm and we had our lunch and left our place around 2:00pm. The drive was smooth all the way through and didn't seem too long. We stopped in a small town near corning to buy some ice for the cooler, drinks and ice-cream. We reached Watkins Glen around 6:30pm, did our registration and reached our campsite No.111 Oneida Village. The moment I saw it I remembered my friends remark on our Shenandoah campsite. He had commented it as a "5 Star campsite" and this one at Watkins Glen was nothing like it. It looked more like a natural campsite in the forest. We decided to put up the tent first because it was getting dark. While my husband was unwrapping the tent I took out the support poles and to my horror discovered that the connecting elastic string of one of the main poles was broken. We didn't have any kind of needle of wire that could be used to put the strings through the pole pieces to put them together. Somehow both of us managed to string the pole pieces together. It was 7:15pm already so we quickly put up the tent taking utmost care. But a lesson was learnt that one must carry some extra rope, wire, sewing kit while going for camping. Once we were done with the tent we had one more thing to do - inflating the airbed. This time we faced another problem, the hand pump we bought did not fit with the airbed. Some how we managed to inflate it. While I made the bed my better half lit the fire to cook our dinner. We had baked beans, Spanish rice and some of my home cooked vegetable biryani in our dinner menu. While the food was being cooked we had some drinks and enjoyed the scene around. All the surrounding campsites were booked. Everyone had put up their tent and were busy cooking their dinner. At several places water taps were available. The campground had clean restrooms with shower facility too. We had our dinner and it was dessert time. I had baked a cake for our trip so we had chocolate cake with chocolate ice-cream. Hmm it was a delight after all the days hard work. It was 10:00pm when we decided to call it a day and slept.

In both my camping trips I have noticed that I get up early in the morning. Here too I woke up early but decide to lie down as it was dark outside. Around 6:30am I finally woke up and went to take a shower and get ready as it was "rakhi" (our festival). By 8:30am both of us were ready. We had jam and nutella sandwiches for breakfast and packed our lunch, snacks and drinks for the day and set out for hiking. Though the park has three hiking trails but the Gorge trail is the best one. So we decided to hike on that from the main entrance. We started our walk to the main entrance. On the way there is a Lily Pond. On our way ahead we reached the Couch's stairs that lead to the main entrance. From the main entrance we started on the gorge trail. The entrance tunnel leads to the Sentri bridge. Just near the tunnel is a big rock with a hole in it. In the early times water used to flow out of this hole into a saw mill nearby. Next comes the Cavern Cascade, one of the two falls behind which you can walk. Oh what a sight it is? I had never seen anything like this.

The gorge is so beautiful, a marvel of nature. On the trail is a spiral tunnel. The glen of pools ahead forms a breathtaking sight. When I thought nothing could be better, we reached the Rainbow Falls. Though there isn't a gusty flow of water but they are one of their kinds. You can walk behind the Rainbow falls. On a sunny afternoon you can see the dancing colors of the rainbow at the falls. The spiral gorge, the frowning cliffs and the small cascades on the trail give ample opportunities to exhibit your photographic skills. I took all the advantage by posing for my husband's camera. There is a suspension bridge from where you can see the gorge below. The entire trail is 1.5 miles one way and ends at the Upper entrance. At the 'mile point' the other two trails - Indian trail and South Rim Trail' meet the gorge trail. The railway track at the Upper entrance marks the end of the gorge trail. We rested at the Upper entrance for a few minutes and then started our hike back on the gorge trail.

It took us about 2 hours to compete the trail. We had enough time hence we decided to go to campsite and have our lunch. I took out our food items while my husband lit the fire. We had some chicken soup, rice and grilled vegetables for lunch.

I had collected information of the nearby falls in the Watkins Glen area so we decided to go to Eagle Cliff Falls in the Havana Glen Park. This place is about 15 minutes south from Watkins Glen. On the way we saw the Aunt Sarah Falls. This region is aptly called the Montour Falls region. Havan Glen is a small park but the falls are amazing. Both of us had lots of fun under the wonderful Eagle Cliff falls. From here we went to the She-Qua-Ga falls which are in between Watkins Glen and Eagle Cliff Falls.

Our next stop was the Seneca Harbor which is 5 min north of Watkins Glen. Here they have a cruise that takes you on a one hour trip on the Seneca Lake. There are other cruises with meals included. It was 4:00pm so we decided to take the cruise later in the evening. We walked on the rocks laid out on the harbor and enjoyed the peaceful evening. The weather seemed to change so we thought of taking the cruise at 5 but there were no tickets available hence we bought tickets for 6:00pm. We had one hour to kill so we went into the Seneca Harbor Wine shop. After looking at all the wines we decided to take a walk. On the way back to the harbor we sat at a cafe and had coffee. I tried the German Chocolate flavored iced coffee but couldn't get any of that flavor. We reached the harbor on time for our cruise. The weather was perfect and we had a lovely evening cruise. We were told about two salt refineries near the lake and we also saw the Hector falls from our boat the Stroller VI. After the cruise we reached our campsite around 7:00pm. It was time to light the fire. On our way back from the harbor we had bought some chicken and baked beans for grilling. While the fire was being lit, I marinated the chicken and cut onions for sauteing the baked beans. We had grilled chicken, Indian styled baked beans and Cajun Rice for dinner. We also had some french bread with us. It was a full moon night and we decided to walk around the camp ground. Later around 10:30pm we retired to our tent. This place had a lot of mosquitoes, though the net of the tent kept them away. One could also carry citronella candles to keep away insects and mosquitoes.

Next morning we got ready and decided to go to Lucifer falls in the Robert H. Treman State park. We packed our tent and other things, had the left over beans for breakfast and started on our way to Lucifer Falls.

Treman Park is on the south end of Cayuga lake and is about 30min away from Watkins Glen. Once there we took the Rim trail. Its 2.25 miles on way and is quite tiring with so many steps on the way up. We saw the lower falls in the beginning of the trail and then finally got to see the majestic Lucifer Falls from the overlook near the end of the Rim trail.  From the end of the Rim trail we took the gorge trail back. Gorge trail provides the best views of the fall and the gorge. The trail did enervate us.

Once back at the parking lot we had some snacks and drinks. Earlier we had decided to go see the Buttermilk Falls but since it was 12:00pm already we decided to skip them and headed towards the Wagner Winery by the Seneca Lake. It was a 30min drive but worth it. At the winery we took the wine tasting. One could taste 7 wines for $1. They take you through a course of dry wines, followed with semi-dry and end up with their award winning Ice wine. I loved the Niagara wine and the Ice wine. The vineyards with the Seneca lake in the background provide a breathtaking view. We had our lunch (Texas sampler, Mushroom chicken burger and Lakeside chicken) teamed with berry blush drink.

Once done with our lunch we just wandered around the winery. There is a small goldfish pond which also has two beautiful pure white swans. The clock was ticking and it was already 3:00pmand it was time to say goodbye to Watkins. We started our way back directing our GPS to guide us back to Harrisburg. On the way we stopped to see the Hector falls.  They are right on the roadside. We didn't have the time to hike till the bottom of the falls but maybe next time. Voila what a wonderful trip we had. I seem to fall in love with camping and hiking. Its always fun to be with the nature, add some waterfalls and it doubles the fun. So next time you want to have some great fun outdoors, head to Watkins Glen. There is lots to do in and around this area, you are bound to fall in love with the falls like I did.

Scintillating Sin city - Las Vegas & Awesome Grand Canyon..

 

Vacation Dates: 25th - 30th April 2008

 

Route:

We drove from Harrisburg to Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington DC. From here we flew to Cincinnati and took the connecting flight to Las Vegas.

From Vegas we drove to the Grand Canyon - South Rim - US - 93 S, I - 40, AZ - 64 N. Its a close to 5 hours drive from Las Vegas to the South Rim of Grand Canyon.

While coming back we drove back from Grand Canyon to Las Vegas and flew to Atlanta. From Atlanta we flew to Washington DC and then drove back home.

 

PART I - What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas..

This trip is special because it was a surprise gift from my dear husband for our anniversary. One year gone by, time flies. Well I got to know about the trip on Wednesday and we were to leave on Friday. It was around 12:45pm in the afternoon that we started from Harrisburg, driving towards DC. The drive is about 2 1/2 hours but due to the traffic in DC we finally reached the airport at around 4:00pm. Our flight was at 5:20pm so we were on time. Once we parked our car in the long term parking lot we headed to the airport and straight away went to Mc Donald's. Both were hungry so had a cheeseburger and a hot fudge sundae. I must say that the hot fudge sundae at Mc Donald's is delicious. At about 5:00pm we found out that our flight was delayed due to some technical snag. God why does this always happen to me, whenever I am traveling flights get delayed -  Murphy's law. Finally our boarding call came just before six. We were flying by delta who serve roasted peanuts during the flight along with drinks. I also had some sandwiches with me incase we felt hungry which we normally do when we are traveling. I have noticed that I do eat more when traveling. By 7:30pm we were at the Cincinnati Airport. The first thing I noticed at the airport was this popcorn shop I quickly bought some cheesy popcorn. Our flight was at 9:30pm so we thought of having our dinner here as it would be 11:30pm (Pacific time zone) when we reach Vegas. We had Mexican food (chicken taco and quesadilla) at ...... The flight was in time and we reached Vegas at 11:30pm. The view of the Vegas strip from the flight was awesome. I had never seen anything like that. It seemed as if somebody had scattered diamonds, emeralds and rubys everywhere. The Vegas airport was impressive in its own style. We started getting birthday wishes calls as it was my hubby's birthday. Once our luggage arrived (it took ages to come)  we bought the bus tickets to take us to the hotel we were staying at. From the airport itself there are these bus services which go from one end of the Vegas strip to the other and they cover all the hotels. Its very convenient and quite cheap as well, just about $8 per person. We had booked at the Vegas Clubs and hotels. Its at a fantastic location just next to the Fremont Street. The room was nice and cozy. I could see the lights of Vegas from the room. We just went to the Fremont street to roam around and enjoy the lights. All the hotels and casinos were dazzling with lights. There were these girls giving out free Mardi Gras beads at every casino. We took a walk at then when we were tired we decided to have some chicken sandwich. We called it a day and went back to hotel as we had a long day ahead the next day.

We woke up around 8 and were ready by 9 in the morning. There are not many eating joints at the Fremont street other than Dunkin donuts, Krispy creme and Mc Donald's. There is a mall very nearby which has a food court but it wasn't open at that time. We had chicken biscuits, iced coffee and donuts for breakfast and headed for the Transportation department near Ogden street. They have these double Decker buses called 'Deuce' which runs between the two ends of the famous Vegas strip. In two dollars you can go to any point. But incase you want to use it throughout the day then it would be better to buy the all day $5 pass. It was my first time in a double Decker bus, so I decided to sit in the driverless upper deck. We had planned we would start from the end point of the Vegas strip that is Mandalay Bay and make our way to the start which is near Wynn. Mandalay Bay is a casino with a tropical theme with a beach, pool, and aquarium of its own. There is a tram which connects it to its cousins 'The Luxor' and 'The Excalibur'. Luxor has the Egyptian theme with pyramids and sphinx. I liked Luxor a lot specially the huge Sphinx at the entrance and the light emitting pyramid. The Excalibur has an impressive exterior with the colorful castle. It was here that we were contacted with these people offering us tickets to some of the famous Vegas shows at subsidized rates if we attended there time-sharing presentation. We thought it was a good bargain and accepted the offer. We bought two tickets for the Cirque de Soleil show called KA for $80 in trade for 4 hours of our precious time. Well I would suggest people to take this deal only if they are staying in Vegas for more than a day else they may find it difficult to cover all the casinos in one day. But we did manage to do that, kudos to us. We went for this presentation around 1:30pm and returned back only at 4:30pm. We were to redeem our tickets at MGM so we made our way towards MGM. On the way we saw the New York New York hotel. They have the skyscrapers of new York including the empire state building and the famous Brooklyn bridge.We then went to the MGM grand. Oh it was one of my favorites, specially the lions show there. I had never seen anything like that. The lioness was in full mood playing with the ball all over, though the lion was  lazy bum sitting at one place. We got our tickets for the show here and made our way to Bellagio. On our way we saw the M&M's World, the Harley Davidson Cafe among others. Actually the entire strip is lined up with hotels and casinos but some of them are worth seeing. Bellagio is one of them. Remember Oceans Eleven, yes its the same Bellagio Casino. The inside of the Bellagio is beautifully done up with flowers and umbrellas. There are animals and birds all made from flowers which add color to its interiors. Bellagio is also famous for its fountain show which is held every night starting at 8:00pm in every 15 minute intervals. Just opposite Bellagio is Paris in Vegas hotel with is impressive replica of the Eiffel tower. Since our show was at 7:00pm we hurried back to MGM to take our seats. We did make one stop in between at the Monte Carlo hotel.

The show was amazing with its grand sets, lighting, choreography, stunts. Its was absolutely fabulous. I hadn't seen anything like that before. The dome theatre itself was so huge with such intricate structures inside. The usherers were all dressed up in costumes. It was so grand. We don't really have shows like this in India. KA was a drama that told the story of a brother and sister, how they get separated and united at the end. The time wasted in the time-sharing presentation had been compensated. All big casinos have different shows which are generally of 90 minute duration. One can book tickets for them online.

Next we were in time for the fountain show in Bellagio. It was a delight. I have seen the fountain show in Brindawan gardens in Mysore, India, which are more colorful. But the fountains at Bellagio had their own charm. They synchronized so well with each beat of the music. the cool breeze blowing through the hair added romance all around. We next went to see the Caesar's palace. The Roman landscapes, statues are beautiful inside. In one part they have painted the ceiling which appears like the sky. Its gives the impression like its always day in that part of the hotel. We had a yummy cake piece from Cheesecake factory here and then had our dinner at Panda Express to save time. Another Hotel not to be missed is the Venetian, Vega's own Venice. Its probably famous for its Gondola ride and the Venetian frescos and paintings. It too has the painted sky at one place. The Palazzo hotel is connected to Venetian. Another beautiful hotel near Venetian is the Wynn. All the trees inside are lit up with lights. The are decorated with ornate umbrellas hung upside down. Never thought umbrellas could be used in this fashion. There are other hotels like Circus Circus, the Stratosphere. They have bungee jumping and other activities at the top of the Stratosphere tower. However that area near Stratosphere is not very safe to be at during the night. We were dead tired by 12:30pm.

But I would suggest that one should start at Wynn, see all the casinos like Venetian, Bellagio and then make there way towards the other casinos at the other end of the Strip and then come back to the Bellagio are as the night dawns.

After seeing Wynn we decided to go back to Fremont and so boarded the deuce back. We walked by the Fremont street but we missed the light show here. The Fremont street is famous for the Fremont Street Experience which is a pedestrian mall covered with a canopy. They display neon light show on the canopy in the night till midnight. We retired for the day as we had a long drive scheduled up for the next day.

PART II - Natural Wonder of the World - The Grand Canyon

We took a deuce too the Vegas airport as we had rented a car from there. We started our journey around 11:00pm. I would not say the drive was the best of all. the entire route has desert lands on both sides with absolutely no vegetation. We stopped by at the Nevada Visitor center to get some information. The Hoover dam could be seen from there. Our next stop was the man-made wonder the Hoover dam. We walked along the dam and took some pictures. As we hadn't had our breakfast we wanted to grab some snack. We had some ice-cream at the dam cafe and bought roasted spicy peanuts for the trip and resumed our journey. We then made a stop at one of the gas stations. The area had a Mc Donald's and we had our burgers here. There is absolutely nothing on the way till Williams next. We were advised to make a stop at Williams and have our lunch. We chose to have the Chinese buffet at the House of Chan. The food was good and we had our full. On the way we were bothered by the driving of a group of bikers. These elderly seemed to be riding at a snail pace. Soon we reached the south rim entrance around 5:30pm in the evening and made our way towards the Bright Angel Lodge. The south rim is at about 7000 feet above sea level. The sunset was forecasted to be at 6:53pm and we had approximately one hour to walk till Hopi point which is considered to be the best sunset point. they have shuttle bused that run in three different routes. One can take the blue shuttle from the first point called Mather point till the Bright angel and from here take the red shuttle to the Hopi point. The distance to be covered was about 2.3 miles with stopovers at the Trailview overlook, Marikopa point and the Powell's  point. We bought some coffee and macadamia nut ice-cream started walking along the Rim trail. We reached well before sunset time and sat down at a comfortable spot on the rocks. The sun took its sweet time to go down filling the sky with warm color tones. It gave the photographers a chance to capture it through their lens. It became cold and everyone headed to the line for the buses which would take us back to the Bright angel Lodge. Our turn came and we reached back at the lodge. We had made our booking at the Knights Inn in Williams so we started our way back. Williams is a small town about one hour away from Grand Canyon south rim. We had our dinner at one of the restaurants in Williams and headed back to our inn.

Next morning we got up early and started to get ready for the day. We drove to the canyon after packing some snacks for our hiking that we were to do at the canyon. We went straight to the Bright Angel lodge again and decided to take the Bright Angel Trail. The trail is 3 miles long which takes you down into the canyon. We covered only half the distance because of the shortage of time. The trail is easy going down but as usual coming up is tiring. The trail goes through two large holes in the canyon rocks. At half way milestone there is a resthouse with water and restroom facilities. One should carry water with themselves as there are seasons when there is no water on the way. We had some cookies and chips and headed back up. We visited the Kolb's Studio and bought a book as a souvenir and of course did not forget to stamp it as a reminder that we were  there. Next we were at the Lookout studio where everyone goes to take a picturesque snap with the grand canyon in the background. We drove to the Mather point to see the view from there and also visited the visitor center. We had our flight from Vegas at 10:55pm the same night so we started our drive back to Vegas around 3 in the afternoon. If we had time we would have stopped at the discovery center near the south rim. We drove making a couple of stops on the way. We had planned to go to the skywalk at the north rim which is very near to Vegas but time did not permit us to do so. One could also visit the Kaibab lake and the Lake Meade on the way from Grand Canyon to Las Vegas. Once we were at the Vegas airport rental return, we dropped our car and took the shuttle to the airport. We had enough time to have dinner. Surprisingly, in contrast to the lavishly done up Vegas airport, there aren't any good eating outlets there. We picked up Wolfgang as our choice and had a chicken sandwich in pesto sauce and a three cheese pizza. Both the sandwich and the pizza was delicious. The pesto sauce was yummy and the hot pizza was too good. Time had come to say good bye to the sin city when we got our boarding call. In a little more than three hours we were in Atlanta from where we flew to Washington DC. My husband was running a fever and had to drive under those conditions.  We reached home around 11:30 am on Tuesday 30th April bringing a dream to an end. But the important thing is it made a dream come true - I got the chance to see the bright city of Vegas and the grandest canyons in the world.

Honeymooning at Niagara and Letchworth

 

Vacation Dates: 10th - 11th May 2008

Route:

Drove from Harrisburg to BWI (Baltimore) airport	US -11 N, I - 83 S, I - 95 S
Flew from BWI (Baltimore) to Buffalo

 

I didn't believe my eyes when my husband showed me the tickets to Buffalo and postcards of Niagara and Letchworth State park. It was another surprise gift for our anniversary. It was Thursday when I was given this beautiful gift and we were to leave on Saturday morning to catch the early morning flight. We drove early morning around 5:30 A.M to Baltimore Washington Airport. After parking in the longterm parking lot we reached the airport. There was enough time so we decided to have something before the flight. We bought the chicken biscuit from McDonalds, this was first time in my life that I had chicken for breakfast. Our flight was in time and we reached Buffalo around 10 A.M. We had booked a rental car so we drove to my husband's friends house with whom we were to stay. Taking instructions from the friend on phone we finally reached their house. His wife treated us with banana shake, some chocolate cake and sweets from India. She had made Pao-bhaji for breakfast, yes you guessed it right we had breakfast again for the second time the same day. It was simply delicious. We decided to go to the Niagara falls area during the day time and then join the friends in the evening. As planned we started off for the falls around 12:00 P.M. We parked at the Rainbow parking lot opposite the Indian restaurant Punjabi Hut. Almost all parking lots charge $5 in the weekends. We walked to the Niagara Falls state park. At the entrance the beautiful garden full of tulips welcomes you. The multihued tulips, the white flowers on the trees made the park resemble an artists palette.

 

The falls were gorgeous as ever. I don't think I will ever get bored of seeing these falls. This was my second visit to Niagara and I loved it. We walked up to the Goats Island between the Bridal Veil Falls and the Horseshoe Falls. The island has an elevator that provides access to the Cave of the Winds Tour. At one end of the Island is the Terrapin Point from where one can view the Horseshoe falls. There is a Top of the Falls restaurant at Terrapin point as well. May is a good time to visit Niagara, everywhere the grass was covered with a bed of yellow and white flowers. It was late afternoon and we were hungry. There are a lot of Indian restaurants around but none provide good food. So we went to Wendy's and had Chicken Melt sandwich. Next we decided to go to the Whirlpool State park. A whirlpool has been formed at this location where the Niagara river takes a 90 degree turn. The state park has several overlooks that provide spectacular views of the rapids and swirling water of the Niagara river. A cable car takes tourists from the Canadian side above the whirlpool. There are jetboat tours that are conducted from the whirlpool area. It was already 4:00 P.M., so we drove back to meet our friends.

It was around six that all four of us started for Buffalo City. The city boasts of some nice architecture. Roaming around the downtown we reached the Marine drive of Buffalo. This waterfront has a small beach area. There is a submarine on display at the other end of the waterfront. Walking along the waterside we reached a tower like structure and decided to climb to the top. From the top of the tower we could see the view of the city in all directions. From here we drove to the Delaware Park in Buffalo. Here  enjoyed on the swings and remembered my childhood days. It was great fun. We were tired and it was getting late so we decided to call it a day and returned home. It was time for dinner and this friend and his wife cooked a delicious meal of Rajma, Chilli Paneer, pulao, roti and raita. We watched the movie "I think I love my wife" while having dinner. Since next day we had planned to drive to Letchworth state park we decided to sleep soon after the movie finished.

I woke up around 7:45 A.M and got ready soon. All of us took turns to get ready and by 9:00A.M everyone was at the breakfast table. After having bread and omlette we packed our picnic basket and left for Letchworth. Its about an hour long drive from Buffalo city. We were there by 11:00 A.M. Letchworth boasts of the Grand Canyon of the East. The parks has several overlooks which give a good view of the canyons. The park is also famous for the three falls - the upper, middle and lower level falls formed by the Genesee river which flows through the middle of the park. The park has many well maintained trails along the gorge. Boating, Kayaking, fishing, archery, hot air balloon ride and skiing are few of the popular park activities. Cabins and camp sites are also available for overnight camping.

We first walked up to the Upper Level falls. They are beautiful but my favorite were the Middle Level Falls which has a 107 ft drop. they are absolutely awesome. When you stand at the overlook near the middle level falls, you actually get wet by the water falling down. We clicked a lot of pictures at each overlook and finally made our way to the lower falls. There is a trail that takes you to the bottom of the falls. We had a good time hiking around in the park. After seeing all the falls we all were tired and hungry. We sat down at one of picnic huts and had our food. The hut had a fire place and my hubby decided to light some fire. We all collected some dry twigs & wood and using our paper plates made a fire. 

After lunch we drove to the other side of the park which has a dam and other overlooks. We had our flight in the evening at 8:30 P.M so we left the park around 4 P.M. The weather had started to change as strong winds were blowing. On the way we stopped at one of the dairy farms and saw the cows being milked mechanically using machines. We wanted to taste fresh milk but hard luck the farm did not sell milk there. Next we stopped by at one icecream shop that sells home made icecream. All of us had soft serves standing outside with the chilly winds blowing across our faces. Once we reached Buffalo, we rested for a while. Then we packed our stuff and left for the airport. Our flight was in time and we reached Baltimore around 10:00 P.M. From here we drove to Harrisburg and reached home with beautiful memories of the trip.

Finally I get to see them - The Niagara Falls

 

Route from Harrisburg:

I 81, US 22, US 15, US 11 I 90, I 290 W, US 62

Vacation Dates: 14th Sep 2007 - 15th Sep 2007

I had always heard a lot about these majestic falls and seen innumerable pictures of people having fun at the falls but now we were planning to go to Buffalo to see the falls. My in-laws were here along with my husband's cousin sister, so it was a family trip. Like always we decided to drive to Niagara falls. The packed some nice vegetable biryani and moong dal chilas for the trip and started early in the morning as the drive is about 6 hours long from Harrisburg. Making two stops on the way, we reached Buffalo in the afternoon around 2:00pm. We had booked a hotel very near to the falls hence we checked in to the hotel and freshened up.

It was around 3:00pm that we left for the fall area. We chose a parking near the visitor center. Just next to the parking lot we saw a couple of Indian restaurants and we decided to come there later for dinner. We straight headed towards the visitor center to buy our tickets. The Niagara Falls discovery pass is a perfect bargain, for $30 it includes attractions like The Cave of the Winds, The Maid of the Mist, Niagara Adventure Theatre, The Niagara Gorge Discovery Center, Aquarium of Niagara and Niagara Scenic Trolley ride. With the tickets in hand we decided to take the Maid in the Mist ride as the last tour is around 4:00pm and we didn't want to miss it. They gave us these funny looking raincoats made of blue plastic sheet. I for once got lost trying to find the head of the raincoat. Anyway's all dressed in blue we stood in the line awaiting our turn to board the ship.

The Maid in the Mist is a half hour tour where they take you to the American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls and the Horse Shoe Falls. The experience is breathtaking. Once we were near the colossal horseshoe falls, we could see a beautiful rainbow adorning the sky from one end to the other. The rainbow filled with vibrant colors, the water droplets falling like rain, the wind blowing through the hair and the falls in the background they all made the perfect setting for taking snaps. Those gallons of water falling from a height of 176 feet create mist all around you and hence the name Maid in the Mist. Awesome is the word to describe the scene. While you are near the basin of the Horseshoe falls, you can see people at the cave of the winds on the Canada side.The power and force in the water makes you think where does all this water come from.

I didn't want this tour to end but then there were others waiting for their turn as we disembarked the ship. We headed to the Cave of the Winds next. But I would suggest that one should first take the Cave of the Winds tour and then go for the Maid in the Mist tour.

 

It begins with an elevator ride that takes you 175ft into the Niagara Gorge. Here they give everyone a pair of sandals (floaters) so that your shoes don't get wet while you enjoy the falls. And yes this tour is differentiated from others by the yellow color raincoats that they provide. This was another fun tour where we got to get wet standing beneath the falls.  There is this wooden staircase route that takes you to the Hurricane Deck, less than 20 feet from the torrents of Bridal Veil Falls. This is the place where you can soak yourself in the waters of the falls. I, my mom-in-law and cousin, we three had a blast getting wet in the cold water splashing on us. To be frank I don't think anyone of us wanted to leave the deck. We were also scheduled to go to the observation deck the same day but due to strong winds the deck was closed for the day so we were told to take the tour the next day. Once we were out of those yellow plastic bags we went to the cafe at the falls. It started to rain  as we were heading back. So we decided to stop by the Indian restaurant for dinner. Fireworks are held every Friday and we were told by the restaurant guy that the fireworks are visible from the restaurant site. So we thought we would have our dinner and then see the fireworks. Well we settled for the Indian buffet consisting of mutter paneer, dal makhani, chicken, Aloo, etc. They had another offer that if you have food at their restaurant then the parking was free in the adjacent parking lot. The food however wasn't very great. We did see the fireworks from the parking lot area.

Then we went back to the goat island from where one can see the lighting of the Niagara Falls. Every night white and colored lights illuminate the Falls and accentuate their beauty. The blue, red, yellow, green hues mix to provide an altogether different view of the falls. I am sure the falls look extremely beautiful and grand from the Canadian side. Before it would begin to rain again we decided to end the day and headed back to our hotel.

My husband definitely needed a good night sleep, after all he had been driving for seven hours and again would be driving back home the next day. We made a schedule as to who would get up when in the morning so that all get dressed up in time. In the morning after having some breakfast we drove to the fall site. We decided to go to the aquarium first. Luckily we were in time for the feeding of the seals. For five dollars they give you a cup of fish to feed the seals. The aquarium is nice but there are better ones in the US. However the highlight of this aquarium is the seal show. We were first seated in a hall where the trainer came in with a seal named diamond. She showed us some tricks and then we saw her perform in the pool outside. The show was fascinating. We then went to the observation deck. The winds were really fierce and strong on top of the deck but it gave a nice view of the falls. Looking down at the Maid in the Mist and seeing people enjoy the Cave of the Winds tour, I felt like going for another tour. We then took the Niagara Scenic Trolley and got off at the Adventure Theatre. At the theatre we saw a 40min film titled Niagara: Legends of Adventure. The film is about daredevil acts of the people who actually made their way into the falls and survived. It was almost 3:00pm when we left the theatre and headed back home. All of us had lots of fun and I of course made a promise to myself that I would see these magnificent falls from the other side of the border.