Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Falling and flying


Kia Ora, all! Writing to you from a cold, windy Tuesday with a few random snowflakes which do not seem appropriate for April. Of course sometimes I do forget where I live. I'm going to close up the Niagara Falls trip today with some photos of Niagara Falls.

First though, the butterflies. Since we raised about 300 Monarch caterpillars inside our home in Auckland, Laurel has become a pretty big butterfly fan. So while the rest of us just kind of ignored the inclusion of the Butterfly Conservatory on our Niagara Falls winter fun pass, Laurel took it to mean that we'd spend an entire day there. We compromised and hit it on our way home and it was very good except that Trey and I couldn't breathe until we left for fear of stepping on one of the 100s  of the fragile little creatures that were so naive as to spend their 2 precious weeks of life hanging out on the floor.













OK and now the falls. The water was soooo clear!!


I'm not sure really why waterfalls are so appealing, but one this big is just magnificent. There were people there from all over the world, judging by accents and attire. There was even a very fancy woman who got out of a chauffeured black Town Car and walked across the street to see it and then was helped back in to the car and whisked away.





The Journey Behind the Falls (capitalized, please!) was impressive. I'd love to also see it after the falls thaw. In fact I'd like to go back in the summertime for lots of reasons -- biking to the wineries, the jetboat in the whirlpool, the Maid of the Mist. 



See, it's frozen now, but in the summertime you'd see the falls thundering down right there in front of you! 

Here are a few miscellaneous photos from the area and now we are done with Niagara Falls. Back to NZ next! This is the whirlpool. Before they started diverting about 50% of the water flow for hydroelectric power, it really looked as if it was swirling. Or whirling, I suppose. It still does a bit. It's massive! And really that colour. Starting in April (now) you can take a tour of the big hydroelectric power plant just north of the falls. Looked very interesting.







This little French restaurant was SO excellent. It's in the old downtown. Please go if you're in the area!! I'd almost drive back there just for one of the crepes that I had for dessert after my delicious dinner. 

Hope everyone is happy and healthy, xo, K.

1 comment:

  1. Frozen falls, never thought about it. I thought that because the water is moving, it wouldn't freeze? Some is still moving, right? Looked like it. I've only been one time in the summertime. We did the Maid of the Mist, of course. We just stopped on the US side for a couple of hours on the way home from the East.

    Stan Hywet had and may again a butterfly conservatory if Laurel needs a fix ;) Akron is a bit closer and the grounds there are so pretty. You may even want to tour the Sieberling Mansion.

    ReplyDelete