This morning we had to take Dave, Brandon, and Maddie to the Buffalo Airport, 20 minutes away. So sad that they have to leave!! Madison is flying home for the weekend to go to Rincon Valley Christian School’s Junior Senior Banquet, with Brandon – it’s our school’s equivalent to a Prom. She is flying back on Sunday, but my boys are not!! L I was trying not to cry as they walked through the airport.
It seemed very quiet in the RV with 3 people gone and very spacious. We drove back to Niagara Falls to see some more of the beautiful falls. The girls and I brought our passports “just in case” we had a chance to go over to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, but Shelley didn’t have passports for her family. The girls and I decided that we just had to go over to the Canadian side. We left Shelley for about 3 hours to walk over to Canada, and I’m so glad we did because the view of the falls was absolutely incredible from across the river. The cities of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada and Niagara Falls, New York, are connected by the Rainbow Bridge just downriver from the falls, which we walked over. The view was spectacular on the bridge. We walked the pedestrian bridge and on the Canadian side we showed our passports at the checkpoint. We were skeptically asked what we were doing in Canada, and I responded, “Just shopping for a few hours!”
We walked through the booth and I could instantly tell that we were in Canada. I’ve only been to Vancouver and Victoria, Canada, and Canadians have a beautiful way of landscaping. The landscaping and buildings were very French/English and gorgeous.
As we walked down the pathway along the falls, the views were absolutely breathtaking. It took only about 20 minutes to walk to the Horseshoe Falls and when we reached the edge, and looked over, the intensity of the water was scary. It was flowing fast right over the edge of the fall as we looked right over the fence. Then the mist was flying up in our faces. It was awesome, amazing, incredible, powerful, beautiful, and awe inspiring of God’s beauty, power, and wonder!!
We shopped for an hour in the Canadian store and bought some fun Canadian treasures. The one thing that the girls bought that was a braided leather bracelet that is engraved with their name. I saw these at the Canadian Outpost at Disney World so they must be a total Canadian icon. We had a lot of fun shopping in the total Canadian store.
We walked back along the river to the Canadian checkpoint and when we went to walk through it we realized that we had to pay a .50 toll each to pass through the gates. That was quite interesting! We paid to go through and a French couple was trying to get change for a $20 in the machine but couldn’t. They asked me if I had change but I didn’t so I just gave them at dollar and said, “Here, you have to go to the American side!” They were very thankful and it made me happy!
As we walked through, Brooke said, “The guy didn’t stamp our passport.” I told her to go ask him to stamp it for us, so my bold & fearless little 12 year old went to ask the Canadian guard if he could stamp her passport. He wasn’t too happy about it and told her that he doesn’t stamp passports, but then he opened them up and did it anyway with a very serious look on his face.
We walked back over Rainbow Bridge and met up with Shelley. We decided to do the Cave of the Winds walk under the falls so we paid and they again gave us ponchos, although this time they were yellow. They also gave our own Velcro sandals. I think we are going to get wet!! We had to take an elevator down to the bottom of the falls and one of the guides assisted us on the way down. He gave some historical information that this was the first elevator shaft built in rock in the U.S. It was built from the bottom up and is 175 feet down to the Niagara Gorge to the Bridal Veil Falls. We walked out along a pathway to the wooden walkways that they actually removed every November and reassembled each spring so it won’t be damaged by winter weather. It was completed a week ago so we were very fortunate to be able to do it. The walkway took us down around the bottom and then up stairs to the hurricane deck. We were laughing hysterically as the kids went up to the top screaming their lungs out and their ponchos flying up because of the wind by the force of the falls. We definitely got wet with water flying everywhere! They absolutely loved it and wouldn’t come down. I was up there for a couple minutes and was soaked by the time I walked down. Good thing they gave us ponchos and shoes! The view of the falls was amazing and I’m so glad we decided to do it. When we went back up the elevator to the gift store, the kids just had to buy the shirts that say "I survived the hurricane deck"!!
After shaking off our ponchos and ringing out our shirts, we walked back to the RV. We decided to just hang out in the parking lot and make dinner so we could wait and see the Falls all lit up at night. We were just finishing up eating and a police car pulled up right to our door that was opened. He said suspiciously, “Are you spending the night here?” I said, “Oh no, we were just making dinner and then we’re going to look at the lights on the falls. We have a KOA about 15 minutes away.” He asked us a few more questions and we ended up explaining to him about our trip and where we have been. He was totally enthusiastic and impressed about where we have been. Then he asked the kids, “have you ever ridden in a Cop car?” And Shelley explained that Tim was a Santa Rosa police, and I explained that Dave used to be Deputy Sheriff. He was even more intrigued and asked them if they wanted to go for a ride. Of course their eyes were wide open with excitement. So he cleaned out his car and said hop in. I looked at him wondering if he wanted us all, and he said, “Yes, all of you jump in.” He was a hysterical colored young man named Jessie Mack. He drove us all over in the dark on the grass and walkways showing us all the beautiful areas of Niagara Falls at night. He told us if he got a call then he would have to go, but when we did get a call he asked his sergeant if he could cover him because he was giving a transport to some “really good” people. He started giggling when his sergeant replied, “ok!” Then he continued to drive us around. At one stop, he freely told us all about all of the people who go over the falls in a year, and how when the water gets warmer the bodies all start floating to the surface at the bottom of the falls. I thought he was kidding but unfortunately he wasn’t and the kids eyes were huge!! Then, as we got back into the car, he got a call about someone who was thinking about jumping over the falls. Everyone sat quietly in the car as we listened to the call. He dropped us off back at the American Falls where the beautiful, colorful lights were shinning from the Canada side and beaming on the falls. It was incredibly beautiful! We tried taking all kinds of pictures with the lights and only got a few good ones!
Jessie said he would meet us back here when he was done. But unfortunately he never came back. The kids were heartbroken because they wanted to say goodbye and thank him, We took pictures for a long time waiting for him, but we decided that we needed to go and that we would try to come back by tomorrow with a little gift to say “thank you.” It was quite an adventure with officer Jessie Mack and we were blessed to meet him!!
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