Niagara Falls trip offered more than just waterfalls

Imagine a beautiful sight and you might say it is a beautiful view of a lake or a painting. However, if you haven’t seen the falls in Niagara Falls, especially at night, you really have missed the best of the best! 

Shelby Senior Services recently took in the beauty and amazement of the falls on a trip.

I’ll get to the falls in a minute, but for me, I must first share some other highlights of the trip. For example, the nearby town of Niagara-on-the-Lake is one of those quaint little towns with character, charm and spectacular water views. As expected, shops and restaurants line the streets. Friendly owners greet visitors from all over the world.

However, the streets also are lined with layers of colorful flowers that range from four-foot tall red Canas in the middle of the lane divider planters strategically placed along the sidewalks to impatience and a myriad of other annuals.

Hanging pots have cascading vines and brilliant shades of blooming flowers on every street corner. Vendors chip in to pay for the $1 million price tag to decorate the town annually.

Venturing out to the surrounding area, family-owned vineyards and farms raising specialty crops such as lavender and fruit, dot the landscape. What a treat it is to walk into a lavender farm gift shop and smell the aroma of a variety of lavender items such as bath soap and skin products.

Vineyards offer wine tasting. After learning about how the wine ingredients are selected, grown and bottled, visitors are treated to a tasting of the different varieties made right on sight.

Getting back to Niagara Falls, the Welland Canal (Lock No. 3) is an experience that gets visitors up close and personal to huge cargo ships passing through the locks to get to their destinations. We arrived at the canal just in time to witness a cargo ship approaching, entering and exiting the lock. You can almost reach out and touch the passing ship.

Since the locks serve to raise or lower the water level to accommodate the vessel’s needs, it is fascinating to see the way the ship is maneuvered into the narrow lock. The museum at Lock No. 3 takes you on a journey to see the history of previous locks, their locations and the building of the modern locks.

Of course, the ultimate attraction at Niagara Falls is the falls itself.  Consisting of three separate falls -- the Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls, and the Bridal Veil Falls. At its peak, water flows an average of 225,000 cubic feet per second over Horseshoe Falls.

The American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls is halved at night and during low tourist time in winter, while 90% of the Horseshoe Falls is allowed to flow over the falls and 10% is diverted by an international control dam to the hydroelectric plant to produce electricity.

Niagara Falls wasn’t always a honeymoon destination. Theodosia Burr Alson, daughter of Vice President Aaron Burr, and husband, Joseph Alson, were the first couple to honeymoon there in 1801. After that, fashionable couples began to flock to the falls, especially after WWII when the auto industry and tourism boards started advertising the destination.

At night, a spectacular light show occurs on the falls. It is breathtaking!  Crowds of people line the fences late at night to take pictures, since the summer sunsets are later. It is truly a beautiful and memorable sight to see.

Come to our Oct. 10 Travel Show to see where we are going in 2025.  Call 317-398-0127 to reserve your free seat.

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