Vacation Part 2 - NY and Niagara Falls

After Cedar Point, we drove to Syracuse for Phase two of our summer roadtrip. En route, we passed through our old stomping ground, Cleveland. Scott and I met in Cleveland while working for GE Lighting, our first jobs fresh out of college. We have lots of fond memories of Cleveland – fun Fridays in the Flats, good food in Little Italy, hot wings at Pacers, culture in University Circle and crazy Browns football in the Dog Pound (well – Scott has memories of the Dawg Pound – I got to sit in “real” seats). We only passed through, and after 17 years, most of it is now pretty fuzzy. And a lot has changed – the new football, basketball and baseball stadiums in Downtown and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, just to name a few. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is Dead Man’s curve on I90 in Cleveland. Oh yeah – and the bad roads.

While in Syracuse, we relaxed at Nai Nai’s house. Last year, Nai Nai planted several raspberry bushes in her backyard garden and this year the plants bore plentiful sweet berries.


We enjoyed several bowls each morning. We also enjoyed the 4th of July Fireworks along Oneida Lake.

On Friday, we headed back to Illinois and took a side trip to Niagara Falls. This was Scott’s idea, heavily influenced by the Travel Channel’s feature on the Falls highlighting several of the sights and attractions. We arrived around noon and enjoyed lunch at the Wild Mushroom Sports Bar and Grill. Then we got our first up close and personal Falls experience while on the Maid of the Mist.



Several hours later, the afternoon sun hit the mist of Horseshoe Falls, creating a beautiful arcing rainbow, and I then understood why the bridge that traverses between the US and Canada is named Rainbow Bridge.


We finally descended on our “Journey Behind the Falls”, taking us down 150 feet to tunnels that run behind the Horseshoe Falls to two viewing portals of the crashing water. The observation platform is as close as you can get to the Falls without putting yourself in danger. The kids enjoyed this attraction more than the Maid of the Mist, as they got wetter and could hang out on the observation platform, and attempt to “use The Force” to hold back the water from the Falls.

Here is a picture in front of one of the viewing portals behind the Falls:


Picture of the Falls from the Viewing platform:



We had dinner along Clifton Hill, the main tourist area and enjoyed the beautiful evening. We didn't ride this Ferris wheel - it is similar to the wheel at Navy Pier and the one in Nanchang: