Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Niagara Falls

It was so great to get away for a couple of days with Chris and Kate and Annie. For the past 2 years (this making it the third year) we have taken the girls to the Fallsview Waterpark in Niagara Falls http://www.fallsviewwaterpark.com/index.php . They enjoy hanging out somewhere warm! We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Hotel and it got terrible reviews when I looked it up but the price was so right. When we got there, we got bumped up to a double room with this view of the falls! It was such a thrill but then again, I am easily thrilled!

The day Chris took the girls to the waterpark, I went for a lovely brisk walk.

Icy from the mist.....right near the falls...
This is how close you can get! Its actually quite frightening! You can hear and feel the power of all this water...It made me think of Roger Woodward..the 7 year old boy that went over the falls. Listen to his story told by Stuart Mclean http://beemp3.com/download.php?file=5254913&song=roger+woodward+story It is amazing! I can't imagine going over the falls by accident and can't even begin to understand why folks would want to do it intentionally for fame.

This is an original structure from the first hotel at the falls...Clifton House. This is part of the formal garden. The Clifton is no longer there but this structure remains and in the summer, the gardens are beautiful. This is only half the structure..it curves around...I am standing at the middle point.

Check out the retro phone and buttons in the elevator. We had to take 2 elevators to get to our room...the first one was fine, but then a smaller, antique elevator to take us up to the top floor. Scary!
The girls enjoying the pool in our hotel.

Chris and Annie went to Ripleys Believe it or Not Museum. Chris in a chair that was made for someone huge!

Taking a break at Timmie's. By the way, our hotel had a Starbucks! Score!


And we all love the arcade! It is the final thing we do at Clifton Hill before heading for home.
Lee










3 comments:

moominmamma said...

The Roger Woodward story is one of my all-time favourite Vinyl Cafe stories. It really is awesome, isn't it?

Looks like you had a great trip!

Donnie Nesbitt said...

I don't think the structure at the Oaks Gardens is part of the original Clifton House Hotel Structure or the site of the Hotel... I believe the Hotels were always above the main FALLS AVE street level.

(I may be wrong but this is what I have heard...)

http://www.gingerstrand.com/niagara_lost.htm

Lee said...

I tried to look up more info on the garden structure...it is so beautiful even in the winter! Yeah, I could totally be wrong. I saw photos of the Clifton house (or what I thought was the clifton house!) when I was at the Crowne Plaza and it had this structure in front of it. (maybe it was the International Hotel and not the Clifton house?) I looked up the garden and it mentions it being in front of 2 famous hotels...lots of history in this area!
http://www.niagaraparks.com/garden-trail/oakes-garden-theatre.html
(scroll down to second photo)

Thanks for the comments!