Niagara Falls

When the weather warms up here in Buffalo, all I want to do is be outside.  I don't want to clean the house (though it's rare that I want to do that anyways), I don't want to hang around at home.  I want to go out, walk through a park, look at people's gardens, do something fun.  So that is what we did on Sunday.  We went to Niagara Falls.

It ended up being a hot, hot day with record breaking temps near 90.  I had heard a nasty rumor that the Maid of the Mist, a boat ride going up to the base of the falls, might be closing down after this year.  While it seems unlikely that they will shut down a big tourist attraction that's been running since 1846, I didn't want to take the chance of Annabelle never going on it!  At first she was nervous.  It took quite a bit of convincing that it would be fun, but once she saw the boats she was gung ho.

We took our time up in the observation tower, clicking away with the camera.  After a quick ride down the elevator we got our oh so stylish blue rain ponchos and boarded the boat.  We got misty wet and Annabelle almost convinced us to take her on the Cave of the Winds but we also wanted to watch Nik Wallenda practice his tight rope walking. 

The Wallenda's are a famous (though I had never heard of them until I started dating Mark) dare-devil family.  Nik Wallenda is a third generation tight rope walker.  He will be walking across the horseshoe falls from the US to Canada in June.  He was having free practices at the near by casino and I wanted to catch a glimpse of it.  We only watched for about 15 minutes, it was just too hot to stand in 90 degree weather to see him lie down on the rope and shake it and all the other things that he was supposed to do.

After all of that, we had some dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  Then it was time for a quick bath for Annabelle and bed.  We were tired from the long, busy weekend but it was so worth it.

Mark and Annabelle at the brink of the falls.

Up close is the American Falls and in the background is the Horseshoe Falls, in Canada.

Annabelle peers down at the Maid of the Mist boat from the observation tower.

Horseshoe Falls and the Maid of the Mist heading in.

My little fashionista.

We had to get a family shot.

The American Falls.

This is the Cave of the Winds.  We'll do that with Annabelle next time.

Running up the steps for a closer look at the falls.

I love that it looks like she's hopping over the bridge:)

The shows about to start.

He made it look so easy.

A close up.