Up bright and early today, that makes a change Jed said. Had breakfast and the heavens opened, heavy rain, thunder, lightning, the lot. Sit tight for a bit and wait for rain to subside a little before starting the ride to Niagara.
At about 1030 its slowed down enough in order to venture out to load up the bike and get out onto a very wet interstate. So off we go. After about half an hours ride it became obvious that we were chasing the storm that we had just waited to pass over. The sky went very black and the rain hammered down. Not a good idea to continue when you cannot see either the traffic around you or the road ahead and the bike feels as if its trying to go sideways. Off the interstate and pull over underneath the roadway in what can only be described as a running stream. Sit tight for about 30 mins the the sun comes out. Great. Back onto the road it is then.
Another 30 mins down the road, guess what, yep, back into the storm. This time continue as the rain is falling a little less than before, eventually reach Niagara in bright sunshine in the early afternoon and make our way to the information bureau.
10 minutes later we are booked into a hotel and have two trips organised. The first being an evenings trip to the Canadian side of the falls which starts at 6.30pm and lasts 4 1/2 hrs and the second for 11am tomorrow for a tour of the American side of the falls, this also lasts 4 1/2 hours.
So, Jed gets his passport ready for the crossing to Canada and we are off. I must admit the tour is quite good and the Canadian side is far prettier and better developed than the American side, this is obvious straight away when we cross the bridge into Canada. Suddenly it is greener with nice houses and pretty gardens. Also there are nice hotels and places to eat. far far removed from the American side which is more industrial with hardly anywhere to eat to be seen. The Canadian falls are also far prettier with the horseshoe falls being dominant, a 180ft fall for the water over a curved edge nearly half a mile wide, whereas the Americans have to put up with two falls that are far smaller and a good deal less impressive.
On this tour we get to see the falls at night and all lit up and very nice they are to. We also get to go down to a point about half way down the falls and get a soaking when the wind switches direction and blows what feels like tons of spray all over us, thank god for the plastic ponchos provided.
Tomorrow on the American trip we get to go on Goat Island and also do the Maid in the Mist, Jed really fancies this as he saw it tonight from the Canadian side. The boat just puts on full power and sits nose on into the rushing water and freezes in position right in front of the Canadian falls. Jed feels yet another wetting is in the plan.
On the tour tonight, we stopped at a viewpoint and saw a Raccoon begging for food. Got really close to this critter and got some photo's, hopefully we will be able to post them tomorrow all being well. 2 computers in this hotel and I end up on the one where I can't post pictures, typical eh.
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