Sunday at Niagara Falls

Our day began slowly. We couldn't get ourselves in motion and our touring sputtered until late morning when we decided to drive into town. We took some brochures, a map, cameras, and drinking water and drove the 3.2 miles to downtown Niagara Falls.

Before we left, Ralph met the neighbor to our right. He is from Maine and was very friendly. He and his wife travel a lot by RV and go to Florida each winter for a few weeks. He is trying to retire. He has a trucking business that transports seafood (lots of lobsters) as far south as Maryland. He says his son can run the business, but he (dad) is having a hard time letting go after 36 years. We have heard that story before. He said they were leaving here today: it is too crowded. He wasn't sure where they were going, but 20 minutes later, they were gone. Ralph invited him to Crystal Lake. Maybe we will see him again.

We assumed parking would be a problem in town. Plenty of parking was available with rates from $15 to $5 for the day depending on the distance to the Falls. Imagine our surprise when we saw side-by-side lots with one advertising $15 and the other $4 for 'all day' parking. We took the $4 lot. As we entered the lot , we saw a sign "$4 Payable on Exit, Coins Only". Not a problem we thought. We will get some Canadian coins when we buy something, and the neat part was this lot was next to the Imax Theater where we wanted to go.

Several minutes later we realized The Problem: There were no vacant spaces in the lot, and to exit the lot required $4 in Canadian coins which we did not have. Alas, we were not alone. Two other cars were in similar circumstances. They may have had the coins, but objected to paying for a ride around a full parking lot. Naturally, there was no attendant present; that is how they could charge such a relatively low price. The three of us decided to begin a new row of cars in the lot using some of the roadway and some of the spaces already occupied. When we returned later, we found several other cars had filled out our new row, and we had the coins to get out.

Imax has never disappointed us. We very much enjoyed the film about the miracles, myths, and magic of the falls. It was a great way to begin our falls experience. After the movie we sought a tourist/visitor center where we could get information, tour tickets, etc. We found the "official" tourist office, and we were very disappointed in the service. A lady there gave us a map and marked her office location; that was it, "You are here". She pointed to a wall rack of brochures and said, "That's what's available. If you want more, call the number on the brochure". Duh! We wanted more, but she had nothing more to give.

We liberated the car from the parking lot, made two left turns, and we were face-to-face with the American Falls across the Niagara River. We could see the Horseshoe Falls to our right and hundreds of pedestrians walking to and from the respective Falls. Being Sunday with perfect weather brought many people out for a stroll.

By this time in the afternoon, we had decided to take a Grey Line tour tomorrow. The Grey Line uses buses rather than vans; we like comfort. Therefore, there was not a lot for us to do today in the downtown area since all the attractions will be on the tour tomorrow. We headed back to the campground stopping at a grocery store on the way.

On the way back we each expressed our disappointment at what we have found here. The city is shabby and run down even in the tourist centers of activity. The campground is crowded by design. No space exists between sites, and the pools are so over crowded that it would be difficult just to get near the water. Everything is expensive and visitors are on their own to figure out what is where and how to get to it. We considered staying an extra day, but have re-considered and will leave Tuesday morning as planned.