~Not All Who Wander Are Lost~: Great Lakes Trip + Niagara Falls

After the wedding on Sunday and then a brunch at Brett's parents' cabin in the Catskills on Sunday, we dropped my sister off at the Albany airport and headed NW towards Ontario, Canada to start the true Great Lakes portion of our trip. Our itinerary will take us to Chicago by way of Niagara Falls, Toronto, Tobermory, Sault Ste. Marie, and Wisconsin, and, of course, all five Great Lakes. I'm hoping that by the end of this trip I will finally be able to remember the names of all five of the lakes (something one should know for cultural fluency in the midwest as well as for getting around downtown Chicago!).

After staying the night in Syracuse on Sunday then driving through to Buffalo, we drove over the bridge and entered Canada where we saw our first great lake! I'd technically seen Lake Erie while driving through Ohio, but never gotten a picture of it. I got one from the Canadian side after passing through customs and eating Canadian McDonald's...

Buffalo across Lake Erie

Pretty intense looking wind farm in the distance

Now, there are apparently two ways to get to Niagara Falls. The first is driving through the US and then coming upon the falls from the back where the falls are hidden from view until you walk out onto the observation decks. The second is the route we took. This involves crossing the Peace Bridge over into Canada and then driving along the Niagara River until you see this and you know it's about to get real:

Misty to the left.

Calm to the right.

Crazy, crazy birds

No shit, Sherlock

You could not pay me any sum of money to strap myself into
a barrel and go for a ride on this river.

We checked into our hotel, admired the view, then hit the main pathway on the Canadian side with views of both the American and Canadian falls. Lucky for us it was both Labor Day (US) and Labour Day (Canada) so the path was loaded with tourists. And not just any old tourists, it was a complete United Nations field trip. Apparently Toronto's population is 50% foreign born and I could tell that from the variety of countries and languages represented on the path (in addition to a lot of Japanese tourists!).

Crappy view from the American side

Sweet view of the American falls from our hotel. Hi, America, miss you!

Viewing stairs on the American side. In the photo above to the left of the
falls, you can see the observation tower that looks
out over the falls for a better view.