Crossing It Off the "Bucket List"...no "Things I Want to Do Just Because I Want to Do Them"

I really don't like calling it a "Bucket List" because it makes me think of 'things I want to do before I die' and that is just depressing.

So I think of it as the list of "Things I Want to Do Just Because I Want to Do Them."  Better, right?

One of those things is riding on The Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls.

I had visited The Falls twice before - once when I was 10 with Mom, Dad, and Greta.  It was our first vacation ever, and I remember being in awe of not only going someplace other than the Cleveland Zoo or the Pittsburgh Airport to watch the planes PLUS these were two of the biggest waterfalls I had ever seen!  To top it off we stayed in a cottage of some sort and Greta and I had our own room.  Not too shabby for a 10 year old and her 6 year old sister!

The other time was with Gary and Megan, who was 2, so that meant Hilary wasn't born yet.  The main thing I remember about that trip was that we were on the Canadian side, looking at the Falls, and I had Megan standing on the wall with the railing and wanted Gary to take a picture and he wouldn't do it.  He was nervous that somehow she was going to slip out of my hands and fall over the railing and toddle through the grass and escape down the incline into the water far below and disappear forever.

A few years ago we decided we wanted to return to the Falls and take it all in again, as adults, without kids.  One problem.  We didn't have passports and we needed them to cross Rainbow Bridge and view the Falls from the other side, which in my opinion, is the best place to see the Falls and marvel at their similarities and differences.

The American Falls from the Canadian side

 
The Horseshoe Falls from the Canadian side

Fast forward to 2017.  Passports packed into our suitcases, we planned a trip to the Falls. Well, not really.  It was the Plan B if Irma messed up our planned trip to Myrtle Beach, then Charleston, then Gatlinburg.  Irma expended her wrath, we cancelled our reservations, and we headed northeast from Wooster after two days at the Wayne County Fair.

First of all, things change.  No, not the Falls, because how can they?  But the tourist parts around them have.  There are more steps and platforms and walkways to view the Falls on the American side than there had been in...well...1983. Watching the rushing water, hearing the roar of the falls themselves, and feeling the spray as the slight breeze carried water droplets everywhere....amazing.


The American Falls



The American Falls



Gary looking at the top of the Horseshoe Falls


At the top of the Horseshoe Falls

Thursday morning after breakfast we headed to Niagara Falls State Park, parked in their lot (for the going rate everywhere $10), followed the signs and found ourselves decked out in blue hooded raincoats, standing on the deck of the Maid of the Mist.   I was SO excited.


On the boat, ready to go

Now, lately with all that has been going on in our lives, excitement just hasn't been there.  I seem to be plodding my way through the daily routine, the trips to Ohio, the sorting and pitching and packing.  But I felt the excitement building as I tugged the hood around my head and worked to keep my phone dry as I snapped pictures.

First the boat cruised past slowly past the American Falls.  The wonder and splendor were remarkable.  The sound was deafening, I thought.  I was impressed, amazed, overwhelmed. 



The American Falls, up close and personal

Then we moved to the Horseshoe Falls.



 
 Approaching the Horseshoe Falls




 Getting closer

As I clutched the railing, trying to lean against Gary for support, right hand holding tightly to my phone and trying to capture pictures, I felt myself disappear into the intense spray to the point that I realized we were right. there. in. the middle. of. the. Falls.  Really!  IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FALLS!  All around us was the roar of the water rushing over the edges of the horseshoe.  Everywhere I looked I could see nothing but water pouring rapidly in front of my eyes.  The boat was rocking with the force of the waves as the water tried to escape out into the river. It was terrifying yet it was amazing and incredible all at the same time!!

 
In the middle of the Falls - only picture I could take because my phone was drenched and stopped working

Totally awesome!  After our boat turned and made its way back into the river, heading to the dock by the overlook bridge, my heart was pounding and I was speechless.  I couldn't believe we had just been into the Horseshoe Falls, really into the Falls.  My raincoat was drenched, my phone was spotted, my FitBit was soaked, and I couldn't see anything out of my glasses for the waterspots that covered them.


Gary was WET!




Past the American Falls on the return trip

Later Gary and I stood on the observation bridge and watched the next boats make the same journey with another group of blue-parka-ed passengers.  We stood in awe as the boat disappeared in the mist that billowed from the base of Horseshoe Falls and then several minutes later, appeared again to make its way past the American Falls and back to the dock.



 
If you look closely in the middle of the base of the Falls, you can see the boat swallowed up in the mist.

Totally awesome.  Wonderfully memorable.  Communing with nature up close and personal.

Cross that one off the List of Things I Want to Do Just Because.  But if given the opportunity, I just might do it again!