Niagara Falls-Day 2 Maid of the Mist

Friday morning, after a night where I don't think there was more then five minutes that everyone was asleep all at the same time, we ate a delicious breakfast and then headed to the Falls. Our plan was to do first things first, and everything we had read or heard said the Maid of the Mist was something not to be missed. We were happy that we were avoiding the major tourist season--no lines!

Below is a photo I took on the way. That's the boat we were going to go on: the Maid of the Mist.
This is a view from the American Falls that I also took while we were en route to the dock.
One more photo of what we were about to do.
After taking an elevator down to river level, we were given these blue ponchos. I was delighted that they even had a tiny one for Sophia!
They had hoods, too, as you'll see later. However, no matter how much the poncho covered you, when you are right next to the Falls with the wind and spray, you're going to get wet anyway, as we learned.

This is the view of the American Falls from the boat.
Eric and Sophia and the American Falls.
We were advised in a guidebook that the best place to be was on the top (open) level on the starboard (right) side. It seems like this wouldn't be a good spot as you can see that the people on the other side are getting a better view of the American Falls. However, the book proved to be right as our side got much closer to the Horseshoe (Canadian) Falls and then close to the American Falls on the way back.

Coming up to the Horseshoe Falls.
And leaving the Horseshoe Falls.
If you look closely, you'll notice how soaked we got (see Joshy's hood and the rail). This should explain why I couldn't get any pictures when we were close to the Falls. And we were really, really close. So close I was kind of afraid we were going to get hurt. We could hear the engines going full throttle just to keep us that close, and it seemed like we were stuck. The spray and the roar of the Falls was absolutely incredible. Even with our cool blue ponchos, we were getting so very wet. Eric took the girls to go below, but we were rocking so much he decided it wasn't smart to try to walk down those wet steps with two little ones. Joshy and I, clutching each other and the railing, put our faces to the Falls and soaked it all in. Literally. It was LOUD. And wet.

I could not believe how powerful all this water together was. Neither could Joshy. We were just amazed that our God is even more powerful. As Joshy said, "God could just put His hand out and stop all that water if He wanted to."
Another view of the American Falls. Now we are on our way back to the dock, but not without first getting a little sprayed by these. It was nothing compared to the Horseshoe Falls though. Think tiny mist from the produce section at the grocery store compared to a fire hydrant sprayed two feet above your head.
This is one last photo I took. I took it from the Table Rock area nearer the Falls, but you can really see better how close the Maid of the Mist gets to the Falls. It really was the highlight of the trip.
Another thing that just amazed us was the story of a young boy (about 8 years old) who survived going over Horseshoe Falls wearing only a life jacket and his swimsuit. He had been fishing with his 17 year old sister and a family friend when the motor on the boat died. The family friend died (we couldn't find details of how) and the sister lived. She was rescued before going over the Falls by people watching on shore. We couldn't find details on that either. The boy, however, went over. But he survived and was rescued by a Maid of the Mist boat. Can you believe that? Joshy and I both talked about how amazing that was, seeing how powerful and crazy those waters are. We agreed that the only way that boy survived was God's angels, or even the Lord Himself, caught him and carried him down.