This summer we took the kids on a road trip adventure. Both of the kids, but Oliver especially, love waterfalls. Even the tiniest of waterfalls he will just go bonkers over. I love when kids have those things that they are just obsessed about. One time we took Oliver to the zoo and there was an eagle who had his very own tiny waterfall in his area. When we asked Oliver what his favorite part of the zoo was, his answer was the waterfall. Waterfalls have been his thing for awhile now. Avery is a great big sister and will point them out to him if she sees one in nature or even in a picture in a book. He always has the sweetest things to say about them too. He can be sensitive and sweet and calls them "beautiful". So we decided to take the kids to see Niagara Falls. Chris and I went to Niagara Falls together, but it was a long time ago so we were excited to be able to take the kids with us. We knew they would go nuts over how ginormous the falls are so we did not show them any photos or videos of Niagara Falls before the trip so they would see it for the first time in person. Definitely worth it!
Chris put together a great trip for us that not only included Niagara Falls, but other waterfalls as well. Our first stop was Lake Placid, New York. We drove up through Vermont so we had to stop at Ben & Jerry's for ice cream. Lake Placid was home to the winter Olympics in 1980. We stayed at a nice hotel right by restaurants, shops and a lot of Olympics related stuff. It was really fun to see where the Olympics took place. We visited the ski jump area, bobsled area and the ice arena where the famous United States vs Soviet Union hockey game took place. We got to see some ski jumpers practice while we were there. It was incredibly high up and crazy to see in person. We also had fun on a mountain coaster that followed the same route as the bobsled course. I think the kids' favorite part was the fact that there was a pile of snow on the ground every day to play with in the middle of July! While we were in Lake Placid, we also took a small hike at High Falls Gorge to see our first waterfall of the trip.
We had a long drive up to Toronto, Canada. In Toronto we saw the CN Tower, rode a ferry out to an island, and visited one of the coolest aquariums that we have ever been to. The ferry ride was fun and once we got on the island we made it through a hedge maze, found a playground to play on, looked out over Ontario Lake where the kids were convinced it was the ocean and not a lake, and spent the rest of the day at the island's very own amusement park.
As much fun as the kids were having at this point, they were still counting down the days until we got to Niagara Falls. The kids were blown away by the waterfall. It was so fun to watch their excitement! Chris got us a room with an amazing view of the falls, so that even when we woke up in the morning and went to bed at night, the kids could enjoy the falls. We lucked out with great views of fireworks from our room and the kids loved watching the waterfalls light up in different colors at night. Our first dinner was in a really tall building called the Skylon Tower that overlooked the waterfalls. We got very lucky with our table, as it was placed right at the window and in the middle of both of the falls so we had an amazing view the whole time. The kids loved eating dinner and dessert and looking out the window. After dinner we decided on a whim to ride the boat down to the falls, where we got up close and personal with the Horseshoe Falls. Oliver was not quire sure at first, but was super brave and ended up enjoying the boat ride. Avery would have ditched her poncho if we let her. That girl was in heaven; singing in the rain, soaking wet! It was a wild experience! While in Niagara Falls, we also explored the touristy stuff. We rode a big Ferris wheel overlooking the falls, mini golf (where both Ollie and daddy got a hole in one!), race cars, amusement rides and a wax museum. On our last day, we did a "Behind the Falls" tour where we got to ride an elevator down underground and look out behind the waterfalls through two portholes and then on an observation deck that had us so close to the waterfalls. When I asked Oliver what he thought when we were looking up at the giant waterfall he said "This is the biggest waterfall I have ever seen!!"
The kids were sad to leave Niagara Falls but we had one more fun stop on the way home. We stayed in an Airbnb in the Finger Lakes region. It was fun to be able to relax a little more at the end of our trip. Our days were long and we walked ALOT. The kids were troopers. We averaged 8-9 miles a day of walking. Of course in the Finger Lakes we did more walking and went on hikes to see more waterfalls! But the kids were well rested and did all of the hiking by themselves. We visited the Taughannock Falls and Watkins Glen Falls, which were both gorgeous in their own ways. Taughannock Falls had a nice trail that followed a river leading to this beautiful, tall waterfall. We got to play in the river water and Avery learned how to skip rocks with dad. Watkins Glen Falls was 3 miles long and 832 steps within a beautiful gorge. The kids had fun counting the stairs and got to enjoy an ice cream treat at the top of the trail! At the house, the kids loved watching the many, many wild bunnies that lived in our yard, a woodchuck and deer. Of course at the end of our trip the kids did not want to go home. We really had the best time!
The days leading up to our trip I was checking the weather and it had rain predicted in literally all of the places we were going. Thankfully we ended up with fabulous weather. The kids got to see a part of our country and another country that they have never seen before. It was Oliver's first time out of the country, which was fun for him. Chris and I feel blessed to be able to give our kids these types of fun experiences; especially these active, adventurous trips that have us seeing parts of the country/world that we don't get to experience at home. The kids are already asking for another adventure, and perhaps we have our next one in mind!😇
