Niagara Falls: The View from Canada

Randy and I decided to take a surprise road trip to Canada. It was impromptu and we weren't really sure where to start. I told him he should see Niagara Falls because it is beautiful and I had only seen it from the American side. I heard the Canadian side was nicer. We decided to leave at 2:30 PM, we left at 3:30PM, but at least we left. The drive through Canada was boring. I fell asleep.  Ontario is not the most exciting place to drive through, but it's a lot faster than driving through the US. The most stressful part was the boarder crossing, but I must say it was the easiest time I've ever had. They always seem to want to search me.  We arrived in Niagara at about 9pm that night. Just in time to see the falls light up. We had the most incredible view from our room. We could see the entire falls. Niagara Falls from the Canadian side looks so much bigger. The Canadian Side view shows the island in the middle of the falls.

This view is from the Canadian side, this is the American Falls. As you can see the hotels on the American Side are really far away, it is really difficult to see the falls from the American Side. 

There were many things to do on the Canadian side, I got to see some of my friends who were also in Niagara at the same time. They asked the valet where he would go to lunch because we didn't want to go to a place that was a chain or to "touristy". This place was awesome. They actually had a pizza burger. It was two slices of pizza with a burger in between.  I had a calzone and it was very tasty. The tomato sauce tasted like it was from fresh grown tomatoes. They also carried local beers. 

 This is the Burger King in downtown. The whole street was full of very very touristy stuff. We went to the wax museum, I had never been to one before and I didn't think the figures were very life like, but there was a lot more wax museums, one with rock stars, one with famous killers, and one with just basic celebrities. The Canadians are just hot for wax I guess. The Burger King had Frankenstein attached to it.  This specific Burger King had a haunted house in it. Right across the street was the Ripley's Believe it or not museum, packed full of all the gross, bizarre stuff that a person can handle. They even have a 4D moving theater, yes a Moving theater. The theater movies to simulated the action in the 4D movie.   I made a video of our experience there:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hiw65NlKKws&feature=g-upl&context=G279fe3dAUAAAAAAAAAA

The view from our room was amazing. We stayed at the Embassy Suites. There are many other hotels that are very reasonable nearby, they all boast of these wonderful views and they really do have them. We were closest to the Canadian falls, the "Horseshoe Falls". They were amazing. The amount of water that passes through them is incredible.  There is so much history from the area too, many people have lost their lives trying to take a barrel over the edge of the horseshoe falls, also people have tightrope walked across it. The place has traditionally been a honeymoon spot, but it is very family friendly and it also isn't super expensive unless you want to do everything they have available.  One thing I was kind of disappointed about was the "maid of the Mist" wasn't open. That's the boat that goes into the falls. Also we almost took a helicopter ride over the falls but we opted out of it. I have never been in a helicopter and hope someday to go in one, it looks like a lot of fun. Overall, I think Niagara is a pretty fantastic place to visit, I wish I would have had more time there, the falls are beautiful, there is fun things to do, and I don't think you can ever really "see it all" in a place like Niagara.