There seemed some irony in the fact that we were heading for some other country for the July 4rth Independence Day celebration, but going to Niagara didn’t seem that bad. After all, we were going to the Canadian side of the fall to marvel at the beauty of the US side. Well, technically speaking that is not true. While the US does own two of the three falls American (Rainbow) and Luna (Bridal Veil), most of the Horseshoe belong to Canada. But that doesn’t matter, from our view; we were looking at the United States. Plus we heard the fireworks on the 4rth of July were very good!
It took us a good 7 hours to get to Niagara,then another 30 minutes to reach our hotel. Overall a lot shorter trip than going to Florida. The shortest route (per Tom-Tom GPS) was through Peace Bridge, off Route 190 and into the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) located a few miles upstream from the more famous Rainbow Bridge. Our hotel was about 20 minutes from the falls, a choice made easier because we would be saving over $100 a night compared to similar but closer hotels. Since we planned to only stay for the weekend and head on to New Jersey on Monday, we elected to visit the falls right after dinner. In order to save some money we had instant noodles, hard boiled eggs and rice for dinner. 
We left at least an hour before the published start of the fireworks. We’ve heard that the firework display for the 4rth of July is a much anticipated event. Arriving as we did, the place was jam packed with people walking all over and out of the sidewalks, and vehicles. Parking was an issue. The fastest way to get a parking space would be find a parking garage. We found a parking garage in the Casino, next to the Sheraton Falls View hotel, or $20.00. For now, this would have to do. Grudgingly we accepted that amount and hoped that we would locate cheaper parking during the rest of our stay. 20 minutes after making our way through the crowd the firework show began. To our disappointment, it only lasted 10 minutes. Sure doesn’t sound like something we would spend $20 on? Later on we would find out that there was a regular twice-a-week firework display over the falls, every Friday and Sunday. Our schedule for tomorrow calls for us to ride the Lady of the Mist, and take a tour Behind the Falls. 
Lady of the Mist. We had a very nice breakfast the next day. We found a $15.00 parking for the whole day. You need to walk to appreciate the view, and what a view. It is spectacular! 
It took us almost an hour to make it to the boat ticket counter but before that we spent a couple of hours just sitting under a tree and soaking up the sites, sounds and mist. A completely unplanned but welcomed activity. The price of a ticket was reasonable and the waiting lines, not as long or as slow moving as we expected. On average a boat leaves for the falls every 15 minutes. The operator took group pictures of people riding the boat, and provided plastic rain coats. There is no need to buy the pictures (which can be expensive) 
and you get to keep the coats as a souvenir. One item I suggest people bring, a water-proof disposable camera, or a clear plastic bag you can put over your digital camera. You will get close enough to the falls to get really soaked. The boat stayed next to the falls for about 5 minutes before heading back to the dock. As usual, doing things that are not planned takes its toll on the best laid plans. Because we had dinner reservations at 6:00 pm (Courtesy of the Smith family) at the Skylon Tower we had to forgo the trip behind the falls and reschedule it for tomorrow. 
The Skylon Tower. The Skylon Tower has been a Niagara landmark for many, many years. You could just go up to the observation deck and get a breath-taking view of the scene, but if you have a willing patron (Courtesy of the Smith family) go and have dinner at the formal dinning area. The whole restaurant rotates at a constant speed of about once every hour so you don’t have to worry about getting dizzy. 
The food is great, the service excellent (by my standards) but, unless you really prepared for this, you should have a willing patron (Thanks to the Smith family) as the prices can set you back more than a bit.
Behind the Falls. Sunday and we are again on the hunt for parking space. But first let us have breakfast. We spied a reasonable-sounding German Restaurant advertising breakfast for $1.99 the night before. The atmosphere was ok, but, $1.99 breakfast is not enough even for the kids. I should complain about false advertisement but a closer look at the ads (To the left) and you will 
see there was no lie. Chalk it up to experience. Today’s schedule includes both the tour Behind the Falls, but hopefully, a little Casino. A bunch of us were dropped off near the Horseshoe Falls for the tour. We would meet up later after. We walked along the river bank towards the tour entrance. It was wet and misty behind the falls, and actually a little disappointing. We were really not near enough to the falls. Of course we understand that for safety reason, you cannot be allowed to go close enough to actually touch the falls. There is enough force involved that actually touching the falls can result in injuries such as a broken arm. After the tour 
we went to Sheraton Hotel to wait for today’s firework display. With kids with us it didn’t take long for boredom to set in. So while the adults watched a movie, us young ones went down to visit the hotel game room, the Maze, the local Starbuck and, even an attempt to cross the rainbow bridge on foot. (You need $0.50 cents and your passport to do so).