Bird Kingdom Niagara

Bird Kingdom was on my son and daughter's "must do" list for Niagara Falls, and we were not disappointed. It was a splendid place to spend the afternoon. There were delightful displays of birds in their natural habitats as well as birds you could handle. The best part was, there was no additional charge to hold the birds. The kids were thrilled!

 

My favorite part was feeding the lorikeets. As soon as we were given the little had the cups of nectar, we were swarmed. It was great fun.

I Think We're Gonna Get Wet

As we got ready to board the Hornblower (the Canadian version of the Maid of the Mist) they gave everyone red poncho raincoats. They were going to help a little, but it didn't matter because we came prepared with full rain gear, including boots.

Heading down into the mist seemed like the perfect thing to do on a dreary rainy day at the falls. (Our only rainy day.)

The power of the water coming over the falls was even more evident when we viewed them from below.

 

It amazed me just how much wind the falling water created. I was very glad we packed our rain gear. If we hadn't, we would have been completely soaked. The mist combined with the wind, made it seem like an October storm. A wonderfully fun storm. Most of the other people were drenched from the knee down.

The Hornblower was a great experience. It made me think back to when I rode the Maid of the Mist when I was about 10. Good memories...

And actually, except for our hair, we stayed dry.

Watch Out

Beware of the wild dinosaurs roaming around Niagara Falls. The T-Rex especially; he tends to get quite testy if you refuse to share your Beaver Tail with him.

Delicious

If you visit the Canadian side of Niagara Falls and have a sweet tooth, be sure to stop at Beaver Tails. They make delicious pastries shaped like, what else, a beaver tail.

We had hoped to enjoy one for breakfast, but since they don't open until noon we had to settle for a mid-afternoon snack instead.

It was so big, the kids and I split one. It was delicious and well worth the wait.

Table with a View

One of the things on my daughter's "Must Do" list for our trip was eating dinner in the revolving restaurant atop the Skylon Tower. Since $50 - $60 entrees were in the budget, we opted for a non-rotating buffet lunch.

The food was good,

the company was delightful,

 

and the view from our table was exquisite.

We lucked out; we could see both the Canadian falls and the American falls from our table.

 

My daughter decided that the non-rotating option was best because we got to look at the falls for our entire meal. 

"The rotating restaurant  goes around once each hour mom, so we would have only been facing the falls for part of our lunch." 

I was glad she found a silver lining in not eating on the rotating level. I admire that about her - she is usually really good at finding a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day.

After dessert we headed up to the Observation Deck,  775 feet above the falls, to take in the spectacular view. It was a neat place to spend an afternoon...

When in Rome

Or should I say, "When in Canada..."

When we travel, we always try to avoid the food we can easily eat at home. So, of course, as soon as Allen discovered this place, we had to try it.

If you've never tried poutine, it's a dish that originated in Quebec in the 1950s. It's quite simple really - just french fries, brown gravy and cheese curds. But not at Smoke's Poutinery; they have an unending number of varieties. Allen got poutine topped with pulled pork and the kids and I all tried Mexican poutine - imagine nachos made with french fries instead of chips.

It may not look it, but it was delicious.

You Guessed It

We spent some time on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls! And of course, while we were there we had to be typical tourists.

One Guess

Any guesses on where we went exploring recently?