Our Spontaneous Road Trip To Niagara Falls

It has been a long time since I have last posted on here. I apologize for that. Since we have moved here to Pennsylvania it has really felt like we have been surviving one adventure after another. And not the fun ones either. This place, I got to say, has felt like it has been anti-weekend and anti-vacation. Why? Because if we ever plan anything months or even weeks ahead anticipating any nice weather, it has snowed, rained, got really cold, or we got tornadoes!!!! That is why we went on a spontaneous vacation to Niagara Falls and got really lucky with some nice weather for the majority of our trip. Woohoo!

The Road Trip

So, Thursday night David and I had the kids pack up a backpack with the bare essentials, and the next day, while they were at school, we grabbed some movies at the library for the almost 5-hour drive to the Canadian border. Fun times. David of course, loaded up on his audiobooks, so he was happy as a clam. Northern Pennsylvania/Buffalo NY area is very beautiful! Very green with a lot of rolling hills and some really lovely homes.

At this point in our plan, we did not know if we were going to be staying the night on the U.S. side or on the Canadian side. We didn’t know what we were going to do exactly, we just got in the van and drove almost 5 hours, and headed towards Niagara Falls. Throughout the drive, being the navigator and the planner that I try to be, I kept asking David “So what’s the plan?” to which I always got the exact same response, “I don’t know, let’s see when we get there.” Uggggghhhhh

River Grill Tonawanda

We stopped by a nice restaurant called River Grill Tonawanda where we got a much-needed break and a nice lunch. They had a delicious BBQ bacon-wrapped shrimp appetizer that everyone loved!

The staff here was very nice, the food was affordable, and we were able to just enjoy a nice day by the lake with each other. What more can you ask for really? While we were there, the kids were pretty distracted with their lunch because some other diners had discovered a black kitten had hidden itself in the empty fire pit for warmth and pointed it out to the wait staff. So, of course, they had to be there when the staff was trying to feed it, and of course, I didn’t have a camera to take a picture of the kitten.

*Due to the spontaneity of our trip, our phones were the only camera/GPS we had. We had no extra batteries etc. and while we were waiting for food I was charging my phone before we headed back out on the road. For more information about this restaurant click here.

Things To Know

If you are driving to Niagara Falls from far away and are worried about parking, don’t be. Parking is available here for $10 a day up until midnight. If you are considering going over the border for the day and don’t want to deal with the hassle of finding a parking spot or paying again after seeing the Cave of the Wind, you can leave your vehicle here until midnight and walk on over for the day and enjoy the sights, etc. then walk back. Just make sure that you have your passports and whatever other pertinent documents you need. For more information click here.

There is a Discovery Pass that bundles up things like:

• Cave of the Wind,
• Adventure Theater,
• Maid of the Mist,
• Trolley
• Aquarium of Niagara,
• Discovery Center & Hiking Trails

David wanted to go and see the Cave of the wind and the Aquarium but we decided on the Cave of the Wind only so that we wouldn’t be rushed. This turned out to be very educational as well as fun. We saw a bunch of snakes which was actually pretty entertaining, especially for David. I wound up looking at the ground a good portion of the trip (of course not while we are walking up and down the wet stairs) looking for snakes.

The Cave of the Winds

The Cave of the Winds was very fun, and we all really enjoyed it. The water was very cold and very strong especially if you are standing on the Hurricane Deck where you can feel it splashing on you. Of course, you don’t feel the full force, because you have the protection of the rocks right there but you feel enough. So it would behoove you to bring extra clothes so that you have something dry to change into. Wear clothes like shorts and a t-shirt, this way you don’t walk around in soaked pants. Just a suggestion.

You don’t have to worry about spending money on ponchos and other rain gear, unless you want to, because they will be giving ponchos and sandals to everyone after a 5-8 minute video about the history of Niagara Falls. The sandals are actually not bad souvenirs.

The ponchos are not very thick but will do an adequate job of it, as long as you don’t rub up on anything, or get really close to the water as I did (LOL reminded me of rainy days growing up in the Philippines). The pressure of the water was enough to rip my poncho and button. LOL, I was wondering for a little bit why it felt a little cold. I didn’t find out until David told me!

As for the sandals, DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK FOR a smaller size if they are too big! We saw some poor kids struggling to walk with some waaaay too big for them which is a safety hazard since you will be walking up and down wet stairs with lots of people.

If you see a sign that says ‘Stroller Parking’ please do us all a favor and PARK YOUR Stroller. There are reasons for this which are:

1. There isn’t any room for this in the TINY elevator that we shall be going down. There were only maybe 8 people in the elevator at a time.
2. We are going for a walk in a WET CAVE of Niagara Falls.
3. You will be going up and down wet, narrow stairs.
4. Read the first 3. It means it is/can be DANGEROUS!!!!
5. It is crowded and you will be in a long line waiting to go down a wet cave, with wet stairs (mentioned that just in case you skipped the first 4) there is no room for you to turn your stroller around but to run over my family’s toes because you ignored the sign.

There are kids here of all ages with their parents, and it is up to you to decide how old your child should be to do this, but bear in mind that this is an area that you have to be vigilant about. There was an older ‘gentleman’ who was pushing and shoving his way up and down the wet stairs not caring who he was shoving.

Bathroom Break!

Perhaps I was not very observant in this regard, but I really did not see a bathroom once you go down the elevator. This is what happens once you get in line. You show your ticket. You get in the elevator. There are two lines once you get off going down a narrow tunnel. Don’t worry it isn’t a long tunnel. In the end, you exit and get your poncho, and make your way to the stairs and the deck. You can take as long or as fast as you like to get through it before going back up.

On the way back, you get in line for the elevator. It took about 15-20 minutes for us. At that time there were about 2 families that had been looking around for a bathroom and there wasn’t one. I think since they had little ones, they had been rushed forward. There was no other method of going up or down other than the elevator that we saw.

Conclusion

I hope you found this post helpful. Niagara Falls is really beautiful. Pictures can only do so much to describe its incredible beauty. If want to see more of Niagara Falls click here to see our trip across the border to Horseshoe Falls.

Please like, share, and comment. Any and all feedback would be very much appreciated. Thank you 🙂