June 22
Somehow I have lost the New York Map between walking into the hotel and leaving the room this morning. Could not find it in the room, I had taken all the old maps to the room to get them out of the bike. No problem; gas stations sell maps, visitor stations have them for free —nope and nope could not find a map. GPS insisted the only logical option to get to Niagara falls is the toll road aka ‘thruway’. Wheee! 426km of 4 or 6 lanes at 65miles/hour. or 1200km by winding roads which is a little ridiculous, I’m sure I could find a slightly better route than that. But this Honda’s GPS is all or nothing. Ah well, traffic was not bad, congested only a few times with trucks s l o w l y passing one another.
We were not well versed on how toll highways work, certainly not the well oiled system that links New York City and Buffalo, now we are. We discovered the service centres were regularly situated at convenient intervals. Each has a couple different types of quick meal shops as well as washrooms and a gas station. The trucks and smaller vehicles are directed to appropriate parking. Scot habitually gets gas then runs in to use other facilities.
That is not how these centres are set up. However in our defence there is NO mention one cannot return to the parking lot once you pass it, until it’s too late that is (as in DO NOT ENTER signage)…. Scot filled with gas after dropping me off to use the facilities and scope out a map if possible. Once filled he went to turn around and discovered there is no turning around the ONLY option is forward onto the Thruway. He carefully wiggled his way back without pissing off to many other drivers. He was hardly the only one. Two other drivers backed up until they could get out of the access road. I had $25 American cash, no phone, no ID (it was all sitting in trunk of the bike). After 4 full weeks on the road, he had his chance and didn’t take it, it must be love.
Many trees along the thruway are afflicted with one of many invasive vine species in the area, so sad to see the losses.
Scot commented on several of the overpass bridges in need of replacement. Many have been replaced but there are a few more to go, one would think the amount of vehicles on this thruway and tolls would keep everything in tip top shape.
Passed over the Lake Erie canal system that was built and heavily utilized in the early 1800’s by mule drawn barges and merchant vessels, a painting of a luxury ship with people seated and dancing on the top of the roof with no railing at all! 
We came across to Canada on the Rainbow Bridge, too bad it was slightly overcast, I wanted to see if it came by its name honestly. Slow traffic at the bridge as we waited for everyone to be put through Customs, as usual we got into the slow moving line, just like the grocery store line. Niagara River flowing to Lake Ontario, with remains of old powerhouse destroyed by falling rock.
We could see a huge amount of people lining the railings at the falls. So went and found ourselves a room, don’t let anyone tell you rooms cannot be found under $100, there were more than a few, just missing the extras we don’t use anyway, bed was comfy, we slept great. Very poor internet though so blog was not possible. We went for supper and then walked around the pathways that makes up the area around the river front of Niagara Falls and Horse Shoe falls.
We were glad we waited until after supper as there was much smaller crowds. School is out for some areas now, lots of families starting their summer vacations.
Spent some time looking at for the powerhouse outlet at the base of the falls, more than half the water is deflected around the falls to provide hydro power! 
There is a minimum flow agreement between Canada and USA in order to keep the tourism industry happy. The other positive is erosion has slowed considerably from 10ft a year to 1 foot every 10 years. One beautiful area that will be around for a long long time.
We were still wandering around as dusk settled in, to see the lights on the falls. A light rain started to fall so we headed back to our room. Our motel was directly on the other side of Cliffton Hill, which is hyped as the Fun Street in Niagara Falls. The Neon Lights were quite a sight to walk through.
Being so warm and humid all the store fronts were wide open, it was surprisingly relaxed considering how many people were out and about. Fireworks lit up the sky later in the evening.
June 23
Decided to take a second day in Niagara Falls, for a tourist town we really like it. Probably because its very family oriented. We had lot’s of fun watching parents and kids doing their thing. Walking on the walkways, there are many puddles due to the continuous moisture from the falls. Puddles exist, kids find puddles, parental reactions have been priceless. 
We decided the ‘Tour Behind the Falls’ was our kind of tour. We were not disappointed. Most of the history of the falls and its development is documented on ‘read me’s’ (that’s what Scot started calling them) down in the tunnels, which we had been missing as we had walked around the parkway.
An original piece of tunnel; how the original visitors experienced the falls, too bad they didn’t have an old oilskin coat around to see how heavy that would have been compared to the thin disposable rain poncho. 
Absolutely mesmerizing to be so close to the falls. The water falling in front of the tunnel portals was so beautiful. Quite a roar too.
Who knew fuchsia plants could grow to be a tree? Probably too much work for our prairie climate, but striking in the gardens. Yes, I peeked to make sure they were not baskets.
The gardens around the parkway are gorgeous, not nearly enough benches and no picnic tables at all. Beautiful trees and lawns and hardly a place to sit and enjoy it.
I had a very difficult time deciding whether I wanted to ride high on the ferris wheel overlooking Niagara Falls or the tower overlooking Horseshoe Falls. I tried to talk Scot into deciding, smart man made me decide for myself; he was happy to follow on this one. The Skylon Tower won out. How can a person go wrong with a 52 second elevator ride (over far too quickly) on the outside of a tower and then all the time you want at 233 metres, or 775ft. Oh and ‘read me’s’ explaining the area! Another win!
but the ferris wheel would have been pretty neat too…
canyouwingit 