Niagara Falls

When I initially started planning the trip to New York for Adam's wedding, I decided to turn it into a week long family vacation. As a result, I started thinking about all of the cool places we could go, and things we could see along the way. I considered the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame, Niagara Falls, a day in New York City, and a few other items that don't need to be mentioned here.

Soon after creating my dream vacation though, I came to one realization very quickly. I had neither the time, nor the money to do and see everything on my list. When I realized that, I had to ask myself "What are my objectives?" My first priority was to attend Adam's wedding, and to spare no expense in making this happen. A close second was to make sure that the little woman and the kids enjoyed the trip.

After understanding these objectives, I figured that I'd have to scale back on the things I wanted to do. Most importantly, I knew that the kids would enjoy the trip FAR less if they were cramped in a car for a long period of time. That automatically killed over half of the vacation. The fiancee and I decided that it was best if we took two days to travel out, and two to travel back... with plenty of stops along the way.

The kids both asked to hit a good amusement park too. (Hence our trip to Six Flags.) Considering that was the only thing they asked for, I figured that we had to do it. (I'm glad we did, but I've already covered that.) That killed another day. That only left two days, both of which were devoted to Adam's wedding and rehearsal. So I decided to drop EVERYTHING but the wedding and the amusement park -- including the trip to Niagara Falls.

But in every conversation I had while I was in Buffalo, I was asked "Are you going to see the Falls?" I kept saying that my schedule wouldn't allow it, but everyone said the same thing... "You've GOT to see the Falls!" So we all decided that we should visit Niagara Falls.

With all of the hype, I had some pretty high expectations -- so much so that I figured that the Falls wouldn't live up to the hype. I figured it'd be a huge tourist trap where everything was overpriced. I had heard that the American side of the Falls was dirty. I expected too many people and too little of the pristine nature that I'd prefer. I was wrong. Yeah, there were a couple of touristy places, there were a lot of people, and I did see a little litter on the American side. But I was stunned with how few people were there. I was pleasantly surprised with how little litter there was, and I was pleased with how reasonable the prices were. I'm very pleased that we went. It surpassed my expectations by leaps and bounds.