Surrendering to the Beauty of Niagara

Niagara Trip

It was the most planned trip in my mind, specifically because of the driving thing. last trip to niagara was in 2008, with a bunch of colleagues and i found it to be a romantic place to be, thus my plans were high this time.

Getting to goat island was a trouble with parking and all logistics, but I enjoyed the time on the falls, the vast beauty of the the Niagara river flowing in to either sides of Grand Island and Goat Island, it was a magical place to be. 

Question to all travellers

I learnt a key of misdoing there, people around me and sometimes including me and my family were taken away by the process of getting tickets and strolling into some place before a specific time. In the end, I was always asking, did we felt the moments to the truest beauty of the place. 

The first day was on the rush and gush, so when I got back to Tonawanda for the night stay (budget hotel - Centerway, good for small family, homely, tidy and qualitative), i told myself, 'hey what are you doing, rushing so much, surrender!'

Surrendering to the Beauty

Next morning was our planned Maid of the Mist. I switched off my cameras and online updates, started reading the history bites on the falls park. when we got on the cruise boat, all I focused was the presence of the gigantic beauty of the falls. it looked like a monster as first, then the glass top of the falls shined like a massive transparent surface in the morning sun light, looked miraculous, more we got close, the only words you have in your mind is... though there are 50 odd people on the vessel shouting different words like 'amazing', 'wow', and a lot of mechanical shutter sounds, and pseudo shutter sounds generated by smart phones or point-and-shoot. when i was so close, i thought of a lot of words to shout out. few pals did the victory screams, I just wondered how do I put this in words. Can there be words? if so, whats the emotion of the expression? I only think of one thing 'Surrender', and as a human i don't have to say that to Nature. We have always surrendered to nature time and again. and this is just one such condition where you can enjoy a close encounter from a controlled environment and feel the power of nature.

When we finished the ride, i wanted to walk on the steps towards the American falls. It was the moment of ultimately surrendering. when i reached the top podium, i stood there few minutes just trying to get rid of all thinking, and just surrendering. 

When you get to Niagara, try these  

1) Walk to the mid-top of American falls using the step access from Maid of the Mist Dock

2) Cave of the Winds  - that takes you to the bottom of Bridal Veil Falls, with Hurricane Deck

3) Brisk walk or jog on the Goat Island, including the Bridge

4) Walk down to Luna Island, thats takes to the place between South of American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls