A Run To The Border

With one final and probably too-quick shot for the road (here's the river towards Ontario, complete with tired-eye double-vision), I finally stopped and headed back, through the dark dark park, back up the hill to the bridge, and over the rapids to the Niagara park I started in. I spent a little time looking around in the gift shop, then walked around the buildings and back through the carnival section to the bus stop. The bus was not there, and I hoped I hadn't missed it and was in the right spot. Seemed to be, other people were slowly starting to congregate in the general area, too. With little else to do in the dark, I got the camera back out, since the view across the street was weird enough to be photo-worthy. This giant looming mushroom was staring back at me from over the Indian take-out place.

I turned around to see what on earth this thing was... a hot-air balloon. I guess you could have balloon rides for yet another view of the falls. During the day. It appeared pretty lonely and spooky at this point.

Eventually my ride did come and dropped a few of us off to skitter to our motels. I went to my room and took a shower, as best I could, recharged the camera battery, and got in bed and died.

I don't think I had much trouble sleeping, considering, although one of the neighboring rooms was rather noisy. The continental breakfast turned out to be a cup of coffee and some toast crumbs. I was there early but I guess restocking was against policy...I was glad that I'd done the Niagara thing last night, for it was raining this morning, and visibility was pretty lousy. I got myself together and left the plush Knights Inn to head for the border. Due to the weather, I missed the turn the first time and had to double-back, then stopped at the duty-free shop. I admired the goodies and debated whether to pick up some vodka for JF, but since he was with two other guys and had travelled this way the other day, I figured he could have gotten all he wanted if he wanted any. I was tempted by some stuffed animals, but I couldn't really decide on any one, and didn't know what I'd do with them after the trip (I can barely fit on my bed as it is). What I wanted to check out was exchanging money....I usually fail to do that, thinking I'll just charge anything I need. But it's hard to charge little things and I'd made that boo-boo last trip. I didn't think the exchange was open yet, but someone came to help me, and I traded in $40. For that I got a whopping $40.80 Canadian. Wow, those exchange rates had certainly changed over the past few years!

Then I went next door to the Tim Horton's coffee shop, telling myself I was on vacation now and could really indulge. I stood there reading all the menu offerings, being unfamiliar with the place...thought I'd use Canadian money but it seemed wiser to use American here, price-wise. So I finally made up my mind and asked for some large coffee-something in hazelnut. There were 5 flavors on the sign, so I'd been debating a bit, no doubt annoying the bored clerk. Then he replied, giving me a look like 'what an idiot,' that it only came in vanilla. I blinked and looked at the board, where it plainly said five flavors, and thought he meant they were just out, and asked about something else. He repeated, just vanilla. Well, I didn't want to pay all that for vanilla (not that I had anything against it) so I just said I'd take a medium mocha and let it go at that. I down-graded the size since I was at least as annoyed with him as he was with me, LOL. But I went out with my sweet caffeine and Canadian mula and crossed the bridge. I answered all the quiz questions and the Canadian border guard decided I probably wasn't too deadly and let me in. And having seen plenty of falls the night before, plus being ucky weather, I just went onto the QEW into Ontario proper. Or whatever road was under my wheels. I went north toward Hamilton.

I spied Lake Ontario on my right and managed to pull over into a little, muddy parking lot and got out to inspect. It was awfully cold....I know it was Canada, but it was mid-August, too. Sheesh. I was glad I had my jacket. I took a couple of pix here, though it was not a good place to get near the water. Some of the plants here were kinda interesting, though.

In fact there was one weed that particularly caught my eye. I looked it up online, it's called the Common Teasel. Common for this neck of the woods, anyway. New to a US southwesterner like me. Like alien burrs.

Always something new. And finally, a shot of Lake Ontario with teasel and goldenrod, complete with a side order of tree.

I ran back to the car to warm up and continue up the highway.

Last Splashes

One more clear shot down Niagara...and one blurry and blue. Niagara Falls frothiness at the bottom of the falls. The ultimate latté machine. Looking downriver, back towards the Maid of the Mist area, with Ontario in the background (and a shaky Rainbow Bridge). A similar shot with different light colors on the falls.

A nifty shot delineating the shape of the waterfall overhangs, aimed at Niagara Falls Park (Maid of the Mist US area).

Softened waterfalls...rather like a strawberry shake or something, with the Canadian Maid of the Mist dock lights in the background.

And a final recording of wet dreams...;-) . Dark and red (!).

Cold Suds

Covered the main park side pretty well, so I walked up and decided I had enough time left to cross the bridge and see what was on the other side. Like the bear, I guess.

A bit of the fragile with the tough--a little bloom along the shore.

White sudsy river... Viewpoint looking back towards the bridge I'd just crossed, with a bit of the island park on the right. Some sections of that were very, very dark...glad I took my little flashlight! On this side I could look right down into the maw of the falls. Here it is reflecting the red light, a-blur with speed and mist.

This is a better-focused (focused on the water) shot, when the red light filter is shutting down. And here's the same scene in motion!

Shooting the Rapids

Upriver a little...actually I think this was a side split of the main river, with an island dividing the main river (going over at Horseshoe Falls). But wherever I was, I walked around it. Looking down towards the cliff, there's where the water plummets over the falls on the American side, with Ontario Niagara Falls' lights flickering colorfully on the horizon.

Turning around and looking upriver, or upsplit, was a bridge, and a lot of raucous water molecules whitewatering their way madly towards the edge of the escarpment.

And people want to ride this stuff in barrels? I guess it would be quite a ride. Once.

Yahooooooo!!! I bet there's a lot of dizzy fish in there.

And here's a video-clip of the whole sight...the rushing rapids coming down from beyond the bridge, racing down the stretch to leap over the edge of Niagara Falls. Wheeeeeeeee!

How Much Water Can A Woodchuck Suck?

Again I took a videoclip of the waters, but tried it with the camera sideways to get the feeling of the height of the falls. It did not occur to me until now that it is not as easy to turn a video another direction as it is a photo. With all my little video-toys, I have nothing that will lighten, turn, crop, etc. a video while simultaneously retaining the sound and also being able to save it to a format Google will accept for loading. This program will do one thing but not the other, that program will do this but not that. Argh! Of course the one possibility I had that Would work told me I didn't have the component in question, but neglected to mention what that component would be, so, after far too much time spent on the topic, I'll just put it up as is. You can just squint and turn your head. Actually the camera records in .mov format, but even though Google takes Quicktime, for some reason the processing doesn't seem to work and the little processing logo just twirls around in circles for hours...days...(I am patient). But if I convert to mpeg, it just zips up onto the webpage. So much techno-learning for...loud water.

Anyway, after having enough of this view, I walked back down to the park and along the river edge. I was waylaid several times more for photographer-duty. Certainly a lot of different people about. After taking a couple of shots for a group of Japanese students, I sauntered upstream and watched the rapids and looked at some of the flora on the side. As I stood watching the river and looking at the bright flecks of flower color dabbling the greenery here and there, part of the greenery underneath me rustled. A head popped out, cautiously peering about.

What, another beaver?, I thought. Am I being followed by beavers? First the Lyndhurst one, now...I do have the teeth for becoming their leader, but still...and this fella didn't quite look like a beaver. What was it? A muskrat? A vole? I wasn't quite as up on my riverside mammals as I should have been.

It dawned on me, after a moment for my memory banks to run through my massive internal taxonomy lists, that it must be a woodchuck. I'd have to double-check next time I could find a picture of one (yeah, it's a woodchuck). I don't run into a lot of them in San Antonio. He was very funny. He was wary about all the people nearby, up and down the walkway, but apparently I was invisible to him (those ninja powers kicking in again). He came out further to double-check the path--there were some people some yards down the path. In the meantime he set his head on my foot. I was a tree. A tree with a spotlight in its branches, I guess. It was all I could do not to guffaw over this, or jump and startle him silly. Instead I just took some pictures of him, aiming straight down.

He seemed confused, like he knew I was nearby, but just couldn't see or hear me for some reason. Miss Invisibility again. He went on about his business, as I watched, delighted. Eventually he went back into the weeds and I mosied up the path.

Dark Niagara

I took yet another videoclip of the falls, but they turned the lights out on me, at least a bit. So this one is darker than the others...though nothing like it would be with no lights at all! That would be rather scary, hearing all that crashing water and seeing nothing...

Then I just clomped around, framing what appealed to me at the time. Here's blood going over the cliffs...blood red in some areas where the shadows and color were intense, and more of a cotton candy pink everywhere else.

Wine stains, perhaps? Always white vs. red, isn't it?

Across the river and at Ontario, again.

This is an over-all view of the American park area, though a bit greyed-out in the gamma in order to get enough light to see it all. Rather looks like a pencil drawing, doesn't it? I'm up on the Maid of the Mist overlook deck. I assume, anyway. After a few more shots up here, I walked down over to that part of the river.

I wonder how long that point will be there...? (that's a pointed remark)

Soft watercolors...

Gallons of water crashing and mixing the misty colors...

A purple paint palette...

Disco party lights!

Cliff Notes

More snap-happy nocturnal experimentation around the wet canyon...

I was trying to get clear and interesting shots, which, standing on a wet and windy cliff in the dark, were something of a challenge to get. But I wandered around, taking a picture here and there for me, clicking one for someone else here, noting where to head next there. Unfortunately it was almost too difficult to get a good shot of the Canadian side of town without anything to steady my aim, but I didn't want for trying.

Looks like a Sheraton and a casino over there... perhaps after a few too many drinks!

Niagara Falls, Ontario, with a bit of the US sticking its tongue out. Pity this one was so blurry, but it was a fabulous view to see in person-- the moon peeping out of the clouds overhead, over the bridge, adding to the light show and mist.

I'd walked further downriver, towards the Rainbow Bridge, which connects the US to Canada here. (Well, so does the river, but the bridge is probably slightly less damp.) It was rather secluded on this side of the park. Fortunately I had my handy-dandy wind-up flashlight (which also happens to have a strobe function and siren) so I wasn't necessarily entirely vulnerable attacker-bait. I found a spot and ate the other half of the supper I bought earlier, listening to the falls and my thoughts smash down among the rocks below, keeping a wary eye out for vampires. Or at least camera-muggers. Blurry bridge shot (I think I'm under a support beam of the Maid of the Mist viewing decks).

Colorful longshot of the river, falls, and both sides of the border, looking upriver (back towards the bend of Horseshoe Falls). See the people along the edge?

The falls spotlit at night without the color filters. Bright and white. A pretty good photo of the Rainbow Bridge and water beneath at night, looking downriver. The Canadian falls tour docks and boats. Another wide shot of the American falls. Couldn't catch the moon again, darn it.

Swimming in color. The rough texture of the turbulence. All this falling water and not a bar of soap to be found.

Niagara at Night

It was quite dark when I got off the bus at Niagara Falls. And Now I was awake, although I think that had more to do with being stoked with caffeine and adrenalin and the chilly air than due to any latent vampiric tendencies. Although I do lean toward nightowl-hood. Hoo-Hooo!

I looked around to make sure I could find my way back to the drop-off point, figured I had a few hours to play in before I had to worry about not being able to get back to the motel, and headed toward the water. There was an area of little shops and eateries, decorated with fairy lights and assorted colors and bulbs, music here and there...all rather reminiscent of a carnival, except most of it was closed. I went along with several others towards the Maid of the Mist building, going up stairs and over walks and the like to the falls overlook. Then I just took it all in for a little while.

A beautiful place indeed. There were quite a lot of people around, but not so many that you couldn't find your own niche. Colored lights shown across the river from the Canadian side made for a water-and-light show, so the falls rotated through numerous color combinations and glows. After absorbing enough falls and people, I decided to crack out the camera and try night photography. Last trip I'd also come through at night, but the film camera wasn't terribly successful at night snapshots. Even so, they were colorful and artsy (Artist for lousy focus). I had better luck with the digital since it is so much more light-sensitive. Especially with a bit of photo-program help to up the gamma here and there, lol.

Looking upriver, American side, at all the lights in Canadian Niagara Falls...

Tower on the Ontario side of the brink.

(Yeah, it moved)

Water, water, everywhere...

Watching the colors change over the crashing waters... first, white and bright.

Then it got progressively darker, yellower...

A roaring golden falls... (you might want to visit the restroom first)

And then, for the lovers, a rosy waterfall. Different colored lights hit different sections of the falls, too. It's hard to focus on water in the mist and in the dark, but I managed it a few times!

I explored this area for a time, following the edge around the overlook and wandering around by the safety rails along the falls ridge. Somehow I seemed to be nominated as Official Photographer, as I often am when I visit places (my long-standing joke is that if I could run fast, I'd be a millionaire in pawned cameras). That might make sense when I'm wearing my big ol' Minolta, but I wasn't sure what my appeal was with my little digital, save the fact I was single and harmless-looking. Anyway I took pictures of many couples, groups, foreigners, and other assorted folks all evening. At least I was useful.

Here's a link to a virtual tour of the area (daytime from the Canadian point-of-view, but you can see the Maid of the Mist overlook and the above falls easily). http://www.niagaraparks.com/aboutus/virtual-tour.php?movie=Maid_Docks