Any visit to Niagara will, naturally, center around the Falls. Arrive at night and hear the roar before you actually see the spotlighted waters. It's a spectacular way to start your trip.
Niagara Falls is the second-widest waterfall in the world (after Victoria Falls, in Africa), and when you first lay eyes on it, it's easy to believe. More than one-fifth of the earth's supply of
fresh water, courtesy of four of the Great Lakes, pours into the Niagara River and gushes north over the Falls en route to Lake Ontario.
The flow of water is so powerful that the site of Niagara Falls actually has crept upstream several miles since its formation by glaciers approximately 10,000 years ago; today, it is the largest producer of electricity in the world, thanks to the hydroelectric
plants lining the river. And although the Falls are not the tallest -- ranging from just 50 feet at Bridal Veil Falls to about 180 feet at the American and Horseshoe Falls -- the rapid rate of erosion (several feet each year) is testament to this power.
There are many vantage points, but one of the most intense ways to experience the spectacle is from below, with a boat ride on the famous Maid of the Mist. It runs from both the American and Canadian sides; head for it early your first morning to avoid the lines.
Don't be shy about joining the slack-jawed tourists and donning the complimentary plastic poncho-- it's worth the $11.50 ticket.
