There’s a lot of video in this post. Some were to show my mom later so you’ll hear me talking to her in a couple.
I love Niagara Falls. I love the power and majesty of her. I love the raging beauty at all times of the day and night. I love the sound, the feel of the mist against my skin, the roar you hear long before you set your eyes on it.
I am lucky to live where I can easily get to the Falls. Since my mother was from nearby St Catharines, I went there a lot as a kid when we would go down to visit her family. (The floral clock was a particular favourite.) Then I didn’t go for a long time.
Over a quarter century ago, it was a day trip with my then boyfriend and a couple of friends, Then just over a decade ago, a friend and I took advantage of a deal at the Hilton to celebrate my recovery from my hysterectomy. We had a Fallsview room, a fireplace, and a jacuzzi tub - the quintessential Falls experience
I went back as a treat in 2020, initially as a way to spend Thanksgiving as I couldn’t be with my family. I got a fantastic deal on a Fallsview room in the same hotel as last time and I could safely watch the Falls for hours. The casino was shut down so its blinking lights couldn’t mar my view. It was the last weekend before they shut down the attractions so I got to go behind the Falls for the first time since I was a child.
On the multi-day stay in November, I went to a different hotel (The Oakes which I love for the views and the old-school vibes) and was upgraded to a suite which gave me an incredible view of everything. Because of the restrictions, everything was shut down, including the incline railway which was my way to the Falls. There’s no direct way to walk down to the Falls, it’s a long walkaround down a steep hill in-between the two Falls. Didn’t matter. I just needed to see and hear the Falls to sooth me.
I went back for the Equinox the next March. While I was doing the long walk to my hotel (as the bus no longer went to Table Rock but I didn’t know that), my brother called and told me that we were eligible to get the vaccine through my mom’s LTC as we were considered caregivers. Exciting news! No suite this time but still a great room and view. The Falls when she has ice and snow around her is beautiful.
I went back to celebrate my birthday. I mentioned it when I checked in and they gave me a bottle of wine to celebrate. The big treat this time was that a friend drove down (the same friend I did the original trip with) and drove me down to the Falls at midnight. There were a few people there but they soon left and it was just me and the Falls. Such profound magic I can’t even put into words. Magic that I needed as things got worse for my Dad when I got home.
So I longed to go back. Throughout chemo I kept myself going by promising I’d go back when I was done. I finally went back in April this year with my friend. And it was…disappointing. Not the Falls themselves - they were their usual magic and I got to again go down at midnight with a Full Moon in the sky.
No, it was everything else. I stayed in the same hotel again but the room wasn’t as nice. Everything was busy, even on a weekday in April. It didn’t feel special. Part of my feeling could be that I wasn’t alone on that trip by necessity, since I was only a month out from radiation. I didn’t have a lot of energy. Most of all though, I missed that feeling that the Falls is a magical place just for me. It wasn’t the pilgrimage it had been for me during Covid. That special period is gone.
I got spoiled by that suite and that bottle of wine that punctuated two of my times at The Oakes. The time in-between was just so much quiet as everything was still shut down and the Falls could shine in all her glory. (I have an eerie pic of an empty Peace Bridge, the bridge that joins Canada and the US that is usually packed.) Last time, I was just another tourist in a sea of tourists in a touristy city and that bummed me out.
Going through all my photos and videos for this post is bringing back my excitement about the place. I could show you so many shots of the mist in its various permutations. It fascinates me. Or the shots of the river being torn up by the force of the water crashing into it. Its beauty still holds me. Or the pictures of St Catharines I took for my mom as I passed through. Or the pics from Queenston Heights, where we stopped off on the way home the last trip.
There’s so many things I haven’t done there despite all my trips - the Whirlpool Aero Car, the Hornblower, the White Water Walk. I was really excited to go to the Power Station and see the show but I didn’t have the energy or budget last trip. I have actually never been to the Whirlpool and Gorge at all.
So maybe I just need to mix it up, do it differently. I probably don’t need those Fallsview rooms anymore, as lovely as they are. A day trip, rather than overnight. I need to explore the path the Falls left behind, the attractions along Niagara Parkway, the route we drove when I was a kid.
So why am I writing about this? Your guess is as good as mine. Reminding me to bring beauty into my life? A metaphor about stretching myself? A journey to rediscover magic? All work for me.