Niagara Falls
Having visited 45/50 states, 33 national parks, 3 continents and over 200 NPS units, it's crazy that I, a native New Yorker, had never been to the best piece of nature in my state. Now, situated only a few hours from Niagara Falls in Pittsburgh, I had the prime opportunity to check Niagara off my list, and make another venture into Canada to visit Toronto.
The adventure portion of this trip came down to a few fun things: summer fireworks, the Niagara Falls night scene and a boat ride down the Niagara River.
Every night (weather permitting) in the summer, Niagara Falls becomes home to a 10 minute firework display. Getting down to the falls overlook only 10 minutes before the event had me rushing to choose an ideal spot. With a small portion of the walkway closed for the actual fireworks launching zone, I made the smart decision to walk away from the falls. This would (in theory) give me a composition with the main Horseshoe falls fitting nicely in the background, instead of just a wide angle mess. Minutes before the main show I set into place, with both Horseshoe and American falls in my field of view. And just like that, the fireworks went on for a great display and some even better photo opportunities.
Make sure to walk alongside the falls and explore unique angles.
With that checkbox marked, it was time to explore the night in the city of Niagara Falls Ontario. Walking down to the touristy part of town got us to many bars, mini golf courses, shops and even a go-kart racing track. While we certainly didn't have the time to take advantage of it all, me and some friends did have our fair share of fun. Next up was exploring the fallsview casino. Blowing some quick money on roulette and blackjack brought us to the lower stakes machine games, which had us entertained until 3am that night.
The next day we had an early wakeup for the Niagara Falls boat tour. Waiting in line for the loading, we made sure to strategize where the ideal spot was to be. We positioned ourselves in line to get on the front row of the Canadian facing side, and then the ride began. Though quick, this iconic journey gave us a taste of the strength and beauty of Niagara Falls. While too wet to take DSLR photos, some quick phone ones suffice! A quick 20 minutes later, we were back on solid ground, ready to continue towards Toronto.