The Falls Doing the Heavy Lift
Today we embarked upon a road trip that will ultimately lead us to New England with several stops along the way. Unlike last year when we went to Maine, we’re bringing along Myrtle for the ride.
Our first stop is Buffalo and Niagara Falls. I’ve only ever read about and seen photos of the Falls, so this was a good opportunity to scratch it off my list. As a fan of parks and the natural beauty of the country around me, I was very excited to see them for myself.
I knew the States’ side wasn’t optimal for viewing the Falls before we went, but I was still excited to see what I could from the park in New York. I also knew it would be crowded, but I wasn’t really prepared for how crowded it ended up being. To say there were a lot of people at Niagara Falls is an understatement. If you’re looking for a personal, quiet moment in nature, that ship sailed from Niagara long ago.
While we had a good time walking through the park with Myrtle and dodging crowds of tourists to see what we could of the Falls, the city itself was a low-key bummer. Rundown buildings, dirty sidewalks and pedestrian infrastructure, cheap attractions you’d find at a county fairground, and an amount of loud, obnoxious cars a National Park should never experience.
I’m positive there’s something in the city that’s worth experiencing outside the Falls, but I’d have to dig for it. I didn’t have that much time there to look for something worthwhile outside the Falls, and since I had Myrtle and Ashley with me it wasn’t going to happen anyway. We were there for probably 2 hours tops before we went to Buffalo to find our hotel.
It’s wild that a city like Niagara—a place with so much potential to be incredible—has chosen to be a sad Vegas. Then again, maybe it’s just self-aware. It doesn’t need to be anything but what it currently is; the Falls themselves are such a grand attraction, people will come from around the world to experience it regardless of the state of the city around it.