30 Minutes in the Life: June 2019

At some point in your life, you tend to come up with a bucket list of things you would like to do, and you set out to achieve them.  Most of my bucket list has involved traveling, and we have done a fair bit of it.  We have traveled through Europe, done more traveling in the USA than I ever imagined us doing, and I still continue to look for places to visit.

One of the places on my bucket list for the USA was Niagara Falls.  To be honest I really did not think that we would get there any time soon.  However, 2 weeks ago my 2 work colleagues and I headed up to Rochester, New York for training for a program we are in the process of implementing in our offices.

I knew that if we were going to go all the way up there, we needed to make time to do the trip to the Falls.  We had to fly up the day before to be there to start training the next day at 9am.  So with some creative planning I figured if we caught the 5:30am flight to Rochester via Atlanta we would have enough time to drive to Niagara Falls and back before it was too late in the day.

The top of Niagara Falls looking towards Canada

The Canadian Niagara Falls skyline

Of course, I am the furthest from the airport, so I woke up at 3am and began my hour drive.  It becomes a very long day when you only get back to the hotel at 9pm but it was well worth every minute that we took to go out there.

On recommendation we decided to drive along the 401, the scenic route, through small towns and farmland.  The downside is always the changing speed but the towns were pretty and it was good to be able to see them.  Florida is one housing community after another and this was definitely a change of pace.

The day was bleak, cold, windy and overcast, which leaves the images feeling just a little gray.  My first view of Niagara Falls took my breath away.  The falls are amazing and the force of water going over the falls was just incredible.  Water is so incredibly powerful.

The size of the boat will give you some idea of the height of the falls.

This is the Canadian side of the boat ramps taken from the USA side.

Some moments you just had to stop and stare.  The image below is one of those moments.  Due to the wind there was a lot of water spray coming off the falls and it leaves this hazy effect.

I focused on the tree and flower, while looking at the rocky shoreline below.

The first bridge leads to the elevator that would take you down to the base of the falls, the second bridge is the gateway to Canada.

While we heard that the view from the Canadian side of the falls was spectacular, one of us did not have a valid passport, so there was no slipping into Canada to view the falls.  However, I suggested that we head down the elevator and take a boat ride into the bay.

Heading down, they hand out a Maids of the Mist rain poncho.  I was still messing with mine when we got on the boat.  Too much in my hand with my camera and backpack and rain poncho.

I realized that potentially there would be some water.  I have a rain sleeve for my camera.  What I did not realize was just how much water there would be and how misty the images would look, partially from the water in the air and partially from the amount was water sitting on my the front of my lens.

My thirty minutes technically ends here, but I did want to make the trip one blog post and so I have shared the rest of our days outing.

There was constant wiping of the lens, and doing my best to keep my camera dry.  I will admit I had a few worrying moments when my camera started blinking at me.  For a while I put it under my rain poncho and did nothing, but the beauty of the place had me pulling it back out again.

This is the walkway from the Cave of the Winds which gets you right up under the falls.  There is a cost to doing the Cave.  It’s not expensive, but there is also a cost to the boat.  That’s not expensive but it still adds up if you are watching your costs.  I opted not to do it based on the amount of water my camera had already seen.

We were seriously wet.  My colleagues managed to stay slightly drier than I did.  I found it difficult to try and focus on the camera and have the hoodie slipping around my face, so eventually I just lost the hood and decided to allow my hair to get wet.  I carry a mini brush with me so at least I could tidy up my hair at the end of the ride.

The last image before I put my camera under cover was this boat coming out of the falls.

Arriving back on the base we had the option to walk up this pathway to get closer to the falls.  At the base we were already getting wet, I could not imagine taking my blinking camera up closer to the falls.

Back at the top I resonated on what I had seen from the top and the bottom of these incredible falls.  If you have the opportunity to visit Niagara Falls, I would encourage you to do so.  We still had 1 hour and 45 minutes to drive back to Rochester.  We took the lake road, and so now at least I can say that I visited and touched the water of one of the great lakes, Lake Ontario.  To be honest there was not a lot to see along the lake road, but we happened to stop in one small town for dinner.  Being the planner, I researched the menu before recommending the stop.  I had a cup of lobster bisque to warm me up, and then my all time favorite calamari.  I have to be honest the last stretch of the road trip was catching up with me and I was happy when we arrived back in Rochester at the hotel.

Thank you for joining us for another month of 30 Minutes. Just a reminder that this is a circle blog.  We have a number of new ladies join the 30 minutes group, making us now 14 bloggers,  and so I would encourage you to take some time to visit my very talented friend Caroline of Elles & Eux Photographie , and see what she has for you this year.  I am pretty  excited to learn more about these wonderful ladies from all over the world.  I would certainly encourage you to visit their pages.