Witnessing Niagara Falls

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my trip to Richmond, Va. This past weekend, I traveled to Niagara Falls (New York and Ontario) as part of the Northeastern Concert Band’s annual tour.

Having never seen Niagara Falls, I was looking forward to witnessing one of North America’s top natural features first hand. On our way there, we stopped on the American side at Niagara Falls State Park. This perspective afforded a side view of American Falls. Although it was neat to see the rapids and water dropping over the edge, it was not a view I would equate with other natural wonders like the Grand Canyon.

But, my viewpoint soon changed when, the following day, we saw both American Falls and Horseshoe Falls from several vantage points near the skyscraper-like hotels and casinos that dot the Canadian side. Here, the view was truly spectacular with water cascading down in incredible volumes at ferocious speeds and billowing clouds of water spray arching up towards the sky. And, at night, the falls and mist were lit in a varying array of colors, adding another element to the spectacle. This view clearly ranks with the Grand Canyon and the top of New Hampshire’s Mount Washington as the most amazing natural features I have seen firsthand.

It is also interesting to witness the contrast between the natural beauty of the Falls and the man-made aspects in the skyscrapers and light display. While I would ordinarily say that the latter objects interfered or ruined the natural ones, in this case they seemed to work in harmony.

One of our performances at a retirement community in Welland, Ontario was covered by the city’s newspaper, the Welland Tribune. For a relatively small city (pop. 50,331 according to Statistics Canada) surrounded largely by very rural farmland (which we experienced first hand when we made a few wrong turns – I knew I should have brought my GPS.), I was surprised to see a fairly developed Web site. It is especially unexpected given Welland is close to Niagara Falls, which has its own daily paper published by the same company that owns the Tribune, and falls within the Toronto dailies' coverage areas. Regardless, it was nice to receive a small write-up and picture of our band.





Below are several pictures from the trip:

American Falls from New York.

American Falls from Canada.

Horseshoe Falls from Canada.