History and kitsch and wonder and silliness (not necessarily in that order)

As long as I can remember, I've wanted to visit Niagara Falls. My earliest memories of that desire are apparently kind-of jumbled up. In my memory, I associate Niagara Falls with Lucille Ball, but what I picture is more like the Marilyn Monroe movie, "Niagara." I went looking online to see if there was anything about Lucille Ball at Niagara Falls, and what I found really surprised me because another really early memory from my childhood is of a comedy routine that contained the lines, "Slowly I turned. Step by step. Inch by inch." I remember being a really little kid and just cracking up at that over and over. I thought it was the funniest thing. But I had no memory of the actual comedy routine -- just that line. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that it comes from a routine called Niagara Falls! Here's a link to the routine if you have a few minutes for some silliness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZN87rLDfzeM

I know I saw at least part of the Marilyn Monroe movie on TV when I was a kid -- probably when I was older given the steaminess of the trailer. I remembered it as being a black and white movie, but we only had a black and white TV, so that would explain that. If you have a few minutes for some melodramatic kitsch, check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xvv1lQ65Nw 

My intention had been to do my main sightseeing at Niagara Falls on my 60th birthday. However, that day turned out to be rainy and chilly, and I had no desire to go out and explore. I might have pushed myself harder, but the next day was forecast to be much nicer, so on my birthday I stayed in and watched a whole lot of Netflix. I felt a bit funny doing that -- it was so very different from how I pictured spending my birthday! But the next day when I got up and started taking in more of the sights, I was really glad I had waited. While it's true that there is moisture involved in a lot of the things there are to do in Niagara Falls, I know that I enjoyed doing them much more on a sparkling clear sunny day. How could I have seen a rainbow in the falls if the sun hadn't been out?

I would have had to settle for the green screen version I posed for before riding the elevator down to the Cave of the Winds:

I don't usually buy the overpriced photos they sell at tourist attractions, but this next one especially appealed to me:

I opted to skip the boat ride this time. I'm sure it would have been impressive, but I got wet enough for my taste at Cave of the Winds and Terrapin Point (American Falls) and the Journey Behind the Falls (Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side). You can see some short videos I took at Cave of the Winds: https://youtu.be/fxNAHxyUgZs I was not able to go all the way to the bottom of this attraction because they have to rebuild the steps every year and then have them inspected before they can open them to the public. The late winter this year prevented stair construction in time for my visit. I did take the elevator down and then tour some of the open area. You'll hear and see some of the massive numbers of seagulls in the area in my video. Here's a still shot I was able to snag of a mama gull adjusting herself on the nest so that I could get a peek at her speckled eggs:

The very next stop of the trolley shuttle was Terrapin Point. Getting that close to the top of the falls nearly took my breath away. I stopped a couple of times as I approached to get a different angle on the scene. This is where I got my rainbow shot above. The rainbow makes another brief appearance in this video: https://youtu.be/8jkKhL-Nizo

The last attraction I visited was on the Canadian side, called Journey Behind The Falls. It's under Horseshoe falls, so it required walking over the bridge to Canada.  I took the bus or a trolley as much as I could, and there is more I could have seen if I'd been willing to walk more, but all things considered I'm very happy with what I got to see. Here's a short video taken from the tunnels carved into the stone behind Horseshoe Falls: https://youtu.be/fhgjG9i7oco

I already knew the history about Niagara Falls and Tesla and the important role they played in the development of modern electrical generation and distribution, but I did not know the history of development at the falls. I didn't know that at one point it was a toxic industrial site mostly unavailable to the public because the land around it was all privately owned. I didn't know that the state of New York had to buy back the land and restore the natural appearance of the falls. If you're curious about how the cliffs by the falls looked during that early industrial period, photos are available here: http://www.niagarafrontier.com/milldistrict.html

If you made it through this whole post and all the videos, thanks for taking my 60th Birthday trip with me!