We went to Niagara-on-the-Lake at the end of the summer of 2006 to attend the  Shaw Festival  but,  of course,  we  also wanted to visit Niagara Falls.  The day after our arrival we'd scheduled our first play for the evening so we set out in the morning for the Falls.  The day was quite gray, overcast, and even a little bit ominous at the beginning of  that first visit but it did not detract at all, surprisingly, from the spectacle of the Falls.  We drove along Niagara Stone Road and stopped half a  kilometer or so from the Falls to get our initial  distant view.

As we made our way closer to the Falls we seemed to be driving into rain and then into a torrent but it lasted only half a minute.  I now think that what really happened is that the spray from the Falls combined with the extreme humidity to create heavy precipitation -- but only within the space of a block or two.  We encountered a much milder version of the phenomenon when we returned on a sunny, drier day.  In any event, by the time we boarded the People Mover for the Maid of the Mist stop we were already fairly wet.

"The Maid of the Mist" is a boat (actually, a number of boats) which sail you very close to the Bridal Veil (the Falls on the New York side) and deep into the heavy, violent mist formed at the base of the Horseshoe (the Canadian Falls).  It is literally an immersive experience -- so much so that I did not want to remove my camera from its case which, in turn, was underneath the plastic poncho I was wearing.  My eyeglasses were constantly dripping with water, obscuring my vision somewhat, so I kept wiping them with a bandana I kept in my back pocket.  This soon proved useless, however, since the bandana was completely soaked within minutes.  If the term "thrill ride" had not been appropriated for other applications I'd find it apt to apply it to the "Maid of the Mist" experience.

While the kids were in good humor throughout our trip I think they were particularly antic when we visited the Falls.  I wonder if it wasn't their way of (unconsciously) asserting their deliberate, absurd humanity in the face of that insensate, monumental display of nature.