Niagara Trip Highlights--Day 3 (After the Falls)

Our last view of the Niagara River Gorge was the Niagara Whirlpool. It formed at the end of the Rapids where the Gorge turns abruptly counterclockwise, and the river escapes through the narrowest channel in the Gorge. The whirlpool is over 4,000 years old and 125 ft. deep. Most of the time the water spins counterclockwise. I believe our guide said that the Falls had retreated 7 miles from this point over thousands of years.


The next stop was the Floral Clock of Niagara Park. It is maintained by the Niagara Park Horticulture staff and is changed twice per year. Thousands of different bedding plants make up the design--which is different each time. We decided this was the perfect spot for our group photo. Everyone will be identified later. Another point mentioned by our guide several times was that we were very lucky to have a warm sunny day in October for our tour. The weather was perfect!

                              
A surprise stop was the Welland Canal that connects Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. It forms a key section of the St. Lawrence Seaway and allows ships to ascend and descend the Niagara Escarpment so they can bypass Niagara Falls. Approximately 40 million tons of cargo on 3,000 ships pass through the canal each year. It didn't take long for the ship on the left to be raised out of the water and ready to pass on to the next lock. However, the total journey through eight locks takes about 11 hours. Ships are raised 326 feet.

After a brief stop at our hotel--and more time to enjoy the amazing view of the Falls, we were off to the Oh Canada Eh?dinner theater. A five course meal was served by the wait staff--who were also the entertainers. They presented a humorous, musical Canadian show that paid tribute to 30 of Canada's most famous recording artists. It was a very enjoyable evening! Chuck Richey had an especially good time when
one of the performers decided to
pay him some special attention! Maybe he was just a little red-faced? Hard to tell because the photo was too close!  Oh Canada Eh? has been voted Niagara Falls' tourism attraction of the year seven times.

What else is there to say? The whole day was great!