A very last minute trip to Niagara Falls was organized by me Friday after work on September 9. With the incoming rain forecasted to hit Pennsylvania that weekend (we were planning on doing a wv trip) we decided to head north to avoid it as much as possible! It was a good decision!
Trip itinerary:
Saturday morning 730 am - took the 4 hr drive to Goat Island of Niagara Falls from Pittsburgh. We got our tickets for later in the day to do the Cave of the Winds tour (its timed entry) . If you get a parking pass it's good for the entire day there on the island which is nice ! We headed to the Canadian Falls side (really easy to cross the border if you are fully vaccinated and have your passport). You will also need to fill out the ArriveCan online form before entering Canada (they suggest more than 72 hrs in advance but we filled it out less than 24 hrs in advance and had no issues with border patrol)
I will say when everyone says that side is better, they are correct. The flowers were really pretty and you get a better view of the Falls. Although we did not have time, the downtown Niagara Falls , Canada area looked like Vegas and a fun party lol.
We didn't have much time to spend on the Canada side since we had made the Cave of the winds reservations on the American side. So we headed back across the border again and hiked around Goat Island to waste some time before our Cave of the Winds reservation. The black squirrels were so much fun to watch!
Cave of the Winds was a lot of fun and we went on a perfect sunny warm day. Not sure if I'd recommend going if it was colder than 80 degrees. It was refreshing! You really do get soaked. It kind of happened all of a sudden too. I recommend taking a waterproof cell phone case if you're looking to do this. I brought and used my gopro too. They give you ponchos to wear which really did keep your body dry overall. (But you will still get wet unless you don't go up to the middle area)
Hurricane Hole was a blast.
We checked in at our Air bnb after Cave of the Winds which was towards Lewiston. We liked staying in that area. Nice town and beautiful homes. We ate dinner at the Griffon Brewery and Restaurant. Highly recommend ! Make sure to get reservations.
The sunset put on a show for us.
After dinner we headed back to the Falls to watch the fireworks and illumination show at Prospect Point.
Sunday morning
Knowing that the rain was coming, we woke up and did a hike at Devils Hole State Park. It was a great trail! Nothing too hard, some tricky spots.
We went back to our airnbnb and got cleaned up to go to Old Fort Niagara before our lunch reservations. I am not a huge history fan but Shane and I both enjoyed touring and learning about the Old Fort. We got to tour the castle which was different.
Our Lunch spot was Cask and Cow after our history lesson at the Old Fort. Their bloody Mary's were pretty good ! I also enjoyed my burger there. There was a festival going on across the street so we checked that out too. It was an impressive carnival I thought for the area.
On our way home we hit up a couple of wineries in the area between Buffalo , New York, and Erie, PA. Liberty vineyard was our favorite because they had really good dry red wines. So if you're into those, you should check out that winery!
I recommend checking out the Niagara Falls area, especially if you can travel to the Canadian side. I know there is a lot more I'd like to check out such as the butterfly conservatory. On the American side I was hoping to hike whirlpool rapids but we had a short amount of time. Devils Hole State Park we did instead and it was a good one. Although we did not do Maid of the Mist I would recommend doing that !
Cheers!
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