Prologue: When we first started planning for this day about a week ago, the forecast predicted sunny and 70s. So, we bought our tickets for Niagara Falls and planned out our activities accordingly (including go-karts and indoor putt-putt). The following day, the forecast shifted to rain and low 60s. Mother Nature sure was having the last laugh…
Monday, June 12, 2023 As forecasted, we woke up to steady rain showers. So we packed a bag with extra clothes to change into if needed because we knew we were going to get soaked. Then, we loaded into the car and headed for Niagara Falls. But first we needed breakfast!
Carson heard about Montreal-style bagels on one of his podcasts a while ago and decided that we needed to try some while we were in Canada. Except we never planned to go to Montreal. So he did his research and found a place on the way to Niagara that is known for being pretty close to true Montreal style in Toronto, Kettleman’s Bagels. We ordered ahead in anticipation of eating on the road and tried to add some padding to the pickup time to account for traffic. Then we had a 10-minute slowdown due to a new accident, which turned out to be a dump truck that had jumped over the center divider on a 6-lane divided highway. Despite that, we made it to the restaurant just after pickup time and made the decision to slow down the morning a bit and ate inside instead.
This was a good decision. We picked up our bag and found a table near the counter and watched them work. They make all of their bagels by hand, cooking them in a wood burning oven and using an 8 foot-ish wood turner to shift the bagels around in the oven. The girls each had your basic bagel fare (cinnamon raisin bagel, one with cream cheese and jam and the other with blueberry cream cheese). Meanwhile Carson had a salmon-with-other-stuff bagel and I had a breakfast bagel sandwich. I don’t know that I would say these bagels are worth going out of your way for but they were very tasty.
Back on the road, we finally made it to Niagara Falls, ON, and parked at the top of Clifton Hill. We all put on our rain coats, I grabbed the backpack, and we started down the hill to the cruise meeting point. We were all pretty wet by the time we found where we needed to be but in the spirit of the activity, we all put on the ponchos they were passing out and climbed aboard the boat that would take us into the mist of the falls.
We tried to prepare the girls for the amount of wet that they would experience on this outing, but I don’t think they believed us! By the time the boat left the dock our pants were already sticking to our legs due to the rain and my coat sleeves had soaked through (I was the only one without a true raincoat 🙁). We quickly rode past the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls and started our approach to Horseshoe Falls. And here is where the misery really kicked up a notch!
As anticipated (at least by the adults in our party) the mist started to come across hard and the wind really started to whip around. As hard as we tried, we could not hold our hoods up tight nor keep our ponchos from billowing to provide any amount of protection from the onslaught of horizontal moisture blowing on us. But really, at this point in our morning, we were doomed to be soaked through regardless.
After what seemed like an eternity to some small members of our family, the boat finally turned around and headed back to the dock. There we disembarked and proceeded to make our way back up the hill. Only this time, we made the trek soaked through to our socks and attempted two geocaches on the way.
The first geocache required us to find information from a plaque that apparently no longer exists. So we took a picture as proof that we were there. The second geocache involved walking across a green space that was waterlogged. So, Carson and Ellie went for it while I hung back and tried to help Mackenzie see the fun in being soaked to the bone on a cold day (I don’t think I really made much progress…) Carson and Ellie returned with a success and we continued up the hill to find lunch.
After some back and forth, we spotted a Rainforest Cafe and decided that this might be the ticket to cheer up our group, and maybe give us a chance to dry out. So we stepped inside and started pealing off our wet layers of ponchos (yes we were still wearing them) and jackets. We were promptly seated across from a group of gorillas that periodically serenaded us with whoops, bellows, and tree swinging. After lunch, we headed back out to make the best of what was left of our day.
Something that I didn’t mention previously, Clifton Hill is pretty much a cross between Branson, MO and the midway at an amusement park. This place was also full of tourist groups and kids on school field trips. So despite the crummy weather, this place was pretty busy.
Back to the story.
At this point, the rain had mostly let up and we continued up the hill to enjoy a round of indoor black light wizard putt-putt. We were given our putters and each picked out a neon ball and then head downstairs to the first hole. Given the weather outside, there was no surprise that this activity was busy. Impressively through, despite the entire place being back to back groups of golfers, play moved along pretty steadily. The atmosphere was pretty interesting. It was definitely on the darker side as it was only lit by black light, making it easy to see your ball but hard to see the head of your putter. Never the less, we didn’t keep score for the girls but Carson and I duked it out with him beating my by only 4 strokes; so not too bad. And, as we emerged back into the regular light, we noticed that the rain had finally stopped.
As we were contemplating our next move, the girls asked to do a mirror maze. We bought the tickets and after a couple of tries we finally find the correct mirror maze that our tickets were for (yes, there’s more than one mirror maze at this place!) Talk about a trippy experience! I’m not sure how long it took us, but we managed to find ourselves back at the start of the maze twice before we finally managed our way through the entire maze to the exit. Once out, we attempted to head for the car, but we weren’t able to make it past the ice cream. So we found a not-too-wet bench to sit and eat it that just happens to be directly in front of the giant ferris wheel. And of course, now we just have to go for a ride. As a nice bonus, the weather had finally cleared up enough that we were finally able to see the falls in all their glory!
Back at the bottom, we finally made our way to the car to start our trek back to Toronto.
Ho ho! Not so quick! We still have a couple more caches to find on the way. The first of these was down a secret trail at the end of a winding road. I’m not real sure that we were supposed to park where we were, so Carson and the girls went after the cache while I waited in the car. After a few minutes, they returned with a successful find and several bug bites. (Glad I stayed behind for this one!)
The second cache was a different kind of adventure. The GPS attempted to take us down a road with a big chain link do not enter fence across it. So we tried going down a little further and ended up pulling into a driveway for another super secret something with tall fences and gated entrance. Google maps says it was a General Motor plant but I think it looked more fortified like Area 51 or something. Anyhoo, we called it a wash on this one and finally made our way back into Toronto.
Editor’s Note: We stopped for one more old cache, but the only exciting thing about it was that it was nearly 20 years old!
We had one more stop to make before calling it a night: dinner. Carson found us a very convenient parking lot and we walked over to small restaurant called Wilbur Mexicana. Maybe we were just really hungry, but these tacos and my salad were super tasty! I would highly recommend this place if you happen to be in the area. 🙂
We finally made it back to the apartment, got showered, and went off to bed. I think we were all asleep before our heads hit the pillow.