A classic line from one of the all-time greatest movies, “The Breakfast Club“. I was thinking this would be a cheesy tourist trap and that the falls would be nothing but some rapids falling over small cliffs. Much to my surprise, I was wrong. The falls were pretty cool and my kids had an awesome time peering over the edge as the massive gushing water fell what seemed like a couple hundred feet.

I also realized that my kids (maybe all kids) have no fear of heights. They’d run up to the edge and almost climb the guardrail to peer over. Drove Katie and I a bit crazy but the kids loved it. We visited the American side, even though almost everyone we talked to said to go Canadian. The fact that we didn’t have our passports made it an easy choice. The views were still spectacular. We started at the Goat Island lot and hiked our way around to the main area from there.

The Goat Island overlook allows you to get right up close to where the water drops from the cliff. (only like 5 feet away!) You could really hear and feel the power of the falls.

We ended up, as I’m sure most do, at the pay-to-play 200 ft. high scenic overlook and Maid of the Mist boat ride. The scenic deck sits over 200 ft. high and juts out over the cliffs in midair. Awesome views!

We next went down to the Maid of the Mist and donned our protective rain gear to prepare for the ultimate splash ride. Though it wasn’t nearly as wet as I would have liked, we had a blast. I got a sickly sweet touristy euphoria while feeling the spray of millions of gallons of water crashing down around me. I felt a little dirty for enjoying it so much.

Thus ends our excursion for the day to Niagra. I recommend to all that it’s worth a visit, even if just to the American side. Here are some final pics of our adventure.