Niagara...."Thundering Water"

You don’t have to read all of this. Do as I would do and just look at the pictures and move on to the rest of your day. If your day is spent at a computer then what the hell go ahead and read on.
The local channel 7 nightly news from Buffalo, New York is airing on our little R.V. t.v. They just announced that there has been a woman’s body found in the Niagara River. “They aren’t giving any names or discussing the condition of the body. The sheriff department’s only comment is that it is the season for bodies in the river.” That struck me, season for bodies in the river? Apparently the Niagara Falls is a popular destination for the people who can no longer keep up with their mortgages or are otherwise desperate. They do beckon. “Would you rather go back to fixing air conditioners in hot and humid Arkansas or how’s about just climbing that short railing and taking a nice ride in my cool blue waters?” The Falls are definitely a popular destination for anybody that does not speak English on the North American continent. No, that is not the Arkansas bigot coming out in me it was a true cultural melting pot. Many Asians, Indians, Europeans, some Amish, Kim and myself. O.k., the Amish do speak English, but you wouldn’t know it by listening, they are very silent. I am truly fascinated with the Amish after seeing so many in Pennsylvania and western New York. We saw many buggies carrying kids, lumber, shower stalls you name it. Some Amish seemed to use gas powered implements, but most used horse powered implements and they all dressed the same. All were very quiet and the children very well behaved. They were all lean and muscular from hard work. I am thinking this way of life will prevail in this economy. Aside from the devout religious aspect of their lives I am thinking I could live like this, a simple life of working the land and having just enough. It has to be better than living a life of CNN cramming your skull full of bummer news while you cram your belly full of Pop-Tarts and diet Pepsi. I feel poisoned and worthless, that does it I am going back to the falls. I just have to decide, American Falls for sure death or Horseshoe Falls for a chance of coming through the tumult alive. There was a 7 year old boy who swam the falls after his father couldn’t get the boat motor started at the head of the river where it turns to white water and heads to the falls. I have an idea, don’t ever boat near this part of the river no matter how new or “reliable” your motor is. Upshot is that the boy survived, they pulled his sister out right before the brink and they didn’t talk about the old man in the film, so I am guessing the outcome wasn’t little kid tourist friendly.
What an amazing powerful body of water. Summer flow of 750,000 gallons of water per second over the falls. In boater talk I believe that translates to about 90,000 cfs, which is a lot of water no matter how you state it. Kim and I looked at the falls from all angles. We took the Maid of the Mist boat ride right underneath Horseshoe Falls. We took the Cave of the Winds walk right alongside Bridal Veil Falls, we walked over to the Canadian side and viewed the falls from the other side of the river and atop a Ferris Wheel and we viewed all of the falls right next to the brink.
Almost as amazing to me were the Whirlpool Rapids. We walked down into the Niagara Gorge from Whirlpool State Park about 2 miles to view these HUGE rapids. As a lover of moving water I was awestruck. The water runs at 30 miles per hour with that huge volume and makes tremendous waves and holes. COOL!
Kim will tell you all about the roller coasters at Cedar Point on Tuesday.

Photos: 1.Cave of the Winds walk underneath bridal veil falls. 2. Maid of the Mist boat ride under falls. 3. American Falls 4. Brink of Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side. 5. Whirlpool Rapids