August 17, Sunday – Downtown

The day was spent at the huge 4 mile Creek Campground with over 300 sites spread over a couple hundred acres of mowed lawn and trees. It was the most spacious and extensive campground that I had stayed in. And the prices were spot on: no hookups = $17. Hookups = $21. However near dark I got restless and went into downtown Niagara Falls for supper at the Seneca Casino and to check out the falls for the first time. In the dark; with lights.
The supper was pretty pedestrian. I’m so thankful that the casino scene means absolutely nothing to me. The people who sit and pull levers look so lost, so lonely. I had to break out of there and find out what made the waterfall. I parked on the island that separated the American side from the Canadian side and wandered down to the roar and lights. I was impressed. The light shone on the rapids above the falls so the wave crests danced like a regiment from shore to shore. I just followed the crowd down to the viewing locations. I was surprised how close you are to the lip of the falls and the mist. From across the gorge on the Canadian side were banks of powerful flood lights shining on the upper portions of the falls because the lower sections were enveloped in mist. To make the nocturnal enjoyment better the colors on the falls changed.
I walked off Goat Island and over to the long suspended walkway out over the gorge. The cement elevator shaft down to the base of the falls supported the aerial walkway. The area was packed with sightseers of which most were either Indian or Japanese. As I walked by the hundreds of individuals packed onto the walkway I wondered what the carrying capacity of the thing was. When I walked inside the elevator lobby, I heard an explosion and the crowd yelled. Before I could react, another explosion as people rushed to the outside and to the already packed railings. Then I got it. All these people were waiting for the Sunday night fireworks. The noise was reverberated against the gorge walls. Those of us on the walkway were eyeball to eyeball with the starbursts and atom salutes. Party on…