Day 44 – Rest Day in Erie, PA – Spent at Niagara Falls – On my Birthday!

Well, I am not sure how to even put my day into words – it was the best birthday ever! A group of 4 other riders (Skip, Don, Pete, and Hetty) and I all rented a car and drove to Niagara Falls for the day – I know now why it is one of the seven wonders of the world – it was spectacular! I still can’t believe a place like that exists in the world! It is an entire lake going over a cliff... wowzers!

We left Erie about 7:30am and arrived in Niagara around 9:30am. We bought the National Park pass, which allowed us to see all the attractions – we started by walking around the park and looking at the falls… we went over the American Falls and then Bridal Veil falls… then we went and got outfitted to see the Cave of the Winds… they gave us ponchos, baggies for our stuff, and rain shoes (see photo of me like a duck!) to go down near the American falls and you could feel the intense power of the falls and got soaked on Hurricane Bridge – it was awesome! We also went up on the observation tower to overlook the falls and then went to my favorite attraction, the Maid of the Mist. For this one, you get ponchos, again, but this time they are blue (my favorite color) and get in a boat which takes you right up to the Horseshoe Falls (there are three falls… American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, and Horseshoe Falls… with the Horseshoe Falls being the most powerful of all three of them). While being under the falls on the boat, you could feel intense majesty of them… it was absolutely incredible! All the looking over the falls was great but actually going up to them by boat was indescribable – I don’t know how any birthday will ever top this one – fantastic! I just smile thinking about it. I was in awe!

After the Maid of the Mist, we went to see a video about Niagara Falls and its history. It was done by IMAX and was also amazing. Did you know that there was a 63 year old woman who went over the falls in a barrel and lived? And there was a 7 year old boy who went over the falls and lived! Amazing… the video went through the myths and legends of the falls… it was interesting to watch. We toped the day off with some drinks and dinner along the Bay of Lake Erie. It was relaxing and very nice.

I arrived at the hotel and received an unexpected birthday card from Sister Mary Audrey and Sister Denise – beautiful – THANK YOU!!! J It made me smile. I also received a package from my mom and dad – an IPOD water bottle speaker for cycling – SWEET! I was sooo excited and could hardly get to bed last while I was trying to set it up for the ride today – YAHOO! THANK YOU!!! I was also expected a forwarded package from Chillicothe, Missouri from Sarah and they said they sent it but I didn’t receive it – so I’ll have to forward it from Erie to the end… .Bummer… cause I hear there are great CDs in there! I’ll keep tracking it Sarah – thanks for your birthday song yesterday. And thank you to everyone for the cards, well wishes, text messages, phone messages, etc… it was great to hear from so many of you!!