Niagara Falls to Michigan

We’ve been on the road for two days. Day one from home to Niagara Falls and day two from Niagara Falls to just west of Port Huron, MI. Our plan was to actually be in the Upper Peninsula by now, but we spent the entire morning today taking a professional tour of the falls and then got stuck for two hours at the border, reentering the US from Ontario. We decided to just take it easy and call it a day at 7:30 PM after being in the car for six hours today.

Niagara Falls was so much more beautiful than I had imagined. I had this grainy, black and white honeymooners-from- the-1950s-image in my head. I thought of tacky Americana, but the water and the setting were National Park stunning. I didn’t know that the US side was forever wild and the Canadian side, while built up, is shiny and full of enthusiasm. Right before us were two gleaming examples of environmentalism, one even involved an international agreement (with Canada to cut back flow of the Niagara River at night to help prevent erosion of the escarpment, without which there would be no falls).

I looked up at this mass of plummeting water from the Maid of the Mist boat and thought that this alone is worth fighting for. I know as we travel further into the wild that more of these examples will become evident. And yes to many people this would all seem obvious, but I’ve been discouraged for so long that I need reminders about my country. Reminders that I do have things to be proud of, many, many things.

After the Cave of the Winds tour, where you get to stand on what’s known as the Hurricane Deck, just at the bottom of the Bride Veil Falls, Son told me that it was the most awesome thing he’d ever done.

For those skeptics out there, yes I’m still holding it together. The children are rising to the occasion. Daughter packed up the air mattress and the tent this morning, because we were in a rush to leave the campsite by 8 AM in order to the make the tour. I’m finding it easiest to leave the camper attached to the car hitch, because getting it on and off intimidates me. My only gripe, and it’s nothing I can’t learn to live with, is that they play country music in the bathrooms of the KOAs. It’s loud and at 6 in the morning, not what I want to here. Can’t wait to see the U.P.