Okay.... So we took the tour company named "Over the Falls Tours". The company's catchline is, "Let us take you "Over the Falls." So, you can begin to imagine my deep disappointment when, this morning, my wife and daughter and I got on the tour "bus" only to clearly observe that the bus was NOT sea worthy, did NOT have super safe Nascar racecar-worthy safety harnesses, AND (and this was the clincher) Dayna (our super awesome tour guide.... except for the severe disappointment that was not ACTUALLY going "over the falls!") dispelled the last of my hopes that we'd be going "Over the Falls!!" Well ... I guess that once I put that severe disappointment aside (again, the company is CLEARLY marketing itself as the "Over the Falls Tours"!! (BTW, I also learned from Dayna that actually going over the falls is illegal and will catch you a $10k fine (but... and this is something to consider... is that $10k Canadian or $10k USD? The answer could well sway some of us more fool-hearty brave folks.....))) I was able to sit back (ha - the joke was on me.... There was definitely a "get out and get wet experience here) and enjoy the ride.
Now, Dayna was "the best". She knew exactly where to get the best experience while on the boat ride into Horseshoe Falls. Kudos. I got a bit damp. By "damp", I mean drenched. But, with the protection of the trusty blue plastic rain parka the park folks provided, the drenching stayed mostly outside .... It was the strong updraft of the Falls that forced the water everywhere else. Good times, tho! HIGHLY recommend!! Great photos from the base of the Horseshoe Falls.
From there we made our way to the Cave of the Winds. Here, again, the is false advertising. There's a tunnel. After the tunnel, there is walking outside below the little falls into a wooden walking structure that gets you right up close, and really, INTO the falls themselves. FREAKING AWESOME!! Now, while the boat ride to the base of Horseshoe Falls cause one to become "damp," walking INTO the falls spread that dampness a bit deeper into your everywhere. The aforementioned blue rain parka (the poor saps who wore only the yellow parkas might as well have just skipped them altogether) again did a yeoman's job of trying to keep 10 quadrillion GPM of river water from crushing you, shredding your parka and clothes from your body and generally drowning you in an instant of adventuresome bliss. I almost forgot that we weren't going "Over the Falls." Almost. My adrenaline junkie streak greatly approved of this experience.
There were other blah, blah, blah things to see. All beautiful, spectacular stuff. Lots of photos and selfies and pano's taken. Dayna even (and this certain grants her additional kudos) showed us WHERE to drop off our "barrel" if we were (hypothetically, of course) to decide to take an ACTUAL trio over the Falls. Assuming you can believe her. Again, hypothetically speaking, of course. 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
Sorry, I was temporarily distracted. Oh, yes, the tour....
We also got to shoot up into the "Tower" and view the falls from above. Cool stuff. More pics and selfies and pano's taken there too. (future hashtag stuff, I'm sure)
Did I mention the 10 gazillion gallons of water per minute attempting to crush the life out of you!!! THAT WAS AWESOME!! Oh, yeah, and you got wet. BUT SO MUCH BETTER THAN ANY LOG RIDE AT SOME (expensive) AMUSEMENT PARK!!
So. What did we learn today? A) the tour company falsely markets itself as taking you literally over the falls (seriously disappointing for some of us adrenaline junkies); but B) Dayna (our excellent tour guide (seriously, 5 stars right there)) made up for the lack of death, danger and mayhem of going over the falls by giving us the next best experience!!
.... The Nicola Tesla movie was pretty neat, too.
Oh, one last thing..... Bring a change of clothes AND flipflops or something other than one pair of shoes and socks. If nothing else, bring something to wear on your feet after the soaking you get at the Cave of the Winds. Don't change clothes after the boat ride, because you'll need the dry stuff after the dunking.
Good times!! 👍👍👍😆💯💯🤙🤙