Visited Niagara Falls- beautiful falls but a dump one block away
 

Falls were awesome to see. Thoroughly enjoyed the maid of the mist boat ride and tour through the old power plant. The power of all that water seen up close is truly breathtaking. But my goodness the NY side is an embarrassment to our country and the Canada side is horrible if you go one block away from the main strip. Junky tourist garbage all around on both sides with the Clifton section on Ca side being particularly awful. Canada side was a thin veneer of nice over garbage. NY side didn't even bother with the veneer. The sole exception on the NY side being the park right by the rainbow bridge which was very nicely kept.

My son was telling me how his architectural appreciation class (a rare fluff course at VT) was a let down as it was mostly zoning talk and i pointed out how both cities were a very, very good example of massive zoning failures.

If you are thinking of going i'd say give it two days absolute max then head off into nicer parts of Canada.

I've been there several times. It is an awe-inspiring thing to experience.

Go in the winter. The ice on the railings is a foot thick. It's awesome.

I was there with Maddie a few years ago. She was kind of freaked out by the sound and the mist, and the wind coming up off out of the gorge blew her ears fly as if she was about to take flight.

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I haven't been there for over 20 years but the last time I was there, it was very nice especially on the Canadian side. It was super clean. Its too bad to hear that it it so bad now. We, as a country had let so many things slipped away.

On the Ca side the strip along the river/falls is very nice though. Just don't expect much past it unless you're heading out of town. Didn't get a chance to visit Niagara on the Lake but that looked like it might be a nice place to check out as well. The lines to get back across to US by car were pretty long throughout the day so we opted not to drive across and explore further away.

There are all kinds of amazing stories about the history of the area from daredevils going over the falls to rescuing a 7yr old who went over with nothing but a life vest to all sorts of power facilities coming and going. The power plant tour was pretty neat as you go 180' down next to one of the generators in a glass elevator. you can see the shaft as you descend and then you walk out a very long tunnel to the base of the falls.

There was also a story about a barge/boat that broke from it's line 100+ years ago and managed to run aground very close to the horshoe falls. The rescue of the two guys on it took many hours and multiple attempts. Incredible to consider when you are standing there looking at all that powerful water rushing over the edge.

Canadian side was seedy in the eighties.

From a friend: Car full of traveling accountants (looking for a strip club on the Canada side) and a nice lady walks up to the car, reaches in and grabs you by the beans and frank and says slow-bl*w $15.

I went there a long time ago and was disappointed.

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Two days? I'd say it's worthy of something slightly longer than a "Clark Griswold" at the Grand Canyon.

vvv If you took that, well done!!!

The last time I was there I was driving to college in the Bay Area and a friend of mine, still is, was training horses in Saratoga Springs, NY...this was in the late 1970's.

I couldn't afford the boat ride...I may do that with my wife when we join my Mom and Dad 's ashes at West Point.

Water of Love:

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As a foreign guy I thought it was great. Both sides. And better than the Victoria Falls.

Didn't a girl fall to her death sitting on a guard rail doing a selfie last year?

wouldn't be surprised, plenty of places where you are literally a few feet from the water or gorge.

been to the Falls a few times--as a youngster I loved all the wax museums, Ripley's Houdini museum, etc., our 8th grade class trip took us into a tunnel tour behind the Falls, which was really cool. Older bachelor party trip discussions are not for polite company.
I'm going to disagree with you Bill on the Victoria Falls though--those were in a whole other league.

They're almost as nice as Michigan's Tahquamenon Falls. :)

https://media.gettyimages.com/id/142...hj9pxjALgSUhA=

It's definitely on my long list once I retire properly (close to 10 years).

I’m an hour and a half from there….been there to appear in court for work many many times. A very run down depressed place. There’s a great donut shop and a weird Indian restaurant that weighs your tray when your done eating and charges you by the ounce for any food you didn’t eat from the buffet….food was always good though but that’s about it. When we were kids in the 70s we would go as a family and it was always a nice, exciting place to visit. That’s how I remember it anyway

I’m going in a few weeks because wife wants to go on the Maid of the Mist

Oh and as for spending 2 days…in all honesty, I wouldn’t plan on spending more than an hour at the actual falls and the leaving town asap…go to Buffalo to stay and have some wings and split

Since you were in Canada can you tell me what crossing was like. Did you need anything other than an enhanced license? I haven’t been since 2017 and I think rules changed. Wife wants to go to IKEA ….ug

Shoot me a PM when you make it and I’ll buy you lunch if I’m still alive

OK I accept... Thanks :)

I don't know the east coast well but I drove from Philly to NYC then across upstate NJ to the falls. I found Syracuse, Buffalo very depressing cities with lot of blown out, abandon buildings. Maybe they are better today? I discovered the small cities or towns to be very typical American towns just like in the movies unlike cities out here in the west. There's nothing but a two lane road between towns that are 20-30 min apart, something I was not use to.

I’m in the middle between Buffalo and Syracuse. I’ve spent time in LA and I’m not surprised you would find it depressing here…it’s better than it was but still a bit bleak. You have to get out to the finger lakes or rural areas around Lake Ontario etc to see the beauty of the area. The cities absolutely suck and lately, very dangerous

we crossed with two current (mine and wife) and two expired (kids) passports and came back with same no trouble. US side said explicitly no problem at all, Canada side saw and didn't care either. Only works by land, not air.

Meh. They're cities. We're all grownups. Statistically, your nearby rural village is more dangerous. Even in my Gen-X life cities have gotten far safer. The "scary-to-the-75yo-parents" parts of any town are pretty reliably the more interesting and fun parts of town.

Industry in the "rust belt" made North America sing for the last 125-150y. Those cities are still there today, collocated with (relatively) abundant space, water, multi-mode transport and workers. Of course you can derail things and spiral into uselessness arguing the values (or not) of each of those resources. That bickering does nothing but buy ad-minutes and clicks...

Biased here, I admit as a midwest-city kid of a midwest industrialist family. Turning just 50 this fall, I bet I'll get to see a great swing back to that area from the recently desirable (and overheated, and parched) southwest.

Yea no sorry I’ve been here 52 years, less about 15 I was gone. Born in 72. Born here. Since you don’t live where I live I am not sure how you think you have a clue but I’m not interested in arguing about it. Same with NYC. Lived there 10 years and happily crawled home drunk on the sidewalk at 3am no issues. Wouldn’t even visit it now.

Thanks

I'm 51 and loved visiting cities like Baltimore and DC as a kid. What I see nowadays in cities is definitely on a different level thanks to LEO indifference (not that I blame them) to the crime, etc. I won't go any further as it would be PARF material.

Yea I would be happy to go to parf and describe and explain why we have random murders and car jackings daily here to the point it is not worth going anywhere downtown for any reason. It has never ever been this bad in my lifetime

Well - as someone who’s lived in the city of Buffalo for over 25 years (moving here willingly and happily from rural NY!) and works and commutes across the city and into downtown daily, I’ll go ahead and add “since you don’t live where I live I’m not sure how you think you have a clue”.

All cities have their issues - Buffalo is no different. But if you’re scared of the perceptions of danger, then you’re missing out on a renaissance. Please stay out in the sticks so you aren’t getting in the way of the rest of us getting on with the daily fun.

Back to the original topic - I’m sorry for your disappointment over Niagara Falls. It’s a city that has been hit hard by de-industrialization and the rust belt economics, but State Park along the falls is a fantastic application of government to serve the people, and if you spend some time hiking the gorge trails, checking out the two Great Lakes connected by the falls, and getting to know the area, there’s a lot to see and do.

One of my favorite new attractions is on the Canadian side - https://www.niagaraparks.com/visit/attractions/niagara-parks-power-station/the-tunnel-niagara-falls

A former power tunnel that lets out at the base of the falls. The history of power production and the force of the water at the end of it all hits hard

The NY Power Authority Vista at the Robert Moses Power plant is great as well.

If you’re into history - the Lockport Locks about a half hour east of the falls and provide a great perspective on the historic Erie Canal alongside the still operational NYS Barge Canal.

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Another, this with my fujifilm xt3. Other pic was just cell phone. Wish I’d taken the Fuji on the boat ride. Would’ve been easy to keep it dry.

another from the tunnel under the power plant

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Center of pic is the barge/scow that broke from its line over 100 years ago and fortunately ran aground before going over the falls. Moved in a 2019 storm but didn't go over. Falls are about 100yds or so to the left in this shot.

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I live in the city of Rochester not the sticks and have many family members in Buffalo and am there all the time for decades. Enjoy your renaissance.

“Perception of danger”. Yea ok what a moron

It's gone now, but the story of Sub chaser Sunbeam which ended up stuck a few hundred yards from the old scow is fascinating. Tough go when you accidentally take a right when you leave the Erie Canal.

Niagara Falls - The Scow and the Subchaser: a History

http://www.niagarafrontier.com/images/SUB/450.jpg

I think the falls as a tourist attraction peaked in the 1950's.

My original post was a response to Look 171. My point was that I don't think the cities appear to be improved from certain vantage points and that in order to really see the real place you have to get off the thruway and explore and, that yea the cities are dangerous. Its not my perception, its my experience. The assumption that I should stay in the sticks and out of peoples way because I might have an opinion is well...

I have lived it and pay close attention to it. I do not feel safe. Earlier this summer someone asked us if we wanted to go see the Wailers i think it was the next day. I said no thanks. Besides having seen them countless times over the past 30 years, I didn't want to go because the last 5 years I have gone to summer concerts there, I have increasingly felt unsafe. The person that asked us thinks I over react blah blah

That same very night the person called, 6 people were shot in that same park. Yea the concert happened without incident. big whup. The danger is real and happens when you least expect it with increasing frequency

This happened the other day - VERY disturbing and not far from where where I live-
https://13wham.com/news/local/rochester-police-frustrated-over-previous-release-of-suspect-in-deadly-triple-shooting-rukia-isaack-nasezire-horton-quentin-riviere-hazelwood-terrace-beechwood-neighborhood

Just yesterday my wife drove by a crash site where some Kia Boys - 13 years old - stole a car and ran from the cops and killed an elderly man - his car is unrecognizable. The kids are doing fine. Im sure Buffalo news is running the story

I like Buffalo. Never said I didn't. I even like it here. Never said I didn't. Buffalo has done a nice job developing its downtown waterfront. I like Buffalo. I especially love Ted's Hotdogs. Love BarBill's wings...hmmmm

Rochester doesn't have a commercial waterfront unless you consider downtown as the Genesee River cuts through it. There is very little commercial business going on anywhere that is waterfront....On the River, Irondequoit Bay, anywhere on Lake Ontario except a handful of places. If one has an interest in waterfront environments, a resident here will quickly realize that focused effort is required to get there. This is a good thing because you end up discovering bicycling the Erie Canal, Letchworth, the 1000 Islands, Ithaca gorges, or exploring the trails along the Genesee River. I love Lake Ontario and all it's amazing tributaries. And Bald Eagles. I have always been on the water, on a boat. on a dock. on shore. Fishing it and just sitting at it. I have also spent a huge amount of time in the city, doing city things. I LIVE IN THE CITY. Fortunately my parents exposed us to all of it and I even give credit to the Boy Scouts for taking me into the woods and mountains.

Anyway after that, there is an entire world in the Adirondacks, Catskills and the Finger Lakes....and yea, Niagara Falls. Its a good place to drive to, look at for an hour, and then move on as part of a tour that includes that, and many other natural wonders like the Finger Lakes, formed by glaciers.....after doing that, you can take a beautiful country drive along the lake to Watkins Glen which is an incredibly beautiful place or explore the Hudson Valley...its endless really

I have worked in Buffalo downtown at least 1 day a week for 10 years. Ive lived in Manhattan, Nassau County, Suffolk County, and here. I have for work- driven probably 300K miles over the past 25 years traveling to every city in this state and many many towns to work at government office centers and buildings, and I will go so far to say I have spent considerable time in every single County in NY. It is my opinion, from what I have seen, that NY state is one of the most beautiful states in the country with its water and mountains and apple farms, fisheries, corn farms, vineyards, dairy farms, lush green summers, no real natural disasters to worry about. Until recently, a very low cost of living outside the NYC tri-state area.

Ive even lived on the Ocean (down the street from RoninLB). People dont even think of the Atlantic Ocean when they think of NY but there it is...summers felt like Ft. Lauderdale at the beach.

NY is second only to California in its natural beauty and geographic diversity - including Alaska which is for most people not a practical place to live

The cities...

First paragraph.

https://www.niagarafallstourism.com/plan/border-crossing

My favorite entry story is staying in Niagara Falls on the company's dime ('85) driving a rental Cadillac and went to Toronto with a female Army pilot. Guy asks why are you entering Canada. We want to go to Toronto to see a play. He drops his head and asks her "Where are you from", "DC", and then looks at me and I say Cleveland. Open the trunk was his response.

I guess it was the eclectic grouping. (There was an egg McMuffin box in the trunk.)

I also saw the falls while on a business trip.

It was a fast track month long training program. We were in Akron. 30 participants from all over the world. Two of us from the US, also Canada, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Korea, Luxembourg, etc, etc, etc.

We had weekends off. A number of the group wanted to go see Niagara, about a 4 hour drive. We alll chipped in and rented two large vans and loaded up about 20 of us. I was the driver of one of the vans.

At the crossing we were asked what county?
"US, Canada, Brazil, Malaysia, Australia... "
"PULL THAT THING OVER!"

We made it in and out without problem.

My wife and I stopped/crossed at the falls on our honeymoon - 3 decades ago (We drove around the US, including the short leg through Canada).

We're going to Toronto in September, so we are stopping at the Falls. Just the Canadian side vista, the Hornblower ride and behind the falls, then off on our way to Toronto. I've fished the river above and below the falls and flown over in a light plane, but this will be my first return visit to actually stand by the falls.

I get up that way fishing fairly often - mostly the Lake Ontario tribs. While a lot of the area seems to be economically depressed, the people are generally great and we've never had any trouble.