Science Project Inspiration or A whirlwind tour of Niagara

So after a really long train ride through the early morning hours from Cleveland to Buffalo and then a squishy taxi ride to Niagara with a Japanese backpacker we were all pretty exhausted.  We could have spent the day relaxing at the hotel but we were pretty excited to get out and explore - we could hear the roar of Niagara Falls from our hotel and wanted to check it all out.  We knew that there was going to be heaps to do so we figured we would go straight to an information centre to see what we could find the best things to do.

Before we knew it, we were signed up for a tour of the Niagara Area where we would get so see some really cool places that were too far for us to walk too.

First stop was a whirlpool downstream from the falls.  We made sure we actually stayed behind the fences here - it was a pretty big drop to the water and the water was moving pretty fast.  My swimming is much better than it used to be but I don't think I would be able to swim in a whirlpool, especially in the cold!

I'm staying on this side of the safety rail!

Now the tour guy said that the river wasn't really high today, that heaps of the water must have been diverted through the power plant.

Ready to look through the power plant

That sounded pretty interesting so next stop for us was the Robert Moses Niagara Power Plant.  The power plant was pretty interesting.

AJ wants to build a power plant now!

I wanted to learn more about the falls and the power plant but we had to jump back on the bus to see what else we could find.  Next stop - relaxing at the aquarium.  Now the aquarium is tiny compared to the Melbourne Aquarium but it was pretty cool.  The seals were great.  I especially liked that the aquarium rescued animals and looked after them.  They even had a tank full of seals who had to stay together because they were blind.

The busy tour didn't stop there.  Next we headed to the craziest museum ever, it was a museum of Niagara, not just the falls but all the crazy people who went over the falls in barrels!  Really, so many people decided it was a good idea to float in a barrel over a ginormous waterfall... for fun?

There is no way I am going in one of these!

We saw what was in the barrels and the mess they ended up in when they were pulled from the water downstream so I don't think that there will be much chance of me jumping into a barrel to drift over any waterfall, especially Niagara Falls!

All this touring and we still really hadn't seen the actual waterfalls.  Luckily that was the next destination for us.  All I can say is WOW - the waterfalls were amazing, the Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls and the Bridal Falls too.

There was so much mist from the waterfalls that there were always rainbows but no way to get to the bottom of the rainbow to look for pots of gold.

Under the Rainbow

We did get to go almost to the bottom of the waterfalls but since it was the off-peak season, some of the paths were closed and this was as close as we could get...

Our family under the falls

... It was still close enough that we needed rain ponchos!

Rest Time

We found a few places to rest throughout the day, some were more comfortable than others!

A Leafy Resting Place

We wandered through the parks to different lookouts to see the true beauty of the falls.  There were so many beautiful places to explore.

We finished off the day watching a movie about the history of Niagara Falls.  It told a few different stories, one about the Native American history of the falls, the story of the first crazy person to go over the falls in a barrel as well as the story of a brother and sister who survived the falls.

I am super exhausted and need some rest and relaxation but this place is amazing, I can't wait to explore some more tomorrow.

Love Princess George

Highlight of the day

So of all the cool things we did in Cleveland, do you know what my favourite part of the day was?  It was when we wandered through the gardens on the way to the waterfront.  Now we have walked through about a billion gardens in our time but this one was extra good - it was an edible garden!

Milla wandered through the garden too

 I really wanted to eat a carrot but they weren't big enough to pick.  Instead I picked myself a radish.

Love at first bite?

I have never eaten a radish before.  I am not too sure I actually like eating radish but I loved being able to pick and eat my own food!

Love AJ Pickle

Downtown Cleveland

After all the busy-ness of being in Cleveland for a wedding party and getting ready for Halloween we had only one day in Cleveland to look around the city and hunt for treasures so we caught the train downtown and let our adventure begin.

Sarah had warned us that Cleveland wasn't much fun but we found plenty to do to keep us busy.  There were plenty of things to climb... statues, stair railings, even lamp posts.  Everywhere we went, AJ found something different to climb.  

There were parks and gardens and cool places to explore as we wandered around looking for treasure.  The best geocache we found was along the waterfront.

It took forever to find the cache because there were Muggles fishing in the area where the cache was hidden.  We did find a tiny little fish that was actually right next to where the cache was hiding in plain sight!

The giant stamp may say FREE but all in all, I give Cleveland a big stamp of approval!

Love Princess George

Time for Jack-o-lanterns

Now that the wedding is over and we are all recovered from the fun and excitement, we have another big project to get organised - Halloween.  Now as Aussies, we really don't know how to celebrate Halloween, sure we try really hard by making creepy Jack-o-lanterns, baking witchy fingers and dressing up in costumes but that is it.  You can imagine how super excited we are about celebrating Halloween properly.

Finally it was time to make the Jack-o-lanterns.  I have to say that American pumpkins are ginormous and I am pretty sure that they weigh more than I do!

We started off by drawing our faces on the pumpkins, well not 'our' faces, the faces that we thought would look best on a pumpkin!  Once the faces were drawn it was time to get into action and make the Jack-o-lanterns.

Tony was the pumpkin carving expert and cut them out for us.  We helped with the finer details but let him do the hard work.  We did the messy work and scooped the guts out of the pumpkin.

Victoria must know us well already and figured that we would be hungry before we finished so she decided to sort through all the pumpkin goop and collect the seeds to roast for us to nibble on as we worked.

There was soooo much goop in the pumpkins that it took forever to sort through it all to get the seeds to roast.

Eventually the pumpkins were carved and ready to carry out to the front of the house to join all of the Halloween decorations that were there.





Only one more sleep until Halloween, hurrah!  I can't wait...

Love a super excited Princess George

The Day before the Big Day

In one more sleep Marah and Edrick get married (again) and we get to have a gigantic party.  That means that today we have to make sure everything is ready for the big day.  I had the job of being the official helper-outer-er and photographer.  There were flowers to be arranged... food to be prepared... words of wisdom to be written... and hair to be cut.  Busy, busy, busy!

I can't wait until tomorrow.  I think that I am almost as excited as Marah and Edrick!
Love Princess George

Waking Up in Cleveland

Last night I went to sleep in Chicago and this morning I woke up in Cleveland!

We caught the Amtrak overnight and I am happy to say that sleeping on the train is way more comfortable than sleeping on a plane!  Did I mention that I seem to only fall asleep on a plane when the pilot announces that the plane is ready to descend.  I really must work on that before we have to fly home.

I wonder what adventures I will find in Cleveland?
Love AJ Pickle