2020, Day 18: Niagara

Sept 23, 2020

From Dad:

Two significant items in today’s ride. First, we changed highways. Looking at the amount of climbing I would do on Highway 20--about 1600 feet--vs. the amount of climbing on Highway 5, which hugs the coast a little more--about 600 feet--we decided to ride Highway 5 toward Buffalo. Highway 5 also had nice, wide shoulders to ride on. Second, I had a very pleasant tail-wind. So I was able to ride 49.9 miles in 3:45, finishing up at Athol Springs. Since we started at 7:45, we ended at 11:30. Tomorrow, we turn east.

That gave us plenty of time to go to Niagara Falls. Our kids had given us a voucher for tickets to ride the Maid of the Mist up to the falls. We had a very short wait. It was an amazing experience. There was so much mist putting water on the camera lens, the pictures may be questionable. Such a neat perspective of the falls. It was a good thing they gave out rain ponchos because we got soaked.

Then we had a nice lunch at the Red Coach Restaurant on the patio overlooking the rapids above the falls. It was really a fun afternoon.

(This is the boomerest of boomer selfies and I love it)

People who don't come from riches are notoriously easy to please. We all talked about getting dad a fancy new fitness watch for his Retirement party, even tossed around the idea of paying for a few nice hotel rooms or fancy dinners, but you know what we settled on? Fifty bucks on a diner gift card and boat tour tickets. What a luxury! There was a little concern that dad wouldn't MAKE it to Niagara, or if he did, wouldn't make it until the weather was too cold to enjoy a nice misting out in the center of the falls. Boy, did he show us.

Last time mom and dad were at Niagara, they meant to hit the Canada side, but missed the turn. Probably for the best, as none of us had passports handy, and we ended up on the US side instead. This time around, I'm not sure they're even letting US tourists into the Canadian side for fear of cooties, or dad very well may have been able to bike right into Toronto. Even shared border parks have strict no-crossing boundaries. Maybe by the time dad finishes his trip, some sense of normalcy will be restored (lol). On the way back, dad can contribute to the Daredevil History of Niagara Falls by biking a tightrope across the falls. (JK don't do that. Nobody survives it.)

This is a pretty big milestone in the trip and marks approximately 900 miles biked in this year. Only a few hundred left!