niagara falls: day 1

after a quick nap this morning, we hunted down a wendy's for lunch and then headed to the falls. we had planned to park on the canadian side, but we got a bit turned around and ended up on rainbow bridge instead - so into the state we went!


we walked around a bit taking photos (this is the top of the american falls) and then took the trolley over to goat island for the cave of the winds tour.


the cave of the winds tour is a self-guided tour, wherein "tour" means walking along a set of boardwalks and up stairs to platforms that are successively closer to the base of bridal veil falls.so exhilarating! of course by the end we were all drenched from the knees down & the shoulders up - but it was totally worth it. they give you a souvenir poncho and sandals - the sandals are going back with us today for more fallsy fun. i kept my camera out for most of the tour - putting it away only when we started climbing up to the hurricane deck. it's pretty hard to keep your eyes open on the hurricane deck, so i didn't see much point in trying to take photos. :)