Spring Break 2025: Niagara Falls, ON

My parents came to visit us over spring break.  We spent several days at our house first and enjoyed playing games, going on walks, etc.          

Mimi also tried to teach Derek how to ride a bike.  He is 9 years old, so it is way past time for Derek to learn.  Mimi made some progress with him, but he still needs more time - it is hard when Derek is very reluctant to even try. 

Lydia tried demonstrating to Derek how it is done.

The kids thought it would be funny to see what Mimi would look like with long hair.

The trees in our neighborhood were in full bloom in mid-April.  This is a kwanzan cherry tree, also known as my favorite tree species.  The blooms are big and beautiful and more striking than the yoshino cherry trees along the national mall in Washington D.C.

We enjoyed a nice hike in Rockburn Park, and the kids were silly, as usual.

The kids, Nate, and I had never been to Niagara Falls, so we decided on a small road trip to Niagara since spring break was so late this year.  We also compared the offerings on the American and Canadian sides, and opted to stay and visit Canada the whole time.  Niagara, Ontario was 6 hours 45 minutes away when we drove, including a short line at the border for passport control.  I booked our Airbnb house for three nights.

As we walked along the falls on the Canadian side, it was pretty clear the views from New York had people standing next to the falls, looking down, whereas in Canada, you actually get to see the falls. 

Surprisingly, the Niagara River was completely covered in ice when we arrived!  The air temperature was in the 60s for us, but the river was full of snow and ice.  We could sometimes hear large chunks breaking, very loudly.  

Our Airbnb was a couple blocks from the river, so while walking toward Bridal Veil Falls and Horseshoe Falls, we had great views as we approached our destination.  The first several photos feature Bridal Veil Falls.

This next set of pictures are of Horseshoe Falls.  Bridal Veil Falls is the more photogenic falls in my opinion.  It was beautiful and I loved the ice covered river.  The falls and river made it feel chillier than the temperature indicated.

Here are both Horseshoe (in the distance to the right) and Bridal Veil Falls together.

 

 

Then we walked back toward our Airbnb and passed Bridal Veil Falls again.

I picked an Airbnb which included breakfast delivery, as the owners also run a few bed and breakfast houses in the neighborhood.  The breakfast delivered daily was great.  I would definitely opt for something like that again.  We got breakfast sandwiches (fresh bagels with ham, cheese, tomato, egg), fruit, juice, yogurt, scrambled eggs, and pancakes/french toast each morning.  

For our first full day in Canada, we began with Journey Behind the Falls.  They gave us yellow ponchos and we waited in line to take an elevator down below/behind Horseshoe Falls.  There were some tunnels that actually go behind the falls.

At the end of the tunnel was a mini viewing opening to see the falls from behind a window.  This was not especially exciting...

Luckily, there is also a ground level viewing platform on the Niagara River, right next to Horseshoe Falls.  It was special to see the falls from below.  

My mom bought these photos at Journey Behind the Falls.  Now we know what the falls look like on perfect days!

We ate lunch at Table Rock, which as seen from the below photo offers incredible views of Horseshoe Falls.  The view was the main appeal of the restaurant, though my vegetable curry was good too.

After lunch, we headed to the Niagara Power Station, and learned about how Niagara Falls has been providing electricity to the region and about the technology that was historically used.  I also learned that today, 50-75% of the water in the Niagara River flowing from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario is diverted for producing hydro electricity. It makes me wonder how much stronger and larger the falls would be without so much water diverted.

The power station had an exhibit on Nikola Tesla who was instrumental in designing and constructing the hydroelectric dam on Niagara Falls.  His innovations set the standard for AC current we use today primarily because it can travel longer distances than DC current.  Here are Lydia and Nate reaching into the chain mail gloves and holding hands while the Tesla coil above them zaps the gloves with bolts of electricity.

Here's a much larger Tesla coil on the roof of the power station.  By changing the frequency the sparks are generated, different tones are generated.  We got a demonstration of the coil playing the theme to Harry Potter.

Next up was the Floral Showhouse.  There were beautiful arrangements of especially orchids in their greenhouses. 

After dinner back at our house rental, we somehow weren't overly exhausted and headed back to the Niagara Power Station for their evening program.  We got to go into the tunnels below the falls used for the hydro plant years ago.  

They also had a light show with a story projected onto the walls, music, and narration.  Lydia, Derek, and many kids there, got really into it by dancing and having fun.

On our full last day, we went to the Fort George National Historic Site in the quaint town of Niagara-on-the-Lake.  The fort was used during the war of 1812 by the British, just across the river from Fort Niagara in New York on the American side.  When we traveled to Quebec some years ago, we discovered how much we like Canadian historic sites for their set up, kids activities, and useful information.  I thought Fort George was great too, and I learned that no one really won the War of 1812.  This was a surprise to me since we live in Maryland near Fort McHenry, near where the Star Spangled Banner was written, and the lyrics indicated to me that the US has 'won.'  However, AI is currently confirming to me that the War of 1812 was a stalemate and the result was everyone kept the territory they had before (though Nate points out that if we take the view that the war was our second war of independence, the fact that we left with the same territory means we reasserted our independence).  At Fort George, we learned about living conditions, saw a musket demonstration and learned how unreliable the guns were, and walked through the buildings.

Here is Lydia trying on the outfit of a drummer boy.  Boys her age would have been recruited and hired as drummer boys. 

This is a secret tunnel that connects to a special part of the fort for defense.

Karina on a canon and along the fort walls.

I unfortunately don't have any photos, but next we explored the charming town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, which is unsurprisingly at the junction of where the Niagara River empties into Lake Ontario.  We walked the quaint and trendy downtown and ate lunch.  Then we drove through the town admiring fancy vacation homes near the water.  

We also stopped at the Butterfly Conservatory.  I loved it, but the kids were ready to leave after only a few minutes.  However, it was an included attraction in the passes we bought, and I am glad we went.  

This butterfly seemed to like Nate.

We did not take the boat on the Niagara River by the falls because it was closed.  I think they could have put the boats in the water that day though because the ice on the river had melted.  We should have taken a photo of how different the river looked after only a few days - with and without ice.  

The next morning we drove back to Maryland after eating breakfast.  There was luckily no line at the border for passport control.  

The day before Spring Break ended, we celebrated Karina's 14th birthday a day early, since her birthday was on a school day and she would have piano lessons that day too.  She requested a German chocolate cake - the frosting was a huge highlight.  It is hard for me to believe she is getting so old.

The kids also requested an Easter egg hunt.  Instead of candy, I made a system of how much money each egg was worth.  The biggest fancy eggs were worth $0.35, the regular fancy eggs were worth $0.25, a single golden egg was worth $1, and the normal eggs were worth $0.10.  The value system worked out well, because each kid ended up with about $10, which is what I was aiming for.  I got Karina and Derek to pause very briefly to pose by my Eastern Redbud tree that I planted a few years ago.  It is native to Maryland and beautiful in the spring. 

We found a frog/toad while hunting for eggs . 

And then Mimi and Mormor headed back to Miami.