Road Trippin’ USA

The journey begins.

The van is ready. We bought a first round of food, got some sheets, blankets and towels from Nancy, the water tank is full and all the crash pads are stowed in the van.

First stop: Niagara Falls. The Canadian side.

I don't know why or what, but at some point in my life I must have done something that put me on Interpol's blacklist. Every time I cross a border with border control, I get the extended questioning. I have been searched by border police in several different countries, whether I crossed on foot, by train, by car, or by plane. So when we arrived at the Canadian border in a rather colorful van, we were a little nervous about what would happen. The officer was very friendly. He asked us some standard questions, filled out some paper, gave it to us, and told us to go to the office building where we would answer some more specific questions and then get our entry stamps. So we went to the building. We were met by 5 officers who told us to get out of the van and hand over our passports. One of them stayed with us in front of the car and talked about soccer, Munich and his upcoming vacation in Germany, while the other four pretty much dismantled the van. They were very courteous and thorough. The whole search took about 15 minutes. By then they had gone through every single bag and sock. They found nothing. And we were allowed to cross into Canada. 🤷

We arrived at the falls in the early evening, parked the van and walked up to the cliff. There were a lot of tourists, but wherever we stopped, we had a clear view of the falls. There is simply nothing in the way, which is both a blessing and a curse, because I could take lots of pictures, which led to me taking lots of pictures...

After sunset we cooked and ate. A fox came by and stayed with us for a while before leaving for the casino. "Ein Fuchs muss tun, was ein Fuchs tun muss."

The next morning we got up very early and watched the sunrise over Niagara Falls. It was definitely worth setting the alarm. Few people were there that early and the changing colors of the water and spray in the first rays of sunlight looked beautiful.

We had seen a lot so far and only spent $15 for parking, so we figured a few bucks for the Behind The Falls Tour would be fine. Not sure if it was worth the money, but feeling the power and hearing the roar of the falls in the tunnel was impressive.

All in all, it is a strange place. On the one hand you have these beautiful natural waterfalls and on the other hand you have casinos and a huge amusement park that stays open until midnight. You can zip line into the gorge, learn about power generation at the Niagara Falls Power Plant, drive a 1.5 mile go-kart track by moonlight, and then play action miniature golf at a dinosaur park. All in a single day. 😐Читать далее