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 Niagara Falls? What Falls? Sometimes the powers-that-be are set against us. During my travels I occasionally run into frustrating situations when it seems that an invisible hand prevents me from seeing or doing something. Without getting too spiritual, I think someone watches over each of us and sends us subtle messages, and it's up to us to interpret those messages. Over the years, I've learned to watch for these signals and respect them instead of butting my head against the wall and trying to do something that, apparently, I'm not supposed to do.
And apparently, I'm not supposed to see Niagara Falls.
I've been to Niagara Falls twice in the last three years – but I still haven't seen them. Back in 1998, I was driving east across Ontario and was planning to see the falls for the first time before continuing on to Don and Debbie's house in Syracuse. As I got off the freeway and started heading into town, though, my truck started lurching, oddly enough. I got back on the freeway, wanting to get to Syracuse as soon as possible. My truck had never done that before in the 200,000 miles I'd driven it, so I was puzzled. The lurching problem ended as quickly as it had begun and I never had the problem again. Of course, I didn't see the falls, either.
I thought about that incident during this visit to Niagara Falls, but this time I was going in the other direction, heading west. As I approached the city of Niagara Falls, New York, I was determined to see the falls and had my AAA maps spread out on the front seat beside me to help me navigate.
It looked very simple: just stay on the Parkway until I got close to the falls, find a parking spot, and then walk to the falls. However, the next 60 minutes were a nightmare. First, on the American side, I wasn't sure if I was on the right road because there weren't any directional signs for several miles. Then I came to a traffic light and suddenly saw 30 signs pointing in all different directions. Then I couldn't find a place to park. After that, I got caught on a 10-mile roadway with all the exits and turnarounds coned off due to road construction, all the while driving 50 miles an hour away from the falls.
Giving up on the American side, I decided to try the Canadian side. I turned around and found a bridge over to the Canadian side (yay!), but the bridge was only for those people with frequent-crossing cards (boo!) I finally found another bridge and crossed over into Canada, but then I spent the next 30 minutes driving around the congested city of Niagara Falls, Ontario unable to park anywhere. After literally an hour, I stopped butting my head and decided that I'm just not meant to see Niagara Falls. If someone has a picture of it, please send it to me.
Above left: Coming into Canada after giving up on the American side. Where are those darn falls? Above right: I finally gave up and continued across Canada. This is fueling up near London, Ontario.
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