Christine
This was an amazing trip I got to spend with my daughter and mother. I had always wanted to go to Niagara Falls but had never been.
When my daughter was down visiting my mother in Hilton Head, South Carolina, my mom kept sending me hints that she’d really like to go see Niagara Falls with us. My daughter had never been there and neither had I. My mom has only been to the New York side.
My daughter was supposed to come home to New York City as an unaccompanied minor after I took her to visit my parents for two weeks. Hey she gets some grandma time and I get some me time. After my daughter stopped speaking to my ex-husband, it’s been a little tricky going anywhere on my own, so those are my two weeks to do whatever I need to do. And it’s great because she doesn’t get to spend much time with my parents since they moved to Hilton Head, SC. I also noticed that when I was there, she would focus on me, so by me just going down and spending a few days and then letting her fly home direct on her own, means she gets to focus a little more on my parents while visiting.
Instead of Traveling Alone, We Made It A Girls’ Trip
So I took a look at the prices and since you have to pay $100 for unaccompanied minors to fly, I said to my mom, “tell you what. I’ll buy your ticket and you can fly up to Buffalo, NY with my daughter and we’ll spend a few days in Canada. She thought that was a great idea. Then she decided to rent a car and drive back to New York City with us and spend a few days in New York visiting friends.
Traveling to Niagara Falls
So it was perfect. I took Amtrak out of Penn Station for a whole $68 one way to Buffalo and caught an Uber up there and took it to the airport where we picked up the rental car. I would have just let my mom pick me up but we needed to put my name on the rental car so I could drive home. My mom and daughter flew from Savannah, Georgia for about $120 each and I was able to use my Chase Sapphire points and card to book them cheap flights.
It was my mom, me and my 14 year old daughter so it was the girls weekend! We headed out to town in Buffalo and stayed local the first night. To be honest, there’s not all that much to see in Buffalo, NY but we found a pretty cute restaurant and got some burgers.
The next morning we started out early because I realized I could squeeze in an interview with customs to complete my daughter’s Global Entry before we headed to Italy in a week. It’s pretty hard to book an interview at JFK so it was I think, a stroke of genius to book the interview at the Canadian border.
Interviewed at the Canadian Border for Global Entry
By the way, I had a letter to visit Canada from Morgan’s dad but it didn’t occur to me to get one for Global Entry because there was nothing on the website that said she needed permission from both parents. She had that for her passport so I figured it wouldn’t be needed for Global Entry, which is all about getting back IN to the country. But luckily they accepted the letter he had sent showing that he was allowing her to enter Canada. That would have been a real bummer if they didn’t accept it because we were flying to Italy a week later.
After that we headed over to the border and went through in the car. Ironically, they checked my daughter’s passport, asked us all a few questions and let us through. They never asked for the letter giving her permission to enter from her Dad. I always make sure to get them though. The one time you don’t bring it is when they are going to ask.
Visiting Niagara Falls in Canada
Once you go over the border to Canada it’s a whole other world. Niagara Falls on the Canadian side is built up with beautiful hotels and gardens and things to see like a small botanical gardens and others. The only big problem is parking. My mom has trouble walking so I dropped her and Morgan off in the middle of town and then drove all the way to the nearest public parking, which was about $25. But once I found the parking lot, it was pretty easy. I went over to the bus station and bought three passes for us to take the busses from that point on. I took that bus back to where my mom and daughter were and we walked to the nearest restaurant and had something to eat. We stopped at the Hard Rock Cafe and had lunch outside and did a little shopping.
I will tell you that it’s pretty hard for someone who has trouble walking to get around. My mom has a walker but she really should had had some sort of motorized wheelchair or one of those little carts that fit in the trunk of a car. I would have rented one of those if I had thought of it. I looked around and did not see a lot of people with any mobility issues and I think they could do a lot more in this area. It’s pretty packed and even when she was getting on the bus with her walker, it seemed a little out of the norm and people were confused about how to drop the platform to let her up. And some were a little annoyed including the driver. But we worked around it. I did a whole lot of walking and getting the car and picking up and driving and dropping off but there’s no way she could have gotten around on her own.
We headed over to the boatride and bought tickets. That’s what my mom was looking forward to the most. We bought tickets through Hornblower because they manage the cruises on the Canadian side. The woman who worked for the boats for some crazy reason recommended we take the Funicular instead of the elevator as she seemed to think it would be easier for my mom. If I could go back and tell that woman off I would have. My mom had to wait on a winding line and then down ramps in her walker and when we got to the bottom we watched people in wheelchairs roll right off the elevator. It was a little tough getting her back up to the elevator and I worked up a good sweat in the August sun pushing her in her walker that converts to this seat with wheels.
We made it to the boat. There are two sets of boats, one from the Canadian side and one from the New York side. The maid of the mist is the NY side. Be prepared as you are going to get wet. This for me, was the highlight of the trip. Here I was with my daughter showing her the sheer awesome power of something as simple as water. The pounding white mist was just incredible and like looking up at the night sky, it reminds you how small and fragile you are. The water looks so refreshing and you think to yourself how bad would it be to just take a dip. The truth is you would very quickly become a crisis if you popped in and only the seagulls get to luxuriate in the brisk blue and green water. They are the only ones who dare to wade in the water as they are the only ones who can pop up and fly themselves out of danger as they move closer to the edge.
I think if I were a seagull I would still worry if I was coming that close to the end. What if suddenly a wing didn’t work. Or I got dizzy, but I’m thinking like a human, or more specifically a human mom, and not a seagull.
The gorgeous Table Rock Center directly overlooking the falls, has great shopping, a yummy candy shop, an outside deck, and a beautiful high end dining room. We made reservations for dinner at The Table Rock Restaurant. We were not disappointed. For a fairly reasonable price you can have a prix fix dinner and watch the sun go down over an up close view of the falls. In the evening they light the falls up and you are treated to a wonderful display of colors and when it’s dark enough, each night the Canadians set off fireworks.
We stopped by the Botanical Gardens in Niagara Falls and it was a lovely break. We walked the grounds and saw little model houses built out of plant material and saw the most beautiful flowers. It was a nice break to walk the gardens and see many flowers that you might see at Lowe’s if you live in the Northeast but so much bigger and better looking than they ever looked in my backyard. Check out the Botanical Gardens in Niagara Falls for yourself. 
On our last day my daughter and I went on the zip line, by WildPlay, which was sneakily built into the side of the falls to get a good view without destroying it for everyone else. The line was way too long compared to the amount of time you rode down on the cable, but it’s well worth doing at least one. The best part I thought, was the crazy ride back up to the top in the open back of a jeep. That was by all means the best part of the ride.
I highly recommend taking the trip up to Niagara Falls. It’s a great way to connect with your kids and besides the beautiful falls there are a lot of side things to do for the day to keep you entertained. I’d say two or three days is a good amount of time to hang out in the Niagara Falls area. Also, there are some terrific malls about 15 minutes away. We did some serious back to school shopping there and bought really nice gear. Making a run up to Canada just for the shopping if you are from the states is well worth it in my opinion.
When we were there we notice everyone running around with these Adventure Passes around their necks. I found out later I should have gotten them as they give you two days of access to the WeGo hop on hop off buses that came in so handy (don’t plan on parking anywhere near where you actually want to go so you need the WeGo busses). You also get 67% off all the major stuff with a pass. If we ever go again I’m definitely getting us those Adventure Passes.
For information on Niagara Falls tours, check out this site. https://www.niagarafallstourism.com/
To buy tickets for the cruises, check out Hornblower for the Canadian side. https://www.niagaracruises.com/
