My Trip to Niagara

It's Only Water...

Here are a couple of pictures that I took on my trip to Niagara Falls with my parents and grandparents. In the background of most of the pictures, you can see the huge plume of mist that rises into the air from the collision of the water at the base of the falls. The falls are about 180 ft high, and erode at the rate of about 1 ft per decade (I think), now that we have diverted some of the water... The falls has actually eroded away the entire canyon - just like the grand canyon. The face of the falls stays perfectly vertical because the stone at the bottom of the falls is a soft, sedimentary rock whereas the stone right underneath the running water at the top of the falls is igneous granite. It wears away from the bottom until the top has no support and falls away.

This is the falls as seen from Niagara National Park, on the American side of the falls. The falls is fed from the water that flows NORTH from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario (Or is that from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie?). It splits as it nears the falls and goes around a small island called Goat Island. You can see the island on the left and the Canadian side of the falls in the background. It's really incredible - the amount of water that flows over the falls. You have to see it to believe it.
Here's me and my daddy. Yea, it was a bad hair day.
This is the view from a small plateau at the base of the American falls. There are huge boulders at the bottom of the falls. I'm not sure where they came from. Maybe they were put there to slow down the erosion. Maybe they were always there. Maybe aliens came down from space and left them there.
This is my mom. We are standing on Goat Island looking at the Canadian side of the falls. The air is heavy with mist, and the roar of the water fills your ears... In the background you can just see the Maid of the Mist. There are actually 3 or 4 of these boats that dock on both sides of the canyon and take you out to the base of the Canadian Falls. Of course, you're gonna get soaked, but they do provide you with a small blue raincoat. We didn't get to go because we didn't have enough time.

Well, that's about it. Maybe I'll scan in some more pictures when I have time.

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