Day 8--Truly Awesome!!

Day 8 proved truly awesome! We made our way over to Niagara Falls for our last grand hurrah on our 2010 road trip.

{Unfortunately, I could NOT find my charger, so I only got a few pics before the camera totally died. But not to worry, I bought a disposable camera. And if it survived the water, we should have a few more pics to add to our photo album to round out the trip.}

The morning had a bit of a rocky start as the hoards made their way to the attraction. We knew we were taking our chances going on a Saturday, but that was our only option. Once we finally figured out where to go and which tickets to purchase we headed for the fun.

First we headed to the observation tower to check out the American Falls.

Then we made our way to the Maid of the Mist tour boat that took us right to the bottom of the falls. How fun that was, if not a little scary for me as the mom. Nothing like taking your family right into the heart of a churning caldron of bubbling water at the bottom of a powerful waterfall to get your heart pumping.

We then got up close and personal with the American Falls after the boat ride and got a bit wet from the closeness of the falls. But that was just the teaser.

Thanks to a tip from some friends who just made the trip, we had been looking forward to the Cave of the Winds, where you get even closer to the waterfall. However, when we arrived, we found the line was 1-2 hours long. We debated about waiting that long, as exhaustion had set in from the week and we hadn't yet had lunch. But we finally decided we had come this far, what was a couple hours waiting in line? {One of the deals was no whining about hunger if we chose to wait in line.} The kids were awesome in line. They must have really wanted to see this. After about an hour, we finally made our way down the elevator to get up close and personal with the falls. And well worth the wait. They call the top deck the hurricane deck for a reason. It was CRAZY standing right IN the water fall. The power was amazing and we got SOAKED. We stood there waiting for Kris to take a picture. He took a minute to figure out our high tech camera and we were dying--laughing and screaming for him to take the picture so we could get out. Hope that one turns out! We all had a BLAST! I think it was one of the highlights of the whole trip. So glad we decided to get it in.

Editor's Note: I got the pictures back from our $10 camera and they came out OK. Check out the shots of us in line FOREVER and the one of me and the kids standing in the falls. What fun!

After that, we headed to our hotel in Cleveland, but not before stopping in Kirtland to see the church sites there. We knew we were not going to get there before they closed at 7:00 p.m. {actually pulling in around 7:32}, but it was fun to just walk around the sites and get a feel for that period in church history. We were able to drive past the Kirtland temple and that was great. Now we have visited most of the major church sites from the beginnings of Restoration--Palmyra, NY; Kirtland, OH; Independence, MO; Nauvoo, IL; Winter Quarters, NE. On the slate for next summer when we go home is This is the Place State Park in SLC, UT {which we haven't made it to yet} and the restoration of the home of my great-great grandparents in Franklin, ID where they are starting some restoration projects similar to Nauvoo in southern Idaho. Looking forward to that one!

TRIP TIP #12 Don't leave your camera battery charger in the hotel when planning a road trip. It makes it difficult to take more pictures with a dead camera. {Hope I can find a replacement charger or I might be emergency camera shopping!}

TRIP TIP #13 It's good to know you have members of the church with church buildings all over the world. They come in handy when you need a quick restroom. As we were in Kirtland, one of the kids couldn't make it to the hotel. Thank heavens for a chapel with a parking lot full of cars, which meant the building was unlocked. With a wedding reception going on in the gym, the said child went into the building, sporting stylin' Niagara Falls sandals {part of the Cave of the Winds experience} and a baseball hat to find the restroom. So glad we are worldwide!