Surprise! It's Niagara Falls!
Our quickly planned surprise trip to Niagara Falls.
When we sat the kids down for an early Friday afternoon talk, they knew something was different. For starters, both my wife Lauren and I were in the kitchen to talk with them, so it was already rare that we were both free from work at that time. We had just gotten a new car the weekend before (a somewhat unexpected purchase after we found out our old car was on the verge of having some engine issues), and I was pulling out our rooftop luggage carrier to “test” it on the roof of our new car. We asked the kids if they would help with the “test” by packing a suitcase for each of them.
“Do we have to actually pack it?”
“Yes, I want to make sure it all works with real weight,” is the answer I made up. “Mom will tell you what to pack.”
By this point, we could sense suspicion growing, and so Lauren told them to pack their suitcases with a pretty specific list of items. We told them we were going to test the luggage carrier by taking it (and us) on a little journey. Like, right now.
“WHERE ARE WE GOING?!”
“Just pack. You’ll figure it out.”
The drive north on I-79 was hysterical. All 4 kids in the back looking at Google Maps trying to figure out what was north of our home in Pittsburgh. By the time we were in the car about and hour and a half, they just knew they had it figured out. “Erie. We are going to Erie…..what is there to do in Erie?” More frantic internet searching…..
We stopped for dinner at a Chik-Fil-A near Erie, mainly to add some misdirection by actually getting off the highway at an Erie exit. We ate and they couldn’t contain themselves. “Where are we staying?” “What are we going to do?” Finally, we pointed out that if we were staying in Erie, why would we have gotten off the highway and gone right to Chik-Fil-A instead of the hotel? Silence……..
“Ok, let’s get back in the car. We have a ways to go yet.” “WHAT?!”
More Google Maps searching as we headed East on I-90. A little less than an hour after leaving Erie, we heard it from the back of the car. “Niagara Falls! We are going to Niagara Falls!”
The kids had never been to Niagara Falls, or Canada for that matter, and it had been many years since Lauren or I had been there (like maybe 20). The excitement reached a fever pitch as we pulled up to the border and were greeted with a “Bonjour.” Another few minutes of driving and we reached the Embassy Suites Niagara Falls. It was after 9pm by the time we got checked in and into our room, but thankfully we booked a Fallsview room overlooking the Horseshoe Falls.
The next morning were we up and had great breakfast at the hotel. When the 6 of us travel, it’s hard to find rooms that work sometimes, and we try to avoid the dreaded double room book when we can. The Embassy Suites Fallsview was great, the room was spacious and the breakfast was exactly what we needed. After fueling up, we were out to walk down to the Falls.
I had forgotten how loud the Falls actually are even when you aren’t quite near them yet. We approached from about a block away uphill and came onto the walkway downstream of the Horseshoe Falls. For late July it was crowded, but not overly so and we had plenty of opportunity to get up to the railing for viewing as we walked our way back upstream toward the Horseshoe Falls. We spent the morning just walking, taking pictures, drinking coffee, and enjoying a gorgeous day.
Just before lunch we decided to do the Journey Behind the Falls. We talked about doing the Maid of the Mist, but the group decided walking behind the Falls was close enough and we didn’t feel like waiting in line for the boat. The line for Journey Behind the Falls seemed long, but moved decently well and within 25-30 minutes we had taken the elevator down to walk through the tunnels behind the Falls. We almost had to yell to each other over the sound of the water. We checked out each alcove along the tunnels, some of which really do put you “behind” the Falls. While they have security gates so you can’t just walk out, you do get a bit wet from the spray. The power of the water coming down is hard to describe and we found ourselves just kind of standing there for a few minutes, not talking, just taking it in.
We grabbed some lunch right at Journey Behind the Falls at Table Rock House Restaurant, which was delicious and convenient because we were VERY hungry! With a bit of the afternoon ahead of us, we caught an Uber to Clifton Hill. Are the rides and games there very cheesy? Yes, and although one rollercoaster ranked as “questionable” on the structural integrity scale, we laughed so hard in the mirror maze that we did it twice!
💡FYI, if you ever find yourself on the Canadian side of the falls with your 13 year old daughter who wants to get her bellybutton pierced, note that in Canada you must be 14 years old for body piercings……
After regaining our senses and freshening up at the hotel, we walked down Fallsview Blvd to have dinner at The Keg. Growing up playing ice hockey, I had fond memories of The Keg from different cities in Canada and always remembered the food being very good. Unfortunately the Niagara Falls version did not live up to those memories. My steak was mostly fat, two of my kids and Lauren barley ate their salads and even my son only ate half his meal. So after trying the “nice” dinner route, we just needed to eat some comfort food. District 11 provided the perfect quick stop. They sell more than just ice cream, and we can personally vouch for their pizza, Mini Donuts and Mac N Cheese bites 😁.
We topped off the day with a hunt for a great fireworks spot, which proved to be more difficult than we thought. We tried a spot near the Embassy, but the views weren’t great and were blocked by a lot of trees. We thought about just going up to our room, but then realized that the fireworks were downstream so we wouldn’t really see them. We didn’t want to walk all the way down to the Falls by that point, so we found a lawn area next to the Embassy. My kids randomly chose a clearing in the trees right as the fireworks started.
As they say, we’d rather be lucky than good because the spot was almost perfect (if you didn’t mind seeing the fireworks through a clearing in the trees)! With that long of a day, there was no trouble sleeping that night. We were back home by early afternoon on Sunday.
💡If you want a condensed version of our Niagara Falls weekend (where we stayed, what we did and where we ate), download our Niagara Falls Itinerary on our Itineraries page for free!
This was one of my favorite trips. It wasn’t the most exotic place we’ve ever been and certainly wasn’t the longest trip or vacation, and it didn’t even require a ton of planning (Lauren and I only decided to do this on like the Wednesday before we left!). But it was one of those trips where everything was basically new to all of us, and it had the feeling of discovery (or rediscovery) for all of us. Surprise trips are not something we do regularly, or really at all, but this felt like the right kind of trip for that. Hopefully that was a memorable one for the kids. I know it was for Lauren and I.
