Ni-a-g-ra Falls, Slowly I Turn, Step By Step...

There's an old bit from a Three Stooges routine where every time someone says "Niagara Falls" they get all weird and tell a story about beating up on some guy. The kids always thought this was super funny and have often fallen into this routine randomly just for fun. So when we decided to go to Niagara Falls and check it out on our way west, well lets just say we can't quite say the name of where we are without the inevitable next bit "Slowly I turn, step by step, inch by inch. And then I grabbed him and I tore his shirt, and I punched him and I threw him down on the ground." It's getting a bit old, although its still pretty funny when Hannah tries to say it.

So the thing about Niagara Falls is that it is just as epic as the Grand Canyon, except that at night the whole place lights up like Vegas and they turn the falls colors by shining lights on them, and suddenly I can't help thinking how incredibly disgusting and tacky humans are. This is one of the most amazing, miraculous natural wonders of the world, and what do we do? We shine colored lights on it.

OOOH, AAAH... yuck! Not far from the view of the falls that I see out the hotel window is a large casino with a light sculpture on the side of it mimicking the patterns of water falling, but in a sort of 1980s geometrical design using lights about 30 stories high. The whole scene is very seedy. I only hope that in the morning when the lights are turned off and the sun comes out and the natural colors of the river are once again visible that the natural power of the waterfalls blocks out the memory of this bizarre night time circus.