Sepia Saturday challenges bloggers to share family history through old photographs.
This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt features a waterfall.
Who doesn’t love a waterfall? One can’t help being happy in the presence of one.
The sound. The motion. A waterfall is truly one of nature’s most wondrous
gifts.
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| Niagara Falls 1993 Bridal Veil Falls on the left and Horsehoe Falls on the right |
Niagara Falls that straddles the US and Canadian border has drawn honeymooners and tourists since 1800, at least. A family vacation in 1993 to Canada demanded a stop to see the place that has tempted so many people to risk going over in a barrel or across on a tightrope.
Maid of the Mist from the viewing deck
Everybody was issued blue raingear.
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| Barry, Jordan and Zoe in line to board |
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| Another tour boat |
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| from the Maid of the Mist |
A peek at the website shows Maid of the Mist is still in business and giving out their hallmark blue raingear. One big difference is that now the boats are electric catamaran-style, more eco-friendly than the single-hull boats that we remember.
Having experienced the magnificence of Niagara Falls,
Barry and I eagerly signed on to visit the Rhine Falls as part of our extension
to Zurich following our Rhine River cruise in 2019. The drive from the city to
this tourist attraction was lovely.
We thrilled at the view from the road leading into the
park.
I’m sorry, but after Niagara Falls, the Rhine Falls seem rather wimpy. Niagara Falls aren’t the tallest or even widest waterfalls in the world, but they made the list of 20 most spectacular. Rheinfall did not make the list.
They are not tall at all, nor particularly wide. Oh, they are still
pretty. Still fast. Still VERY loud. Mother Nature does her best.
The boat ride to get closer to the falls is a thrill ride. I do not do thrill rides.
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| Boat captain revs the engine and heads for the falls. |
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| Some people had more fun than I did. |
Standing on the viewing deck and clinging to the rail while the boat bounces over waves churned up by other boats are two different experiences. Where were the life jackets? Needless to say, I was grateful to get back on land to enjoy the waterfall from a distance.
Barry and moi 2019
Please visit Sepia Saturday for more photos and stories of waterfalls and other things starting
with “W.”
Wendy
© 2021, Wendy Mathias. All rights reserved.
I sailed on Maid of the Mist in 1994, Wendy. I love boats, but when we got close, the power of the falls scared the bejasus out of me too.
ReplyDeleteNice photos & fun memories. My husband & I lived near Niagara Falls for there years. Whenever people cam to visit & stay with us, we took them there. It was always a fun outing.
ReplyDeleteI've only visited Niagara Falls once or maybe twice. Quick visits just to look at it, and then on to visit relatives I think.
ReplyDeleteI did Maid of the Mist when I was a child, I'd love to do it again.
ReplyDeleteThe photo of Barry and the girls is so happy, with the sun shining on them. The photos I have of raingear-wearing family are so dark. They're from the sixties - maybe now there are more photo areas other than under the falls. Well - Rheinfall has been crossed off my hope-to-travel-to list. Your description of your boat ride there is so honest and funny - just love it. Obviously, the local tourism board hadn't hired you.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, few falls can match the majesty of Niagara Falls. Yet a couple of smaller ones from my travels -- in Forestport, N.Y. and Dolgeville, N.Y. -- remind me of the Rheinfall shown here. I mainly remember their sound, the rushing water forming a backdrop to my ancestors' daily lives.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen Niagara Falls in person and probably never will, but they certainly look amazing in pictures and videos! As for the Rhinefalls - well, they may not be tall, but I don't think I'd like to try rafting them! Some in our family have done some white water rafting on the wild rivers around us and had a great time, but I leave that kind of fun to them! Not my thing. :)
ReplyDeleteI've never been to Niagra Falls. In our neck of the woods the big attraction is Snoqualmie Falls which is 100 feet taller than Niagra Falls. It also played a role in the TV show Twin Peaks.
ReplyDeleteWe toured Niagara Falls when Clay got engaged. Blue raincoats for everyone! The Office episode features the Maid of Mist where Jim and Pam said their wedding vows!
ReplyDeleteThe girls look like babies!
The sound of the falls must be very loud judging from the photos, you must have had to shout to be heard over the noise
ReplyDeleteI went to Niagara Falls the year I worked in the USA in 1965-66 and it was a “must visit” place on my list, along with a sail on the Maid of the Mist” - I can see how any other so called “falls” pales into insignificance afterwards. I was going to feature some of my photographs, but I reckoned some American Blogger was bound to showcase them, so reverted to much tamer waters. I woould be concerned about safety, too on the Rhine trip. I once took a small boat trip out of Oban on the west coast of Scotland and I am sure the owner deliberately made sure we had a rough rocky journey as possible and we were not given life jackets either - not an experience I would want to repeat!
ReplyDeleteNiagara, and maybe the Rhine too, can freeze in the winter, turning into giant ice sculptures. At this moment is 22 degrees here in the North Carolina mountains, and if it sticks around we could get some frozen waterfalls too. I'd like to see one, but that would require hiking in the cold. Maybe someone else will take a photo for me.
ReplyDeleteI don't do thrill rides either and would have been very unhappy on that boat. Enjoyed your photos and thoughts on places I have never been.
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