Ontario, Canada

Niagara Falls

We made it to Canada!

Welcomed us with open arms.

I don’t know how many of you know, but John’s family is from Canada. John’s mom and dad were born in Canada and became naturalized US citizens. John has very fond memories of his time spent in Canada, playing with his cousins, and spending time with his grandparents. So, we’re back! We spent ten days here seeing family and visiting familiar places.

We hit the ground running. We set up the RV a few minutes down the road from Niagara Falls, and met up with John’s cousin Bob, and his lovely wife Sheila, for a boat ride on Lake Ontario and up the Niagara river. It was a beautiful day. They took us up river to the point where we could see and feel the current coming downriver from the falls. Although we were still several miles from the falls, the current was strong enough to quickly turn the boat around and begin pushing it downstream almost like a leaf on the water.

The Niagara river with, in the background, the Queenston/Lewiston bridge connecting the US, on the left, with Canada, on the right.

Niagara Falls

Next, we were off to see the falls themselves and take a tour of the Niagara Parks Power plant. The power plant was completed in 1905 and was shut down in 2006. Today, it has reopened its doors and allows guests to tour the plant to understand how it generated electricity for over 100 years. Guests also can descend 180 feet below the surface to walk the 2,200-foot, water discharge tunnels (which come out basically at the bottom of the falls). Yes, we took an elevator down nearly 200 feet to walk in tunnels that carried thousands of gallons of water every day for 100 years. It was honestly pretty cool! When the tunnels were being constructed, the men used shovels, dynamite and pickaxes. Can you imagine being lowered by rope, 180 feet below the surface, through a hole, with only a lantern; and then, using a shovel to dig a half-mile long, 30’ diameter tunnel? No thanks.

After visiting the falls, we did a scenic drive down the Niagara river, stopping to see points of interest along the way including the Niagara Whirlpool, the botanical gardens, the floral clock, and one of many of the local wineries.

Power plant, the turbines, discharge tunnel, below the falls, above the falls, the falls at night and Clifton hill

St. Catharines

A lot of our time in Canada was spent in St. Catharines, a city of 140,000 people on the south shore of Lake Ontario. This is where most of John’s family still lives.

One of the defining features of St. Catharines is the Welland Ship canal. This is a canal built between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie to open up shipping from the Atlantic Ocean to all of the great lakes. It was needed because Erie and Ontario are connected by the Niagara River and its iconic Niagara Falls! People found it a little difficult to navigate boats past the 200’ waterfall. Thus, the canal.

The canal is roughly 30 miles long. It features 8 locks which raise or lower boats over 325’ to overcome the elevation difference between the two lakes it connects. Each lock is about 80’ wide and nearly 800’ long and raises (or lowers) a ship by about 50’. About 3,000 ships per year transit the canal moving nearly 100 billion pounds of cargo into and out of the middle of the U.S. and Canada.

It is fascinating (at least for us land-locked Midwesterners) to watch a ship transit a lock. The largest ships are nearly as large as the lock itself, leaving them with mere feet, or even inches, between the ship and the walls of the lock. After years of watching people struggle to park their car in a parking spot at the local store, it is mind-blowing to see a ship captain perform the exact same feat with a boat that is over 700 feet long, nearly 80’ wide, and up to 116’ tall!

We borrowed some e-bikes from a cousin and did a bike ride along a trail that runs beside the canal. This allowed us to get an up-close look at the process as you will see from the photos below. It was amazing to see one of these ships from just a few feet away. The size is astounding!

Images shown: A model of the locks and the process of a ship coming in.

Family time: cousin’s from John’s mom’s side of the family.

We got to spend a good amount of time with John’s family - visiting with several cousins, and one uncle, over good food and cold beverages. We visited many of the places John spent time as a kid during his family’s annual trips to the area.

Niagara-on-the-lake

This is was John’s summer bathtub as a kiddo.

The other focal point for us in the area was the city of Niagara-on-the-lake.

The first European settlers to arrive in this area, in 1778, were British loyalists fleeing the American Colonies during the Revolutionary War. The town became the first capital of Upper Canada in 1792, but its proximity to the newly formed United States of America made it a risky proposition. So the capital was moved to York (modern day Toronto) in 1796. During the war of 1812, the town, once again, played a prominent role. Numerous skirmishes and battles occurred in the area with occupation shifting back and forth between the Americans and the British multiple times. Ultimately, the Americans burned the town to the ground as they deserted the area under intense British pressure. This act, combined with the burning of York, was the driving force behind the British burning of Washington DC and the White House the following year. Today, Niagara-on-the-lake is a charming, historical town that draws people from all over the world.

It was also where John’s grandparents had their summer cottage. So, his family spent a lot of time in the area including bathing in Lake Ontario. (Nope, that’s not a typo kids. See how lucky you had it! Back in our day… ;-)

Images: Old Courthouse, Old Angel Inn dates back to 1789 (still a Inn & Pub today), The Prince of Wales Hotel (original building constructed in 1864), Fort Mississauga