A Geek Family's Adventures in The Power City

A breath-taking view of the American and Bridal falls from outside the Cave of the Winds.

There is an old truism that goes, "Wherever you go, there you are." While that might seem silly, self-referential and obvious, you can choose to view the comment in a more profound way to say that "Wherever you go, you bring yourself." And to that extent, I find that I bring a nerdy/geeky sensibility with me wherever I go--even on a family vacation. My recent visit to Niagara Falls was no exception.

Since this is a lifestyle blog, I feel I've got a decent amount of latitude to share travel stories. However, this isn't a proper travelogue and my comments aren't intended to provide a thorough overview of the things to do and see while in The Power City. Rather, these are just my musings about the cool things--some expected and some unexpected--that I encountered there.

Taken from a mural-covered alleyway off Third Street.

My daughter soaked in every perspective of the falls--sometimes giddily.

I'd been to Niagara Falls twice before, once as a kid on an occasion I only vaguely remember from an old sepia-colored novelty photo (in which my dad pretends to hang me over the side of the Skylon Tower on the Canadian side) and then again just a year ago on an anniversary trip with my spouse. My wife and I, throughout that more recent trip, found ourselves continuously cycling through the typical parental assessment process--judging various vistas and attractions against our children's likes and interests. Ultimately deciding she would enjoy it, we decided to bring our younger daughter back with us about a year later.

I'll confess that I was a bit apprehensive since, having gone to the trouble and expense of a 4-hour car ride and booking accommodations, I'd taken a bit of ownership over our destination. I was a travel agent with one customer--and therefore a potential success rate of either 0% or 100% with nothing really in between.

Last year, we'd stayed at The Red Coach Inn on Buffalo Avenue bordering the state park on the American side. It was a five-minute walk from the falls with stunning views of the American rapids. For our family vacation, we'd decided to economize a bit and we stayed a few blocks further up on Buffalo Avenue at the Double Tree. It also had a view of the river though not the rapids. Both hotels were quite nice while very different--the one quaint and steeped in history and the other sleek and modern.

Every meal we had at The Red Coach Inn across both trips was delicious and inexpensive. This is the beef on hummelweck roll with potato salad I had for lunch on Sunday.

Perhaps because it was the off season--as we'd planned our trip for after Labor Day, when the cost is somewhat reduced--we found that the lights along the river walk weren't lit on the last couple of blocks leading up to the Double Tree. As a result, we chose to take a city-side route back to the hotel both evenings. That made it a little less convenient than The Red Coach Inn had been--but not appreciably so. (Warm chocolate chip cookies in the lobby provided suitable consolation.)

In any case, a visit to the falls invariably involves a decent amount of walking. An inexpensive trolley service--for our group, a collective $8 expense per day--can deliver you to various points around the NY state park ranging from the observation deck to The Cave of The Winds and Luna Island to Terrapin Point and the Three Sisters Islands. But you still need to walk down to the actual points of interest in most instances. We also walked around the city itself, which had a bit of the feel of a beach town once you were a few blocks away from the park. It had all of the elements--a haunted house attraction, escape rooms, food trucks, a combination daredevil museum and convenience store, etc.

I'd been concerned that my daughter wouldn't react well to an itinerary that involved this much walking and nature and zero television, but I need not have worried. As soon as we arrived onsite, she had us rush to Prospect Point and the observation deck where she was suitably awed by the power of nature on display. I've included quite a few pictures from the trip here, but they can't convey the experience of watching the water tumble over the falls or listening to the uninterrupted roar that emanates as it does so. (To see additional pictures I couldn't fit within the blog itself, check out my Instagram feed here.)

A view of the American Falls from Prospect Point.

A view of the Horseshoe Falls from the deck of The Maid of The Mist

It was evening when we arrived, so we didn't venture out to Goat Island and a closer view of the wider Horseshoe Falls until the afternoon of the second day--though our morning was spent viewing it from within the gorge itself aboard The Maid of The Mist. My daughter's giggly reaction to the spray as we sat positioned in the churning cauldron at foot of the falls was an indicator of things to come. It was a cool day--in the 50s and low 60s--so we opted to put off going down into The Cave of The Winds until our last day, when we hoped it might be 5-10 degrees warmer. But as I mention above, we still visited Goat Island and ultimately Terrapin Point--both to view the falls from above and to eat at the Top of The Falls restaurant there for lunch. My wife and I had dined there the year before and had enjoyed their buffalo chicken mac and cheese--so we thought it warranted a second engagement.

After a brief return to the hotel mid-afternoon, we grabbed dinner at The Rainforest Cafe in town and then headed back to the park to make a grand trolley tour of the various views at dusk--stopping back at Prospect Point and the observation deck to wait for the 10PM fireworks display above the gorge.

The Hornblower seen approaching The Horseshoe Falls at dusk from a vantage on Terrapin Point.

The Horseshoe Falls at dusk, seen from the railing along the top of Terrapin Point.

Fireworks over the gorge as viewed from Prospect Point.

On the morning of our final day in Niagara, we headed directly over to The Cave of The Winds--figuring that we'd end up soaking wet and wanting to have sufficient time to dry out before going back to The Red Coach Inn for lunch. Not surprisingly, my daughter convinced my wife to walk up onto the Hurricane Deck with her so that they could feel a fraction of the ferocious deluge rushing past the wooden scaffolding outside of the cave. Needless to say, their clothes took the remainder of the day to fully dry--if, in fact, they ever did prior to our departure.

In the midst our efforts to take in the beautiful and inspiring scenery, I managed to indulge my nerd side. Among the other things that it may be, Niagara is in no small part a monument to one of history's great inventors. Not far from The Cave of The Winds, facing not only the American falls but also a skyline his discoveries helped to make possible, you can find a statue of Nikola Tesla on the bluff overlooking Luna Island. Tesla appears prominently in exhibits across the park commemorating the advent of hydroelectric power--and we even stumbled across his likeness in pop art in various places across town.

If Tesla's life wasn't fascinating enough because of his role in the development of alternating current electrical power transmission, speculation about his more obscure pursuits in wireless technologies and even a "death ray" have fueled a popular view of the figure that hovers on the edge of the fantastic. (While opinions on the movie The Prestige vary, I recommend it for David Bowie's typically offbeat portrayal of Tesla.)

Equally nerdy--or perhaps more appropriately geeky--we also found ourselves pointing out landmarks from the two-part episode of the sit-com The Office where fan-favorite characters Jim Halpert and Pam Beasley get married. If you happen to catch those episodes in syndication or on Netflix, pay particular attention to the facade of the hotel where the wedding party stays the night before the ceremony. That building is, in fact, The Red Coach Inn--though the interiors are dramatically different from those depicted in the TV episodes. (The real hotel's lobby and restaurant are much smaller and more rustic.)

On the whole, I believe everyone had a good time on our trip. We found fun and we made our own fun. Most of all, I'd like to think we had fun because we were together. Because that's the hallmark of a good family vacation--long or short, geeky or otherwise--spending time together. Wherever you go, there you are. Wherever you go, you bring yourself. And, if you're very lucky, you also bring people who like that about you.