Seeing Niagara Falls was on my "bucket" list. We moved our boat to the Tonawanda docks along the canal and took buses to see the Niagara Falls. We knew we had to get the bus back (it requires a bus transfer at the Buffalo airport to get there and back). I purchased tour tickets so that we could see a lot in a short amount of time. It was a gorgeous day - sunny, windy, and our tour guide Cal was a fellow teacher - this was his summer job. He teaches 5th graders and therefore knew how to handle a group on a “field trip”! In our assigned rain gear and funky sandals we rode the Maid of the Mist right into the falls, marched up and down the stairs, and explored the giant whirlpool of Niagara Falls. The Niagara Falls photos of course do not do it justice - it is magnificent, powerful, and we were in awe of the power of the water. Once again, Wiley revisited his nightmare of going over the falls in our sailboat - and seeing it made me think about the crazy people who went over it in a barrel as well as one (idiot) who tried to traverse it in a jet ski. (Check out the photos!) It was a magical day and I can now take that off my bucket list.

We met some remarkable people on the trip - our first Bus driver Barbara White was an enthusiastic person who asked us, “ what is free for everyone ?” We were able to give her with the right answer, “ Love”. She was spirited and told us about her great uncle a famous blues artist who had moved to Chicago from Mississippi. She dropped us off at the airport and another lady kindly ran and got us the bus schedules so we could plan our trip back. However, being incapable of reading a bus schedule and without a watch we missed the last bus back to Tonawanda from the airport- which was now closed (they only have eight flights a day). The bus driver we had on the ride from the falls back to the airport personally walked us into the deserted airport terminal building to locate a number for the taxi (the airport was empty - a ghost town of an airport). We called a cab,and soon a Lincoln Towncar pulled up and a young man whose family have immigrated to the United States from Pakistan gave us a ride back to Tonawanda. Along the way he shared that he and his brothers were all in the U.S. Air Force and were living the American Dream. He wanted us to know that Muslims are good people and that they were not responsible for the 9-11 acts. We were inspired by his families new patriotism and eagerness to overcome prejudice and the negative opinions many have of Muslims.