Today we crossed the US/Canada border four times (2 crossings were unplanned as C left his phone at his nephew’s as we discovered just 15 miles down the road). We drove from Port Huron, MI to Bradford, PA adding about 2 hours to see Niagara Falls.

We arrived at Niagara Falls, Ontario at nearly 6 pm. The city was teeming with people, but we had no trouble getting a Niagara City Cruises boat trip to the falls. Since it was dusk, they only offered the “light mist” tour so we didn’t get drenched. That worked out well!

I had forgotten that the falls are so long that islands break Niagara Falls into 3 falls.

Here are the details for our quick and relatively inexpensive side trip to Niagara Falls: We spent about 1.5 hours out of the vehicle in Niagara Falls and spent $60 USD total without buying any tickets ahead of time. We parked at Bird Kingdom Parking Garage which had plenty of space, is easy to find, and a great location. It cost $8CAN (@$6US) for 2 hours. We walked south along the river enjoying excellent views of the falls. In less than half a mile we reached Niagara City Cruises and paid $32.75CAN each (@$54US for 2). Despite the holiday weekend, we had a short wait for tickets, short wait for the elevator and short wait to get on the boat. The ride is 20 minutes which is plenty of time to see all 3 of Niagara’s waterfalls up close. We were both glad we took the boat ride, and that we weren’t spending any more time than that in the city. We were back in the vehicle by 7:15. If you like to walk and don’t want to spend much, you can see all 3 falls well without the boat tour or any other tour.