Buffalo, NY to Cleveland, OH

Today was one of the more frustrating days of my trip. Cliche as it is, I had planned to spend one day in Niagara Falls, mostly because it was a convenient pit stop between Vermont and Ohio. Of course I was aware that all three Falls - Horseshoe, American, Bridal Veil - face the Canadian side of River. So while I planned to stop at Niagara Falls State Park, my main goal was to take a helicopter flight to see the falls from the air.

I had planned to fly with National Helicopters because they offered the longest tour - 20 minutes. I realized only when I arrived at the border crossing that they are based in Canada. It really was not obvious from their web site. And of course I had decided to avoid crossing into Canada this trip. The woman at the toll booth was kind enough to help me turn around - it is not obvious. And then I started looking for a helicopter company on the American side. I found Rainbow Air and headed over to Niagara International Airport to see if I could fly with them. It was not a problem to get a ticket, but the clouds descended, obscuring the falls from the air, and canceling the morning flights.

I hung around for several hours, hoping the weather would clear sufficiently. Finally, they decided go out at 12:30. They had put me in the co-pilot’s seat, which I thought sounded ideal for visual access. Their advertisement stressed that they would fly low over the falls to get good views, and that the flight would circle the falls in both directions giving passengers on both sides a good view. Unfortunately that did not happen. While I did not time it, I doubt the flight was even the promised 12 minutes. We were quite high, and the pilot circled only once - in a direction that gave only the left side of the helicopters any view at all. I could barely glimpse the falls, never mind photograph them.

Of course I complained vociferously on landing and they could not refund my payment quickly enough. That misses the point, though. Of course I understand that the weather cannot be predicted, much less controlled. But if they were not going to be able to provide the advertised experience, they should have advised me of that prior to the flight. The whole experience resulted in a wasted morning.

I finally got in the car to head to Cleveland around 1:30 PM. As an aside, I realized that I also had to cross back through Pennsylvania to get to Ohio - I had forgotten that the Northern tip of PA also borders Lake Erie. In order to rescue the day, I decided to stop at Brandywine Falls in the Cuyahoga National Park before checking into my hotel in downtown Cleveland. In spite of many people enjoying the park on a hot Saturday afternoon, I was able to capture a few images of the falls. Although a few daring souls had found a way to get to both the top and bottom of the falls, they are mostly inaccessible, so a few moments of waiting provided an opportunity to photograph them without people.