Give a Cheer
Sunday, October 21, 2012 – We had a nice flight on a C-130 out of Tampa which took us directly to Air Force base in Niagara Falls.
For the record, I love riding on military aircraft but would prefer not to fly on another plane like this one. The bathroom facilities on the C-130 are awful – a pull down toilet seat and no wall other than the side wall of the plane, just a pull-around curtain for the other 3 sides. The seat is folded up against the wall for take off and is lowered when the plane reaches cruising altitude (and folded up again for landing.) Bill said that the bathroom facilities are like that because the plane was designed to take a load of paratroopers and they are just going to be jumping out – they don't care about a fancy bathroom – a seat, bucket and flimsy curtain is fine for them. At least it is not a quiet plane so no “bathroom noises”. Fortunately it was a very short flight so I never had to check out the bathroom but felt bad for the other retiree's wives who had no choice but to answer the call of nature.
The plane flew very low the entire trip. Bill wandered from one side door to the other looking out the little window at the ground below. He was able to see everything clearly the entire flight. The GPS on his iPhone worked at the low cruising altitude so he enjoyed watching out the window for the hour and a half we were in the air to identify where we were using his GPS.
After checking into the Air Force Inn we discovered an absolutely charming restaurant - the “Red Coach Inn” and had a fabulous late lunch! Here is what their brochure says, ”Built by the Schoelkopf family to resemble the Bell inn in Finedon, England, and named after the red carriage that brought General Marquis de Lafayette to Niagara Falls, the Red Coach Inn has been welcoming guests to Niagara Falls since 1923.
Overlooking the spectacular Upper Rapids, just 500 feet from the American Falls, the inn is Niagara's most distinctive historic structure, with its English Tudor exterior and warm English country ambience.”
I guess you can tell – I loved this restaurant! Next time I would love to stay in the bed and breakfast!
Niagara Falls was incredible! The highlight was the “Maid of the Mist” boat ride which cruised by the falls, close enough for us to get soaked in the mist. It was Breast Cancer Awareness Day so we were all given pink rain ponchos.
The American side of the falls was breathtaking but the Canadian is even more spectacular to me!
In addition to the magnificence of the falls, it was fall and the trees were in full fall color and had their own magnificence thing going on!
After taking the tour on the Canadian side called the “Journey behind the Falls” Bill went to the men's room in the visitor's center. When he came out he showed me an unusual picture he took in the men's room on his iPHone – it was a foot washing station. We were curious if there was a foot washing station in the ladies' room so I went in to investigate. Sure enough, there was! We asked several people why there was a foot washing station in the visitor's area restrooms and no one had any idea.
On the last night at Niagara Falls were still on the Canadian side. We waited until after dark to see the falls illuminated in different colors and then walked to the trendy little area of Clifton Hill. I definitely want to go back to Clifton Hill when we have more time!
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Thanks for spreading positivity!
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