Wow!

Hi, this is Christian. My mom asked me if I would like to guest-post on the blog after I wrote an essay for a contest at school.  The theme was "WOW!" so I wrote about the time we went to Niagara Falls when I was 8 years old.  This is just another example of all the great things Mom takes us to do! (Really, he said this, I promise! ~A.)  Here's my entry:

Amazing Niagara Falls

By Christian 

  A few years ago, my family and I went to an amazing place: Niagara Falls.  After driving seven hours from the town where we lived outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I was ready to get out of the car.  As we approached our destination, we crossed a bridge over the river, getting our first view of the falls.  It completely took my breath away.  The massive wall of white water dropping over the cliffs pounded into the river below, creating a huge cloud of mist at the base of the falls.  From where we were, we could see that one of the two waterfalls curved inward into a U-shaped cascade.   I later learned that it was formed from millions of years of erosion. It was fantastic!

  The next day, we got an even closer look at the falls. 

We took a ride on a boat called the Maid of the Mist, which has operated for over 150 years. 

The boat took us to the base of the falls where we looked straight up the sheer mountain of water all the way to the top, 188 feet above. While there, the noise of the falling water crashing into the river was deafening.  The cool mist was so thick that even though we wore blue raincoats, we were all drenched!

  Later, we were able to take a tour behind the falls.

After riding an elevator 150 feet down, we walked through a tunnel to an observation portal. From there we could look out from behind the waterfall and see the pouring water only a few feet away. We continued our journey through the tunnel out to an observation deck where we viewed the falls from near the base and were soaked once again.

  Even as amazing as everything had been, that night was the best part.  There was a light show that illuminated both waterfalls with every color of the rainbow.  

As I stood with my family watching the spectacle, the only thing I could think was WOW!

(My mom added the pictures.)