Land, water, air - all neat ways to break free!
The thermometer boiled above the 34C mark, and alarm bells started ringing - or so I thought. Turns out it was my wife phoning from home to say she had a cool idea on how to beat the big city heat.
"I've packed some shorts and your old sandals into an overnight bag. Get home as soon as you can," she said. Two hours later we are in the Devil's Hole - which is not as warm as it sounds - and the cool, raging waters of the Niagara River washed over us.
Fabulous! That's what she yelled into my ear when she wasn't screaming at the next wall of water rushing toward us.
There's only one way that you can challenge the mighty fury of the Niagara River as it rips through the steep gorge below The Falls - and be laughing at the same time. You gotta ride in a Whirlpool Jet Boat!
That's the surprise that my wife had in store for me on how to break free from Toronto's big heat. And there were more delightful surprises ahead because she had purchased two "break free" Niagara Escape Packages so we could visit some of Niagara's other famous venues - with great savings.
The Niagara River is deceptively calm, wide and kinda blue-green as it flows past the marina at Niagara-on-the-Lake where we boarded the 40-passenger jet boat. However, a few miles up stream, after we had passed beautiful mansions perched on top of the river's high banks, we were introduced to Niagara's angry white water.
We also passed the Coast Guard wire - a cable strung high across the river between Canada and the United States that advises most boaters - if you go further, it's against the law, plus you're a dang fool.
The young men driving the jet boats aren't fools, but they do have three turbo engines with 1,500 horsepower at their finger tips and they know their river. But even the super powerful jet boats won't tackle some of Niagara's rapids.
High walls of sheer rock start squeezing the river into a narrower channel and transform it into a roller coaster ride. We were on the river for an hour. We splashed our way up as far as the Whirlpool Rapids, sometimes screaming, but mostly laughing.
The Spanish Aero Car made its way across the whirlpool 125 feet above the river. Our Jet Boat driver gave the cable car riders an added show by performing 360 degree donuts in the one area of relatively calm water in the whirlpool basin. We edged up to one side of the Class Six (the most dangerous rating on the charts) rapids that enter the whirlpool basin. You get an up-close-and-personal view of these awesome rapids and that's one way to get a tight squeeze from your wife.
When leaving the whirlpool basin our Jet Boat passed through the narrowest area of the gorge, which generates high-standing waves of white water. To our ultimate delight in the heat, we ended up wearing much of it. Truly refreshing!
Our Niagara Escape Package included tickets to ride the Spanish Aero Car, which we did after changing into dry clothes back at the Jet Boat base. It's a beautiful 15-minute drive up the Niagara Parkway from Niagara-on-the-Lake to reach the cable car. British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, described the Niagara Parkway as "the prettiest Sunday afternoon drive in the world." He said that in 1943 when he visited Niagara Falls and rode the parkway after meeting President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minster Mackenzie King in Quebec City.
Churchill would likely say the same thing today about the paved bicycle and recreational trail that escorts the river from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. Being clever, he would likely bike the trail heading north to Lake Ontario; it's all downhill.
Up inside the Aero Car, we looked the Whirlpool Rapids right in the eye. From this vantage point you see the pattern of the water swirling in the whirlpool basin. It reminded me of a satellite photo of a hurricane forming in the Caribbean.
It's called the Spanish Aero Car as a salute to Spain's World Cup soccer team, I suggested to my wife. Too swift for that, she knew it was a salute to Spanish engineer Leonardo Torres Quevedo, who designed the car. It has been crossing the whirlpool since 1916, suspended on six thick cables.
My wife found another way to beat the heat in Niagara - get tiny, brilliantly-colored fans to blow air at your face. That's what happened when we visited the home of more than 2,000 tropical butterflies.
At Niagara's Butterfly Conservancy you can literally walk through a tropical rain forest and marvel at the magnificent colours of so many butterfly species. As
with most rain forests, there's a cooling waterfall, a pond and freshly cut oranges...but they're not for you. Butterflies love eating oranges, particularly the very large Owl butterflies. When they sit motionless on a tray sipping orange juice, their wings are folded up and a huge eye peers at you.
When you see the Owl butterfly fully displayed later in the gift shop, you realize how it got its name. With their wings spread in flight, they look amazingly like the face of an owl. That's got to be intimidating to potential predators.
The Butterfly Conservancy is on the grounds of the Niagara Botanical Gardens and the School of Horticulture. It's a beautiful park to stroll through at this time of year...or to ride through on a horse-drawn buggy.
While riding the Jet Boat, we roared past the huge Sir Adam Beck Generating Stations. They produce some of the cleanest electrical power ever tasted. You can tour the plant and learn how water rushing down hill - and there's plenty of that happening on the Niagara River - turns huge turbines that produce electricity.
There's not a smoke stack, a cooling tower or burning of carbon in sight. The importance of this plant to our everyday lives is conveyed by the rule that no purses, bags or backpacks are permitted on the tour.
I looked forward to tasting chocolates when we visited the Laura Secord Homestead in the village of Queenston on the river's edge. My wife grew up in Italy, so she was unaware of the vital role Laura played in keeping Canada as Canada during the War of 1812.
She knows Laura's story now because guides, dressed in Laura's 1812 garb, made her life and the perilous dangers of those days come alive. Now she wants to devour books about Niagara and Ontario's history. And she loves Laura Secord's chocolates, but she wondered how Laura ever had time to make them. Laura's home is pretty Spartan compared to the amenities in our high-rise condominium in downtown Toronto.
She joked that the only thing we could make in the simple kitchen presented here - is reservations. It's no wonder Laura would rather be out sneaking past American sentries and hiking 20 miles through the woods as one of Canada's most effective spies than being a housewife.
Up and down the beautiful Niagara Parkway, there are a variety of interesting attractions and the Niagara Break Free Escape Package provides access at reduced prices.
I am in the publishing business and was fascinated to learn one of the few remaining wooden presses in the world is found a short walk from Laura's house in Queenston. It's in the restored home of William Lyon Mackenzie, a firebrand newspaper editor that campaigned for many of the civil liberties we enjoy today. There's 500 years of printing technology displayed in the home, opened in 1938 by Prime Minister Mackenzie King, the great grandson of William Lyon Mackenzie.
When my wife smartly arranged for me to bring her to Niagara to beat the heat, she had no idea that we were heading into one of the most history-saturated areas of Canada.
I didn't take her into McFarland House, a centre point for many of the battles fought along the river during the War of 1812. It is partially closed for renovations to get ready for the big events in 2012 marking the 200th anniversary of that war.
But we'll be back. I love this river. One of the many places to buy the break away package is at the brink of The Falls themselves at the Table Rock Welcome Centre or as we did, on line at
www.niagarabreakfree.com.
Pat Brennan
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