Niagara River (and a small waterfall)

In search of a natural wonder of the world, we left Toronto to stay for one night at Niagara Falls at officially 'the best hostel in North America' and it did not disapoint! On arrival we were bombared, interogated, u name it, by the owner Patrick as to why we were only staying one night at one of the world's greatest rivers 'you wouldnt go the Amazon for a night, would you!?' one of his better comments. He would however be proved to be right. On the first eveing we did the 'Maid of the Mist' tour out to the Falls which was incredible, to see the power of the Falls up close and personal is a must (the shirts off decision is optional however) we then met two guys from LA in the hostel, one of which is an up-and-coming musician 'Venice Maki' who played us some of his music and is awesome, coming to London in a few month so keep an ear out. After sneaking up the Hilton for a birds-eye view of the Falls (for freeeee) we met up and had some beers with them into the early hours in Niagara town which has unfortunalty been Americanised with some of the tackiest shops and arcades that even Blackpool would be proud of!

The next morning meant another monumental speach from Patrick about what to do and we followed his directions precisely and saw/did in 8 hours:

A 55km round mountain bike trip along the river up to where it mets Lake Ontario,
Bouldering up and down the shear gauge to see the river up close, including the only class 6 rapids in the world and an emormous whirlpool,
Wine tasting in a Niagara vineyard to pretend we were cultured (interjection from Steve: The best wine I have ever or am likely ever to taste)

It was FANTASTIC! The local advice was amazing and we got so much more out of the Falls area than just a waterfall photo.

Completely whacked, we headed for Chicargo on yet another Night Hound, and back to the US of A.....