Last summer I was able to visit some family in St. Catharines, Ontario. While there we took the opportunity to see the beautiful Niagara Falls and explore what the area had to offer. Below is a list of what we managed to accomplish during our stay!

1. The Falls

The Falls were mind blowing to see in person. You stand about level with the falls so you are able to see first hand the height at which they fall at. And while you're there the atmosphere is just beautiful. There are tons of flowers and gardens around the landscape, with lots of additional things to do like boat rides, walks that lead into the falls, and you can even cross a bridge into Buffalo if you have your passport on you.

While at the falls we took a boat tour into the actual falls themselves. Considering your heading straight into a water fall they provide you with rain ponchos to prevent you from getting wet from all of the mist. While heading into the falls they fill in you with some brief history and explain which falls belong to Canada and which belong to America. In this photo we are heading towards The Horseshoe Falls which are a part of Canada.

Skylon is a tower which allows you to get the perfect birds eye view of the water and even into Buffalo. The elevator of the tower is on the outside of the building so you are able to see the view for the entire ride up. You can also  have a formal dinner in a rotating dining room on a higher level (for a price of course). Back on the ground you have access to watch a 3D/4D Falls movie and the gift shop.

Just up from the location of the falls they have the streets lined with all sorts of things to do. One of them is the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum which has models of all sorts of strange things like animals with two heads, rare items, and even famous athletes.

Like Ripley's they also have the Guinness world Records Museum. Here they show models of the world's tallest man, smallest person, and so much more. As cheesy as it is to walk through these museums they always seem to make me laugh and realize how strange some things can actually be.

Next we visited Louis Tussauds wax Museum. Here we had a great laugh because some of the figures had such little resemblance to the actual people but it was hilarious for taking photos in and goofing off with the figures. Although its no Madame Tussauds like in Vegas I recommend going just for the laugh.

Lastly on the little strip of things to do we went into the Upside Down House. I give a fair warning that I don't recommend doing this if you get nauseous easily. Essentially they've created this house so that it looks like you are walking on the ceiling, so everything looks to be upside down. Most of the people in there had to be holding onto something the entire time just so that they could walk properly. It was definitely a cool experience.

While still in Niagara Falls we visited an area called Niagara on The Lake. Its a little down town like shopping area with all sorts of candy shops, ice cream parlours, and gift shops along with several wine and dine restaurants. They also offer walking tours that take you around the area and tell you all about it's history.

Of course while in a new area we had to check out the nearest mall. It just so happened that while we were there a new outlet mall had opened up so we went and checked it out. It was beautiful and had several stores of various types. The layout of the mall was what interested me the most. It was both an indoor and outdoor mall so it allowed us to enjoy the gorgeous summer weather while being able to seek shade when needed. It almost felt as though you were shopping in California.

Lastly before ending my visit with my family we headed down to Lake Ontario in St. Catharines to watch the sunset and walk along the water. It was probably the most beautiful sunset that I've ever experienced. The way the sun hit the water and casted shadows along the boats and dock it just created such a breathtaking experience, and is still my laptop background a year later. It was the perfect way to end this leg of the trip before heading to Toronto.