Niagara Falls and….. Wine Tasting in Canada?

Niagara Falls KOA – Grand Island NY –

This was another one of those stops where we checked a few more firsts off the proverbial bucket list. For me, this was my first time visiting the state of New York, it was our first time visiting Niagara Falls, and unexpectedly, it was our first time wine tasting in Canada!  Also, it’s always a nice treat when we are able to see friends and family along this journey and it was great to have Kandace’s good friend AnnaMaria join us on this leg of the trip.

For our campsite, we decided to stay at the KOA on Grand Island. This KOA is huge with a front section close to the entrance with 4 rows of pull through RV sites, a few cabins, a small pool, general store, and fishing pond.  The section in the back is a bit more family friendly with RV sites, cabins, fishing pond, heated swimming pool, obstacle course playground, basketball court and a rec center.

Here are some of the takeaways for anyone considering staying at this KOA:

• Conveniently located near Niagara Falls – 12 to 15 minute drive.
• Sites are all nicely manicured and level.
• Most of the trees are small, so there isn’t much shade.
• It’s one of the most expensive KOA’s (location location)
• The fish in the catch and release pond love hot dogs 😉
• The bathrooms are not as nice as the other KOA’s we have stayed at and for the price we paid, we expected better.
• They charge $10 for visitors which seems a bit excessive.

We only scheduled a few days here, so we maximized every moment with the following activities:

Niagara Falls

• We made a few trips to visit the falls – once on the US side and twice on the Canada side.
• For the US side, we found free parking about a half mile up the road at the Niagara Gorge Discovery Center (The Discovery Center is no longer in operation, but the parking lot is free to use). From the parking lot, there is a walking path that took us straight to the observation point to see the falls. We explored the area, snapped some pics then went on the Maid of the Mist boat tour to see the falls up close and personal. The power and roar of the water was mind blowing and the mist hitting us as we got closer to the horseshoe section on the Canada side of the falls was quite refreshing. It was a fun one-of-a-kind experience that we will never forget.

• The other part of this journey that is important to me is capturing beautiful scenery with my iPhone camera and or my Nikon. I wanted to get a few long exposure shots of the falls and there was one composition in particular that I really wanted to get which meant driving across the bridge into Canada. When we got to border control, we learned that we needed to complete an entry form online or on an app called ArriveCAN which we didn’t do.  Fortunately, Canada is pretty lax about letting people into their country so we got a free pass but were informed that if we returned would need to complete the form on the web or the app and if we didn’t, we would be denied entry.
• Once we got to the Canada side, we parked in a lot near the Niagara Sky Wheel and learned that parking is very expensive ($35). Later we discovered that the further you park away from the water the cheaper the parking gets!  We really liked the Niagara Falls area along Victoria Ave. It was lively with lots of energy and many things going on.  We eventually made our way down to the walkway along the water near Niagara Parkway, and it was packed with people who were all getting in position to watch the fireworks show. Apparently, the fireworks show happens every night over the falls!  I wasn’t as interested in the fireworks, so we made our way down to the horseshoe section of the falls so I could get the night shots I hoping for (below).

• Niagara Falls was an amazing sight, and we were fortunate to be able to check it out from so many different angles including from the water. It was quite a magical and moving experience.

Canada!

• After we checked the Niagara Falls visit off the list, we decided to do some more exploring in Canada. We completed our forms on the ArriveCAN app and made it through border control without incident this time.
• Our first stop was to the Outlet Collection at Niagara in St. Catharines. So many stores and restaurants one could spend days going to see them all. With the US dollar being stronger than the Canadian dollar, it was nice to pick up a few things at the outlets at a “discount”.

• The truck was due for an oil change so I thought it would be a good idea to get it changed in Canada – big mistake there. Even though the US dollar is strong there, it certainly wasn’t cheaper.  Oil and gas are way more expensive, so I ended up paying more than I should have. Oh well ya live and ya learn.
• Our next adventure was checking out the wine region in Ontario. We stopped at a couple wineries and learned all about ice wine.  Canada has a surprisingly large wine region that consist mostly of white varietals, and they produce several sweet ice wines. The season for red wines is a relatively short one that starts in late spring with harvest in early fall, but the ice wine season goes much longer as the process involves the grapes freezing on the vine.  We were certainly spoiled when we lived near the Napa wine region which boasts some of the best tasting wine in the world however we were pleasantly surprised by how good the wines tasted in the ice wine region of Canada.  It’s definitely worth touring around and doing a tasting or two if you are in the area. We stopped at Henry of Pelham and Rockway Vineyards and enjoyed them both.

• On our way back to the US, we made one last stop to check out Niagara Falls from the Canada side during the day. It was so picturesque, and we were treated to a rainbow from the mist. It was quite the sight to see!

Airstream “family”

• One of the rewarding things about towing around a vintage Airstream is that we get to meet so many cool people at camp who also have an Airstream. It’s like an automatic conversation starter with the other Airstreamer’s at camp who are part of the unofficial “Airstream Family”
• We met two other fun couples at this KOA. One from Colorado towing a 28-foot Airstream International (picture below) that was all polished up and shiny like ours, and the others were from New York towing a 30-foot modern Airstream. We all took mini tours of each camper to check out how they are all set up inside. It’s especially interesting to see how other vintage Airstreams are situated inside as it gives us ideas and inspiration for how we can modify ours. During our conversation with them, we found out that they were both on their way to an Airstream event in Fryeburg Maine that will typically have a couple hundred Airstreams or so in attendance. Although the event ended the day after we got to Maine, it was great to learn that these events take place all throughout the country. With a little extra planning perhaps we attend one in the near future.

That wraps up our stay in Grand Island.  Please let us know if you have any questions on our trip. And if you have any tips on this area for our readers, please drop them in the comments section below.

Cheers,

Tiny Trailer Trips Crew.