Dear Grandkids,
Nona and I just got back from a 40th anniversary getaway. Our anniversary was back on August 1 but because Judah was expected to be born around that time we put off our trip until last week. Glad we did. The cooler weather was awesome.
One of the places we visited was a bucket list item for Nona – Niagara Falls. I had gone there with Bett and Gus about 50 years ago but had almost no memory of it other than being there. (Perhaps you have already seen this post from last year.) It really is worth a visit just because the waterfalls are so spectacular. There are in fact 3 waterfalls – The American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, and Horseshoe Falls – which can all be seen in the picture below on the left. The American Falls is on the left, Bridal Veil is just to the right of the American separated by Luna Island, and Horseshoe is on the right.
A couple of things that I was amazed by:
1) Just how close you can actually get to the top of the waterfalls…
2) Just how cool it is to be on a boat at the bottom of the falls…
3) How much water flows over the falls day after day after day.
Having seen the Falls up close and in person made me wonder why someone might say to themselves, ” I wonder what it would be like to go over the Falls in a pickle barrel?” That is exactly what Annie Edison Taylor did in 1901. She was 63 years old, a civil war widow, a retired school teacher who needed money. And she surmised that a plunge over the Falls was a good way to make some. She survived the stunt – perhaps because she took her cat with her who had some extra lives to share – but the scheme did not produce the cash flow she hoped for. 16 people have gone over the Falls in the name of adventure and the hope of fame and fortune. 11 have survived.
I like a good adventure as much as anyone – but…
I hope you get to visit the Falls one day. As Nona said, “Niagara Falls did not disappoint.”
To reiterate the Scripture I posted from Psalm 42 in the aforementioned Pop Pop epistle…
Deep calls to deep
at the roar of your waterfalls;
all your breakers and your waves
have gone over me.
By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
Never forget that you are very loved,
Pop Pop