Yay!

The good news is that my camera is now working and I have learned a very valuable lesson....namely that batteries exposed to high temperatures lose their charge and can make cameras and other electronics spaz out! I realized that just like my camera, my cell phone suffered from the heat as well. Lesson learned!

We missed a turn to enter the power facility, so we went on down the road a bit and stopped at a park so the dogs could relieve themselves. The power plant was located about 2 miles back, and we discovered that the park not only overlooked the Niagara Gorge, but also the power plant! These pictures aren't the best, as it was gloomy and drizzly on Friday. (At this point, I feel compelled to make a note regarding GPS....it really is a wonderful aid in traveling. However, it has NO concept of overpasses.....this is not the first time we have been told to turn on non-existent roads in the Niagara frontier!!!!)

The thirteen "ribs" are actually huge conduits where water from above falls through, turning the turbines and generating electricity. As we came near this generating plant, there were acres and acres of high tension towers EVERYWHERE!

Stopping along the overlook, Ben, me, and Angus.

We circled back around, and this is the entrance to the facility.

It seems that the voice of "tolerance" calls out so loudly in the streets today, and yet public parks are being forced to remove nativity scenes at Christmas in the name of "separation of church and state". It was very refreshing to see that in the 60's, the Lewiston area churches and synagogues were able to freely display their tribute to the glory of God...a large monument with verses taken from the Psalms .....

As soon as we entered the building, there was a huge desk with some of the friendliest people to direct us and tell us a little about the facility. Everything is based on a self-tour, so the pace is entirely up to you.

Across from the desk is this amazing display! The monitors to the left and right of Ben are actually a camera aimed into the gorge. You can aim the camera in a 180 degree span, looking around the gorge, and into the waters of the mighty Niagara River below. Ben had a ball working the controls!

From the "greeting center", we moved up onto another level on an elevator, then crossed over the highway through a glass walkway....over to the visitor's center. This center is built on a HUGE cement "pad".

Below are several pictures of Mark and the kids checking out some of the many hands-on activities.

Michelle took this picture of Ben....every boy's dream of going up into a cherry picker!!!

And she also took this picture of a colorful mural of Father Hennipin seeing the Falls for the first time.

And this picture of the facility. See the HUGE cement pad the Visitor's Center is on?

We basically finished up our tour by watching a video about the building of the plant. We found out that another plant that was located somewhere else along this area actually
broke apart, galling into the gorge below, and causing a crisis. I think the year was 1959. This facility was then put on the drawing board. It took 10,000 workers and three years to complete. Everyone doubted it would ever be completed on time, but it was! Quite an engineering miracle considering the workers worked right through the winters when winters were REAL!

This was so much fun and I would highly recommend it to anyone as a field trip!