After visiting Cave of the Winds, we hurried for the Maid of the Mist boat ride. There was a long queue for the ride.

After waiting about an hour in the queue, we reached the elevator which takes people down to the boat. The boat was very crowded. I wish if they didn't pack people like packing salmons to the boat. Anyway we could find a small space to stand still but it was not that comfortable.

The ride was really amazing. We could see the front view of American falls. The only way to see it, is this boat ride unless you are visiting from Canada side.

The boat passed the American fall and went under the Horseshoe fall. Basically it got lost in the mist maid by the fall. It was an amazing experience.

Though we got the tickets for the aquarium and etc (5 events altogether) we didn't have time for those. I think it is enough to buy tickets for Cave of the Winds and Maid of the Mist, if I am visiting again.

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As we spent the night in Cleveland, OH we had around 300 miles to cover yet. So after having breakfast from a McDonalds we started driving towards Niagara. It was bit rainy that day but the sky started to get brighten when we reach Niagara .

 First we found parking in Goat island. Then headed to a ticket counter thinking to visit Cave of the Winds. We got an option to buy one ticket for 5 items for a discount price. However it is good to buy this ticket only if you plan to visit all the 5 places. Otherwise it is a waste I guess.

After buying the tickets we visited Cave of the Winds. It is a wooden stair way which runs under the American Fall of Niagara.  We got yellow colored rain coats to wear. It was an amazing feeling to go under the water fall and be covered with the mist and droplets.

Whole American falls is not visible here. The stripe like fall here, is the Bridal veil falls. Cave of the Winds was a nice experience and I think anyone who is visiting Niagara should not miss this.

Then we had lunch form the Niagara fall's restaurant near Horseshoe falls and hurried to take the Maid of the Mist tour.
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We visited Niagara falls in early September, 2011. There are about 600 miles to Niagara, NY from Bloomington, IN. So we decided to spend a night on the way.

We left Bloomington around 10 a.m. This was our route via Ohio and Pennsylvania.


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We had planned to stay the night in Cleveland, OH. So there was no hurry. We stopped by the Beaver lake to have our home made lunch. The lake was nice and full of ducks and other birds. There was a beautiful bike route around the lake. However we couldn't see around the lake because only bikes and walkers could enter that route.  Hear are some pictures of the lake.

After having lunch, we headed to Cleveland to spend the night at Crown Plaza hotel.

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Bluespring caverns is an underground cave system formed by limestone. It is located somewhere near Bedford, Indiana. So it takes around 30 minutes from here, Bloomington IN.

There is a river which flows through the cave. They provide a boat tour on that underground river. The tour takes about an hour. Inside of the cave is really dark  so that you can't see an inch away from your eyes when the boat lights are off. I believe you should visit an underground cave to feel what real darkness is. I experienced the same when we visit Mammoth cave too.

Bluespring cave is not a large and interesting cave like Mammoth cave but it was nice to have a boat ride along an underground river. You can picture it like few people on a boat lightened by a lantern, crawling on a dark, mysterious underground river which flows toward centre of earth.

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Kings Island theme park is located in Mason, Ohio near Cincinnati. It is a 2 hr drive from where we live, Bloomington IN. We visited there in last July. General admission is normally $35 if you buy online. Otherwise it would be around $50. Kings Island is a great place to have fun. There are many thrilling rides and small rides as well. The rides I liked the most were WindSeeker and Backlot Stunt.

It was too hot since it was summer. Good thing we brought sunscreen. If you are visiting in summer I think the best option is to go for the rides in the morning and go to water park when it gets too hot. 

Water park of Kings Island (Boomrang bay) is a great place to enjoy too. You can spend hours of fun there. I really liked Tazmanian typhoon and Pipeline paradise from the water rides.

However there were certain facts I should mention about Kings Island. It is good if you can bring your own food and drinks because the price of food items and everything inside Kings Island is too much. Even the lockers cost too much. If you are planning to go for both roller coaster rides and water park then you will have to buy two lockers as the water park is located far away. Also a locker costs $15.

However we spent a great day at Kings Island and it was about 8.00 p.m when we leave the place.
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Space needle, which is considered as a major landmark, is located near Seattle Center House. The height of the needle is 184 m.

You can see a really nice view of the Seattle city and surrounding mountains from the observation deck. It was bit rainy and gloomy when we go there, but still it was a nice experience. The hardest thing was finding parking. Finally we managed to park on a roadside. Anyway it seems the needle has valet parking facility at a cost. General admission for space needle is $18.

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Dungeness Spit is a long sand spit, which is the longest natural sand spit in US. It is located in Olympic Peninsula, Washington.

There were really nice hiking trails around the spit. We followed a trail for about 30 minutes and came back as we were running out of time. It was a nice evening and was really cold there (in March). So we didn't hike the spit but spent some time in the shore seeing the sunset. However it was bit difficult to bare the fishy odor around the bay. 

It was late when we come back and we were hoping to visit Space Needle next morning.
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