Niagara & NYC Trip 2025
Niagara & NYC 2025
Our 2nd Niagara trip and my grandpa’s first! An exciting and memorable journey for us all as we take a local flight to Baltimore Maryland. After tremendous planning we finally started to DFW Airport. Now this is where the adventure begins!
Up until the drive to the airport everything went fine, but when I had to do security check all by myself I was terrified. Just me for the first time. Me, my brother, and my grandparents finished the security check but us kids were too fast and boarded Skyline leaving them all alone. Frantically I called my parents. On the verge of tears I tried to calm down. The image of my grandma’s face as Skyline doors shut reappeared. That’s when I got the magical phone call from grandpa! The reason this is magical is because their phone doesn’t work outside of home. It made me realize how capable they were. Even though we only had 30 minutes till boarding, my confidence grew. We were off the Skyline by Gate E and then reunited. All of us except for my dad, we started walking to boarding. I thought we were late to board only to find out that the flight had been delayed by an hour. The long hour finally passed and we got on a bus to get to the plane. We all sat in our seats, me and mom together. Even after we boarded the flight started an hour later. Hours passed and then my mom got me hot chocolate only cause it was refillable. They called for the last 30 minutes of the flight. Soon after that we had landed. We went straight to the baggage carousel. In a quick second came out to catch a 12 minute bus to “Sixt” car rental. It was a green Subaru. I sat at the back, we were on our way to chipotle for dinner. It was 10 as we reached. After a delicious meal we went to get a blanket from Walmart. But we ended up getting tons of snacks as well. My dad drove to Niagara through the night as I slept peacefully.
The next morning we stopped at Denny’s to get breakfast. It was a killer! The food was amazing and surprisingly my dad let us buy whatever.
Next morning was the famous Maid of the Mist! Hoping to get a good spot on the boat we woke up early, ate early, and went there early. We quickly walked to get tickets. Only to see tons of people already lined up and ready. Since that happened we decided to ride it again before we left. Obviously that didn’t stop us from taking photos. I even got to showcase my photography skills. After seeing me take photos of grandma a family specifically asked ME to take their photo!
Soon after the ride we got tickets to ride on the scenic trolley. It toured the whole state park. We stopped at terrapin point and took pics right beside horseshoe falls. Rain started to pour. So we got on another trolley, back to the visitor center. After we got back, we had vegetable biriyani that my grandma made. Next was Niagara Power house, which closes at 5pm so we had to rush.
They gave us ID cards(the best part). Before we knew it an hour was gone. Time flies fast when you’re at a museum. I learned about Nikola Tesla’s contribution and how the water from the falls was used to generate electricity. We headed back to the car right at 5. Instead of going back home we went to a grocery store for snacks to see the lights at Niagara. After dropping grandma, bro, and grandpa, me and mom walked from the place we parked. We all took the trolley to get to the point. That was when again after a short break it started to rain. The rain didn’t seem like it was going to stop but we still waited in the Trolley stop until lights were visible. A boring wait it was, all we could do was hope the view was worth it. After a million years, the lights were slightly on and the rain subsided. We waited some more for it to become dark and more visible. We realized that the lights would have been better in Canada.
The next day I woke up early to go to Cave of the Winds. My dad dropped us off at the entrance. My mom booked tickets for 1:45 so we had to wait an hour to get in. To pass time me and my bro flew paper planes made from brochures. The path led us to a movie after taking pro photos. It was about Nikola Tesla’s contributions and how Niagara falls was used to generate electricity. I generally value Nikola Tesla as a great scientist but this movie made me think of him as god. A man whose thoughts were far fetched but looked down upon. He sacrificed his life for mankind to prosper, but those very humans treated him like garbage. Years later after his death the ideas people called lunatic have come true. He was far too advanced for his generation, no for all of human existence.
But this time I got to witness the real beauty of the falls. The closer we went the more water on our bodies. That’s when I saw the “Hurricane Zone” , the place that showers you with more water than you can ever imagine. The chills that went through my spine, as I ran up the staircase to get there at sonic speed. All of us except for my grandpa entered. I don’t get why we even took photos up there when we could see nothing through the mist.
I told you we were going on Maid of the mist once before and today happens to be that day. My hopes of getting a good spot was ever so high today, only tk get disappointed again. Today was worse, not back, not side, but in the middle! Minutes passed and my grandma spotted an open spot on the side. American and Bridal veil falls were so close to me I could touch it. Me and my grandma took tons of pictures. This time it was really a breathtaking view. My mom went straight to calls as we came out. After she was done we got pizza and started to go to NYC. We said our goodbyes to Niagara and left. On the way we stopped to eat. The NY Welcome Center was full of tables. So we sat and ate as my brother played piano. After eating we went to take pictures next to a sign that said “I love NY”. We then continued our journey to NYC.
On the way my brother booked our next airbnb. I fell asleep fast. By the time I woke up we reached. The house was small but had many items. I went straight to bed after unloading.
The next day we woke up early to see the Twin Tower memorial. We spotted many Indian names.
After about 30 minutes we walked to Battery park. It took us 30 minutes again to board a ferry to The Statue of Liberty. The view from the boat was amazing. We took many pics until it was our stop. We ate food and that took us more than an hour. We got lemonade after a long wait and headed to take pics up close. We locked our backpacks, and that's when we were told we can’t get pedestal access with general admission. So all the picture taking was done shorter than expected.
The line to the ferry almost stretched to the statue itself. We waited for at least 45 minutes. We got on the ferry and got off at Ellis island. To be honest this was better than the statue. As soon as we got in we went to see a movie. It started right at 3:30. This was the most boring eat thing ever but the last part was good. It talked about the people in Ellis Island.
To be honest this was better than the statue. As soon as we got in we went to the top floor to see a movie. They started right at 3:30. This was the boringest thing even but the best part was good. It talked about the people in Ellis Island after-life. After the 30 min movie there was a place right next where you can read about Ellis Island. I learned a lot about it in such a short time.
We then stopped at the cafe and got onion rings and drinks. It costs a lot for a small quantity. The line to the ferry here was way shorter than from Liberty. As we exited the ferry my dad came to pick us up. We had pizza on the way to M&M world in upper Manhattan. Pizza was a delicacy in NYC, so we had to get some here. The M & M world was actually pretty boring. It was a shop and everything there was so expensive. A single shirt was $30. So we got out of it earlier, and on the walk back to the car I saw ichiran Ramen. I love ramen so I begged my mom to get me some. My mom agreed but it was $22 per person. We had it to go. My dad then dropped us at Times Square.
This palace was extravagant, and that’s when my mom told me Mahesh Babu’s daughter was on the billboard. After tons of pics again I started eating my noodles out of pure hunger and so did my bro. It was so good. My mom went and bought Chipotle for the vest as dinner. Soon my dad picked us up. We went to the airbnb, watched TV then slept.
Next morning we had to move out. It was July 4th, Independence day. We went to central park to have breakfast. My bro fed squirrels and my mom fed birds. They both surprisingly love blueberries. Central park was mostly all statues. After breakfast we started walking to the fountain and on the way there was a street dance performance. They said it was a family show, but it was more adulty so we just started walking after 10 mins in. The fountain was a good photo spot.
Obviously, we took thousands. We walked to see the castle. My grandpa sat at a place since we couldn’t walk too long. Before we went to the castle we took pics with the Alice in Wonderland statue. Like my usual weird bro he climbed up a mushroom. There was also this Navy blue colored fountain pool next to it. The color was so pretty so we had to take a pic. Then we started to see the castle. It was a 11 mins walk but the place turned out to be average. There was a narrow staircase to the top of the tower castle. Up there you could see central park. There were 2 seats on the edge. We took photos on top. We reached where Thatha is, took a short break and dad picked us up. Thatha, bro, and avva all went to the empire state building.
Me and Mom roamed around NYC, I got matcha ice cream. We walked to the car and booked a Hotel for tonight. Today was the day of the 4th of July lights, and the best place to watch it is Liberty Park, NJ. So that’s where we were headed after bro came back from the building. Dad stopped at “India Street” in Newark since our stomach grumbled. There we went to a restaurant called Southern Spice. There was so much crowd so the earliest we would get out food was 45 mins. Although we had less time we waited. My bro and dad went to Samosa Paradise to get something to eat while we waited. The lights were to start at 9:25, so we have to start at 8:50. The time now was 8:40. The veg Biryani had come but the chicken didn’t. Since the serving took time and were not the genuine data suggested to leave. By the time we started it was 9, but the samosa was so worth it. Just that my stomach still grumbled. We rushed to see the lights but there was so much traffic. Time was ticking and as we saw people walking we decided to walk too. My dad stayed to drive. With the crowd we split up, me & mom, grandpa, bro & grandma. We had reached a point where we could view the lights clearly. My phone was with grandma, so we called. They had a good view of the lights too.
My dad was able to as well. We stayed in our spots until the fireworks were done. My bro found us and we walked together to the main road. We got in the car and my dad drove to the hotel. We were going to reach IZ, but couldn’t sleep so played and talked through the night. The hotel was small and didn’t have a microwave. We went straight to bed.
The next day was the last day of our trip. Our flight was at 7 PM, So we went to BAPS Akshardham in Robbinsville, NJ. We dressed up, packed and went to get breakfast downstairs. The french toast strips were awesome. After that we went to the temple at about 11:30. We reached the temple at 12:30. There was a huge statue of Swaminarayan AKA Nilkanth Varni.
He travelled all of India starting at the age of 11. We had to register to get in the Mandir. At the Welcome center we saw a movie of how this Mandir was built. First we went to the place where the real idols were. Next to the place that is known as an architectural Marvel. With so many statues, and engraved marble. Not a single spot was left open, except for our mouths. There was one statue that caught our eye the most, a statue of a mother and her child. The toering on her feet to the intricate clothing every inch was spectacular. I didn’t or couldn’t snap a pic but it’ll always have a space in my mind. We then exited and took more pics outside.
My dad got a statue of Swaminarayan in the shop. We then made our way to the car. Initially the place was to go to Bridgewater temple but we couldn’t since we would get late for the flight. I was so tired that I slept 20 mins in. So I don’t know much but, all I know is that we were really hungry. We didn’t want to get any later for the flight as our reach time was 6:15. As we reached my dad went to drop the rental car. The 5 of us checked in our luggage and waited in fate, only to find out the flight was delayed by 3 hrs. We could’ve had dinner if it was announced earlier. We had to eat McDonald’s and they already ran out of main dishes, so all we got were fries. We came back home to Landon’s warm welcome.
If I learned anything on this trip it would be time’s value. We used our time to the fullest making this trip ever so special. I would have never remembered this journey without this. This wouldn’t have been written if it weren’t for my dad. So I’m thankful for all that I have, and I will continue to cherish it all without wasting any time.
Comments
Post a Comment