17. Niagara Falls

Jackie and Jon tell you to be safe when concerning Niagara Falls and when exploring Niagara Falls.  They will talk about barrels, power plant logistics, stopping the unstoppable and which side of the falls is cooler. (Here is a hint: It’s the Canadian side)

Jackie Reilly: Host
Jon Schaller: Host
Charles: Producer

Instagram: @cozynookexplorers
Email: cozynookexplorers@gmail.com

Community Shoutout:
Niagara Falls Botanical Garden and Butterfly Conservancy

Mentioned in this episode:
Oh Canada Eh? Dinner Show
Nik Wallenda Tightrope Walk Across Niagara Falls

** 1 Disneyland = 500 acres ** 

Transcript

INTRO

JACKIE: I’m Jackie 

JON: And I’m Jon 

JACKIE: And we are the cozy nook explorers!

JON: Welcome to our show where we explore the world from our cozy nook here in Southern CALIFORNIA using the power of the internet!

Jackie: Yes and it’s Wednesday which means it’s time for another exploration! And this week we are going to Niagara falls! Our listener Mel suggested this episode.

Jon: Mel is partial to the Canadian side of the falls.

Jackie: I have to say, when I visited Niagara Falls I really enjoyed the Canadian side myself. Though, I’m gutted I didn’t have the chance to see Oh Canada Eh? - which is the longest running dinner musical - while I was visiting.  I’ll have to catch it next time.

Jon: I have not been to Niagara Falls but I’d like to see that too. But, before we can go any further into our exploration this week what’s keeping you cozy Jackie?

WHAT’S KEEPING YOU COZY

Jackie: Drinking Lots of Water. 

Jon: Because this is an episode about waterfalls.

Jackie: No. I’ve just been drinking lots of water.

Jon: Oh

Jackie: We’ve had a heat wave here in California and I’ve been making sure to drink lots of water. It’s been very refreshing! Today’s temperature is 108 and feels like 111!

• Do you track how much water you drink?
• Do you add anything to your water like lemons?

Jon: Pep Talks

• Have you ever been part of a Friday Night Lights kind of pep talk?!  
  • Yes when I played football
• What puts the pep into a pep talk?  Enthusiastic reassurance

Let’s Get Into It

Jackie:  I want to start off by saying that Niagara Falls is wonderful, but it is very dangerous and you should not mess with it.

Jon:  Oh yes very dangerous.  

Jackie:  You should in no way go over the falls under any circumstances.

Jon:  Agreed it is a bad idea to go over the falls. It’s also illegal. 

Jackie:  I cannot stress that enough. Don’t go over the falls.

Jon:  Find a more cozy way of enjoying the falls.

Jackie:  You could look at them 

Jon:  You could listen to them 

Jackie:  You could get aggressively splashed by them by hanging out in a poncho on a boat positioned a safe distance away.

Jon:  But don’t mess with the falls

Jackie:  Don’t go over the falls.

Jon:  And I would like to begin with a story of someone who went over the falls in a barrel.

Jackie:  What are you doing!?!?  We just spent all this time warning people about these gorgeous and very dangerous falls and you want to now talk about someone who endangered themselves in order to say that they went over a waterfall.

Jon: I know but I think it is a cool story

Jackie:  It is also a bad example. 

Jon:  It is a terrible example and a cool story

Jackie:  It is a bad idea to go over Niagara Falls.  I have read this story and it is incredible but you have to have some serious disclaimers.

Jon:  What about if I read a warning about going over the falls from the perspective of the first person to go over the falls and live.

Jackie:  Ok. What is the warning?

Jon:  They said quote ““If it was with my dying breath, I would caution anyone against attempting the feat.  I would walk up to the mouth of a cannon, know it was going to blow me to pieces than make another trip over the fall.”

Jackie:  That is a pretty good disclaimer.  Ok you can tell them the story.

Jon:  Imagine all of you who are listening.  Imagine if you were a young man who was just scraping by financially.  He is desperately trying to make his fortune in the world.  And he decides that if he can go over Niagara falls in a barrel he will be rich and famous.  He can stop teaching dance classes which is his current source of income and instead enjoy the good life as a gentleman of leisure.  He then decides to use an old pickle barrel and line it with a mattress.  Then decides to send a cat over the falls in the barrel.  Upon observing that the cat lived then goes over the falls himself in the same barrel reaching speeds of 68 miles per hour.  He then miraculously survives with his only injury being a gash on his head.  Can you picture him?  Can you see this brave, reckless individual who did this incredible stupid thing and lived.

Jackie:  This story is true except for two big details.  It was not a young man who made the journey.  It was a 64 year old woman named Annie Edson Taylor. 

Jon:  Is your mind sufficiently blown?

Jackie:  Mine was.  What she did was not smart and dangerous and it did not even make her rich like she thought it was going to.

Jon:  Yeah she had to work as a psychic in order to pay the bills and her manager stole her barrel that she used to go over the falls she hired people to recover the barrel.  They recovered it and the it was stolen again and she never got it back the second time.

Jackie:  So much for her psychic ability. I want to talk about the tightrope!

Jon: Which one?

Jackie: the most recent one. Ok, so there were a few tightrope walkers who crossed over the falls in the late 1800’s, but more recently in 2012 Nik Wallenda was the first person to cross the falls via tightrope in 116 years!

Jon: Wow- that’s a lot of years.

Jackie: Yes! He received special permission from both governments unlike the barrel people and the tightrope was 1,800 feet long. Since he was going from one country to another he needed to bring his passport with him on the highwire walk and present it when he arrived on the Canadian side. 

Jon: I mean, I get it, but also, this was extremely public- it’s not like he was sneaking into the country. It was on TV.

Jackie: Yes! AND something that was amazing to me is that he took interview questions while he was walking across! I’ll put a link in the show notes to coverage from ABC news. They were literally asking him questions about his journey while he was going across and he was answering so calmly. He made it look very easy, but it’s obviously not. It’s also a great video because it shows the end when he makes it across and it’s so inspiring to see everyone cheering. 

Jon: Spoiler alert.

Jackie: It was in 2012 and obviously he made it or else my tone would have been very different. 

Jon:  Welcome to Niagara Falls where water falls 188 feet

Jackie 57 meters

Jon:  Into the Niagara river that is 170 feet deep

Jackie:  52 meters

Jon:  Why are you mentioning the metric?

Jackie:  It is because the falls are American as well as Canadian and they use the metric system in Canada and pretty much everywhere else in the world.

Jon: The falls are right on the border and you can view them from both sides.

Jackie:  Just be sure to bring your passport so you can see it from both sides.  The American and Canadian Sides.  

Jon:  To all Americans I will say that the views from the Canadian side are better.  Also, there are actually three waterfalls the Horseshoe Falls, American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls.

Jackie:  Yes there are three water falls and in my opinion the views are better from the Canadian side. So, the most famous waterfall of the 3 is Horseshoe Falls which is mostly in Canada and American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls are in the United States. 

I have walked across Rainbow Bridge to the Canadian Side. It’s fun!  Although, it’s currently August of 2020 and we are still in the throws of the pandemic, so I’m pretty sure you still can’t enter Canada from the United States for leisurely travel right now. Until then, we can explore together from our nook!

Jon: Cool.  Can you see Rainbows from the Rainbow Bridge?

Jackie:  You can at night when they light up Horseshoe falls. 

Jon:  That is the thing I am most excited about is seeing Niagara Falls lit up at night with all of those vivid colors.  Kind of like the Empire State Building but much more dynamic.

Jackie:  Just the falls by themselves are amazing.

Jon:  Even virtually there is something awe inspiring about over a million bathtubs full of water falling off a cliff every single second.

Jackie:  That is a weird but accurate description.  

Jon:  Thank you.

Jackie:  So, Niagara falls was formed 12,500 years ago.

Jon:  That’s also a lot of years 

Jackie: Hehehe Yes It formed when Glacial ice receded and left the great lakes.

Jon:  And Lake Ontario empties in Lake Erie and it flows all the way to the Atlantic Ocean!

Jackie:  Niagara falls really needs to be seen in person and I look forward to taking a trip with you and Charles when the pandemic is over.

Jon: What was your favorite part of visiting Niagara falls?

Jackie: Walking over the Rainbow Bridge into Canada was great, but my favorite part was definitely Maid of the Mist!

Jon: The poncho boat ride?  

Jackie: Yes- that’s right! Why don’t we take a quick break and talk about that when we get back.

AD #1 

Inner voice:  Hi Jon

Jon:  Hi Inner voice

Inner voice:  Hey Jon you sound sad 

Jon:  Well inner voice I am sad right now 

Inner voice:  Could you use a pep talk 

Jon:  What kind of a pep talk?

Inner voice:  Like: Yay Jon!!!! You’re the best!!

Jon: Am I the best?  

Inner voice:  Noooooo but your pretty good

Jon:  You’re not making me feel better

Inner voice:  Ok sorry sorry sorry so here is the pep talk.  Sadness is only temporary and there are people in this world who will love and support you.  Also if you get really sad there are professionals who can help as well.  And it is ok to celebrate being pretty good.  (As a chant)You’re pretty Good!  You’re pretty Good!

Jon:  Thanks Inner Voice

Inner voice:  No Problem 

Jon:  Inner Voice?

Inner voice:  Yes

Jon:  Why do you sound like that?

Inner voice:  This is how you sound.

Jon:  Really.

Inner voice:  Yes

Jon:  I don’t think I sound-

Inner voice:  You do sound like this, you sound exactly like this.

Jon:  Ok

Inner voice (to the camera)  Pep talks. They are pretty good.

Let’s Get Into It #2

Jackie: Ok- so Maid of the Mist. They give you a poncho, but it doesn’t do anything. You still get super wet and they take you on a boat up to the falls! It’s so much fun and you can really feel and see how epic they are and it’s just a bunch of wind and mist and drenched tourists.  

Jon: I like how if you leave from the American side the boat is called the Maid of the Mist and you wear a blue poncho.  And if you leave from the Canadian side it is called the Horn blower and your are given a Red Poncho.  A question for you since you have ridden on the boat.

Jackie:  Yes

Jon:  Do you feel like you’re going to blow over?

Jackie: A little bit. I also saw a video of a woman who did another attraction where she was able to walk up close to the falls. That’s called Cave of the Winds. That looked really neat and she looked like she was about to blow away, but they give you special shoes so you don’t slip or fly!  I saw you can also zipline, but I think that’s near the falls and not OVER the falls.

Jon: Imagine ziplining THROUGH the falls... 

Jackie: That sounds stressful.  

Jon: That sounds deadly. 

Jackie: Death is stressful.

Jon: That is what happens when you go up against an unstoppable force.  How much force did you ask?

Jackie:  I didn’t ask 

Jon:   4.9 million kilowatts

Jackie: Is that a lot

Jon:  Yes it can power 3 million 400 thousand homes.  Thats a lot of homes!

Jackie: Wow how does it do that?

Jon:  It is pretty cool so there are these things called dynamos

Jackie: (Snoring sounds) 

Jon:  (while Jackie snores) The generator/dynamo is made up of stationary magnets (stator) which create a powerful magnetic field, and a rotating magnet (rotor) which distorts and cuts through the magnetic lines of flux of the stator. When the rotor cuts through lines of magnetic flux it makes electricity.

Jackie :(Snoring sounds)

Jon:  Oh you're mocking me aren’t you they are these Slumbering monster big whirling tops that help create an insane amount of power.

Jackie:  Monsters. That’s scary

Jon: Not literal monsters

Jackie:  What you should tell them the the water is only drawn to the power plants at night so everyone can view the beautiful falls during the day.

Jon:  Then it goes back to being an unstoppable force

Jackie:  You keep saying that but The falls have been stopped in 1969 the army Corp of Engineers stopped the falls twice to deal with the rocks at the bottom.  And they could do that again in the future if they wanted to.  Not unstoppable.

Jon:  That is true there is a lot of build up at the bottom.   But it looks unstoppable.

Jon: Anything else?

Jackie: Niagara falls State Park is about 400 acres which is 8/10 of a Disneyland and about 140 acres of that is underwater!  Anything else?

Jon:  It is also the oldest State Park in the United States. Anything else?

Jackie: Niagara Falls has partially frozen multiple times including as recently as 2019, but it has only fully frozen once on record in March of 1848 and this was due to an ice jam. Anything else?

Jon:  Oh I could talk about the battle of chippawa that happened in 1814 during the War of 1812.  It was the only time the United States invaded Canada

Jackie:  How did that go for the Americans

Jon:  Considering that Canada is still a thing…. Not Well.  The American side did not do well.

Jackie: Speaking of the America side, on the American side you can park your car and take the shuttle bus.

Jon: And with that I think it’s time to take a quick break before our community shoutout. 

WATER

Jackie: This podcast is brought to you by water. Do you know what I love about water? It’s just so versatile. You can drink it, cook with it, clean with it, shower with it. You can use it for recreation on a hot day by turning on the hose and spraying your friends with it.

Jon: I like water because it keeps me from dying.

Jackie: But you can also ride a jetski with it! Water’s the best. Water - it brings the fun!

Jon: And keeps you alive.

Community Shoutout/ Outro - Thank Mel

Jon: Every episode we like to research and highlight something special in the community that we are exploring. 

Jackie: Today’s community shoutout is the Niagara Falls Botanical Garden and Butterfly Conservancy.

Jon: The garden and conservancy are located on the Canadian side of the falls.

Jackie: The reason we wanted to highlight this is because it looks beautiful and is not something you would expect to do in the area!

Jon: According to their website The Niagara Parks Botanical Gardens were established in 1936. The gardens are 99 acres and include perennials, rhododendrons, azaleas, a formal parterre garden, herb and vegetable plantings, and their world-famous rose garden featuring over 2,400 roses.

Jackie: They are also home to the Niagara Parks School of Horticulture which is so neat because it sounds like the absolute best place to learn all about plants!!  And as you can imagine, the school has the most amazing landscaping! They have vines that run all over the building and so many pretty flowers out front! It’s so fancy! And there’s also the Butterfly Conservancy!

Jon: The conservancy is located at the botanical gardens and includes 45 different species of butterflies and over 2,000 butterflies in total. 

Jackie: Oh I love butterflies! This sounds wonderful! I’m definitely going to make sure to check this out the next time I make it to Niagara!

Jon: Me too.  I love them even though they look nothing like butter.   We will include their website in the show notes so you can check it out yourself. 

Jackie: Well, that’s the show. Thank you so much to our producer Charles.

Jon: Thank you Charles. And thank you so much to our listener Mel for suggesting this episode! We loved learning all about Niagara Falls!

Jackie: Yes, thank you Mel! It was a great idea! 

Jon: If you’ve been enjoying this podcast it would mean the world to us if you took the time to rate us and write a review.

Jackie: And follow us on instagram @cozynookexplorers! Or send us an email at cozynookexplorers@gmail.com! Or- both! We’d love to hear from you!

Jon: We will be back Wednesday with our next exploration.

Jackie: Yes, on Wednesdays we explore!

Jon: Stay cozy, and we’ll see you soon.