Fifteen Years and a Waterfall
Dave & Char Andreasen of Akron, Ohio · Niagara Falls, May 21-23, 1999

We got married on Saturday, May 19, 1984, in Akron, with the reception at the VFW hall. All the money went to the reception, so the honeymoon was two nights at a motel by the Cleveland airport. You could feel the planes in the bed. We always said that someday we'd do it right and go to Niagara Falls like you're supposed to. Fifteen years and three kids later, we did.

Char: The motel wasn't so bad. It had a pool. It was closed, but it had one.

The kids, Kevin (14), Christine (9) and Seth (8), stayed with Char's mom, Evelyn, who says she'd do it again. She said it slowly.

About the Pictures

We left the camera on the kitchen counter. We found that out in Pennsylvania. So we bought two disposable cameras at a gift shop on the Canadian side, 27 pictures apiece, 54 pictures in all. Here is how they came out:

Char: The two of Dave asleep in the car came out fine. He won't let me put them up.

Friday: The Drive

We both took Friday off and left at eight in the morning. Up through Pennsylvania on 90, into New York, through Buffalo and over the Peace Bridge into Canada, about four hours with one stop for coffee and one stop for Char to call her mother. Char brought both our birth certificates in a freezer bag, which is the kind of thing she does, and which is why we got across the border. Our money went almost half again as far over there, which helped with the fudge.

Char: Two stops to call my mother. And I would like it noted that I brought the birth certificates and HE forgot the camera.

Friday Night: The Falls Lit Up

The falls at night, with the colored lights on them.

Every night they shine big colored lights on the falls, and the water and the mist turn red and blue and every color in between. We stood at the stone wall for an hour holding hands like a couple of teenagers. This is the only one of our ten night pictures that came out at all.

Char: The man in the middle walked in front of the camera right when Dave pushed the button. We don't know him. He looks nice.

Saturday Morning: The Falls Up Close

Right at the railing, about ten feet from where the water goes over.

This is the Horseshoe Falls from right at the railing. You can feel it in your feet. You can't hear yourself think. I stood there and thought about the people who went over in barrels and decided they were all nuts.

Char: Dave, this is the AMERICAN Falls. We walked across the Rainbow Bridge to the American side Saturday morning, remember? You showed the man your driver's license and told him you were "just visiting." The Horseshoe is the one way in the back making all the steam. That tall tower across the river on the right is where we ate dinner that night.

Saturday: The Boat

Soaked. Fifteen years, and still soaked.

They give everybody a thin blue poncho with a hood and put you on a boat, and the boat goes right up into the bottom of the Horseshoe, into the mist, until you can't see and can't hear and you're wet through anyway. It was the best ten minutes of the whole weekend. I held the camera out at arm's length and pushed the button. Eight tries gave us seven pictures of the inside of a poncho and this one.

Char: My hair took me forty minutes that morning. It lasted four minutes on that boat. I do hair for a living. I know exactly how long it lasted.

Saturday Afternoon: The Fudge, and the Wax Museum We Regret

There's a hill up from the falls that's all wax museums, haunted houses, fudge shops and places to get your picture taken in a barrel. We got a pound of maple walnut fudge and a pound of chocolate peanut butter for the kids. The kids got about half of it.

Then we paid good money to go through a wax museum, and I don't want to talk about it. Half of them looked like nobody in particular. Char kept whispering "Who's that supposed to be?" and we'd have to go find the little sign.

Char: One of them was supposed to be a president. I still don't know which one.

Saturday Night: Dinner at the Top

Fifteen years. The waiter took this one.

For the anniversary dinner we went up the tower in the yellow elevator that runs up the outside, which Char did with her eyes shut, to the restaurant at the top that turns around while you eat. The falls, the river, the lights of both cities, then the falls again. Char had the salmon. I had the steak. The waiter took our picture and asked how many years, and when we said fifteen he brought us a piece of cake with a candle in it. Best money we spent all weekend.

Char: He ordered the steak at our wedding too. Fifteen years and the man has not changed his order. That's not a complaint.

Sunday: The View, and Home

From our room, Sunday morning.

We paid extra for a room with a view of the falls, and I'll say this: I'd do it again. Sunday morning we had coffee by the window and watched the mist come up while the sun came out. Then we packed, bought the kids T-shirts and drove home. The kids wanted to know where the fudge went.

What Fifteen Years Has Taught Us

Next stop: the twenty-fifth. Char wants Hawaii. That gives us ten years to save up and remember the camera.

Friends and family who've stopped by since June:


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Last updated September 12, 1999