<p>Go to Buffalo, NY - less than an hour from the falls. Anchor Bar and Grill is where Buffalo Chicken Wings were invented. They were great and you can buy t-shirts, sauce, etc.</p>
<p>Near the Falls (20 min?) on the Canadian side is a living, indoor Butterfly Museum. You’ll find it among all the tourist descriptions described everywhere. It’s adorable. (Why did I choose that word? Must be the memory of a butterfly landing on my 10 y.o. daughter’s nose, and how her eyes crossed looking at it for 5 minutes. They fly free and you walk among them.)</p>
<p>If you hit the odd rainy day, you can get a powerful view of the Falls on the Canadian side by taking an elevator down (costs about $7 per person) into a walkway of caves. They go behind the falls, and have windows to look out. It gives you an idea of how much water is moving there all the time.</p>
<p>If you like wine, and are in the area of Niagara-On-the-Lake, there are many vineyards to stop for wine tasting or buy the delicious/expensive Niagara Ice Wine.</p>
<p>Allow time to cross at the U.S./Canadian border. Sometimes it’s smooth, other times an hour of waiting. Just don’t cross a border with a schedule to meet on the other end. Bring a passport IF you want back in to the U.S.</p>
<p>On the American side of the Falls, my favorite place is Goat Island. It’s a simple one-hour trolley around the island in a NYState park, and you can disembark and look around all you like before the next trolley comes. </p>
<p>The Canadian side has the best long panoramic views of all the Falls, but sometimes on the American side you can get closer, physically to the water. Both are wonderful, just different perspectives. They do make you pay to park whenever you’re close to the Falls, so don’t move your car around much during a day. There’s also a 20 minwalking bridge across the border, which I’ve never tried but looks intriguing.</p>
<p>Some daytrips or along-the-way sidetrips:
Women’s history, the town of Seneca Falls, around 2 hours east of Buffalo, has interesting museums about the town where the American women’s movement began, as well as the Women’s Hall of Fame and a labor history museum. These modest attractions are good for a half-day total for the town. </p>
<p>Chatauqua, NY as a cozy and scenic stop, a detour off the highway. </p>
<p>Corning glass museum in the town of Corning, NY. </p>
<p>Buffalo: everything JHS and others said. GREAT ethnic food city, including the north suburbs of Amherst/Williamsville, yet not so pricey as major metropolitan areas. My favorite Buffalo attractions: Albright Knox Museum and Burchfield-Penney Gallery; Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin-Martin House, Buff Philharmonic Orchestra if they’re in season when you travel. The reviving neighborhood downtown to eat/shop/craft is “Allentown.” If you’re an architecture enthusiast, drive around the downtown circle of Buffalo government center to see buildings by Sullivan and Richardson. That (plus F.L.Wright) makes Buffalo the trifecta destination for architecture tourists. </p>
<p>There are downtown walking history tours on Buffalo architecture, a 2-hour walk tour of neighborhoods, and opportunities to see Underground Railroad sites now in the works.</p>
<p>We have gone several times to Niagara, so have seen all the things mentioned, but whoever said the town is tacky is correct. I would add Fort George, NOTL, if you like history.</p>
<p>Please don’t go so close to Toronto and not see it. It’s fabulous.</p>
<p>A nice state park that is about 60 miles away is Letchworth State Park. It has beautiful views of the Genesee Falls and the Letchworth Gorge. There is a lovely inn called the Glen Iris which has good food. Farther away is Watkins Glen which is pretty. Depending how far you wish to travel, there is always the wine country in the Finger Lakes area.</p>
<p>Thanks to ALL for the great input! The good news is we already have passports… 
Just started traveling this year (the nest is empty) and my husband is trying to get around to the things on my “bucket list” (if I come up missing, talk to him first 
…</p>
<p>We get to Buffalo on a Sunday, and will be drifters until Thursday and Friday when we have ringside “seats” at a hotel by the Falls. Niagara on the Lake sounds interesting since we’ll be looking for a place to stay, and I would love the butterfly park, while he would love the wildlife park. We both are phototography nuts so those sound like good options. We won’t be needing to check out colleges…our DS is very happy where he is, (although sometime in the future he wants to check out MIT for graduate school.) Toronto sounds and looks (from websites) like a very appealing city. DH got hotel reservations for the times there will be fireworks over NF so I hope this is a trip of a lifetime. With all these tips, I’m ready to go! I’d love to hear more if or maybe a mock itenerary…if someone has the time… Thanks again SO very much!!!</p>
<p>I was going blank on the architecture landmarks of Buffalo - well it’s been 30 years since I did the pilgrimage! In addition the old downtown fire headquarters are architecturally interesting example in Art Deco style! [The</a> Firehouses Of Buffalo Photo Gallery by Karl R. Josker at pbase.com](<a href=“The Firehouses Of Buffalo Photo Gallery by Karl R. Josker at pbase.com”>The Firehouses Of Buffalo Photo Gallery by Karl R. Josker at pbase.com)</p>
<p>Great advice given here…I’ll also give another shout out for doing Maid-in-the Mist.</p>
<p>Yes, touristy but awesome to see the falls close up. Our group really loved it. Also true about a semi-tacky nature of the town. That said, we still did the Niagra Falls museum which was really interesting, and a little bit funny. Then we drove up to Toronto, but did make sure to spend time at Niagra on the Lake. What a lovely town. We were especially lucky that it happened to be peak time for fall leaf colors. Spectacular views.</p>
<p>Toronto is a fantastic city and I’m so glad I had the chance to see it on this trip. I was there for business but went a weekend early so I could do all I described above. What a beautiful part of the country and I’m happy to have finally seen Niagra Falls.</p>
<p>You will love the trip. I’m sending along hopes you have good weather.</p>