Ryan Trahan and his traveling companion Haley were standing at the rim of Niagara Falls when a full rainbow appeared so close they could trace both ends of it. For anyone wondering whether one of America’s most visited natural landmarks still earns its reputation, the answer turned out to be more complicated than a single wow moment. This is Day 3 of a working tour through the official top 10 tourist attractions in America, and the rankings are getting serious.
A 4 a.m. departure and a rental car to the falls
The morning started at 4:00 a.m., the earliest of the trip so far, with a flight from the previous stop into upstate New York followed by a roughly 40-minute drive to the town of Niagara Falls. After dropping bags at the Red Coach Inn and stopping at Dunkin’ Donuts (iced coffee for Haley, something less sweet for Ryan), the two hit a souvenir shop near the visitor center. Haley picked up a Niagara Falls beanie. Ryan went straight for the magnets.
At the falls themselves, the scale registered immediately. The site is technically three separate waterfalls, not one. It is also the oldest state park in the country at 140 years old and powers 4 million homes. Ryan admitted on arrival that he had assumed Niagara Falls was man-made, something like the Hoover Dam. Seeing it in person corrected that quickly: ‘It’s natural, and that makes it even more cool.’
The first real stop was the Cave of the Winds tour, where an elevator descends 175 feet into the gorge before a wooden deck system brings visitors within arm’s reach of the falling water. A presentation inside warned that visitors would ‘feel what 60,000 tons of water feels like.’ Haley’s response was immediate: ‘I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to feel that.’ They went anyway. The hurricane deck, the closest platform to the main curtain of water, was partially closed for early-season maintenance, so the full drenching experience was not available, but what they did encounter was enough. Ryan called it ‘a more immersive experience than the lookout point.’ Haley, who described overcoming claustrophobia and heights in the process, agreed it was genuinely worth it.
The town, the light show, and a very large hotel room
After the falls, the two drove back into the town of Niagara Falls, New York. Ryan’s assessment was direct: cute, but mostly hotels and fast food. There is a Papa John’s connected to a casino. The Red Coach Inn itself, which is over 100 years old, turned out to be a different story entirely. The booked room had a full living room, a kitchen with a full-sized fridge and oven, a large bedroom, and a view of the rapids with the falls visible in the distance. That night they walked down from the inn to watch the falls lit up by the nightly light show.
Back in the room, with Haley working on the trip scrapbook, it was time for the formal scoring. Each attraction is rated on experience, scenery, and magic on a scale of 1 to 10.
On experience, Ryan scored it a 3 and Haley scored it a 4. The falls themselves are gorgeous, Haley said, but the town is most of the experience, and there is only so much time you can realistically spend at the water. Ryan pointed to reviews warning that kids lose interest after 10 minutes and noted that unlike their previous two stops, Niagara Falls felt like a one-day destination, maybe even a half day.
On scenery, both independently landed on 7, making it the highest scenery rating of the trip so far. On magic, Ryan scored it 6 and Haley scored it 7; they settled on 7 together.
Niagara’s total score came to 17 out of 30, placing it third overall behind Washington, D.C. in second and Disney World in first.
The rainbow nobody planned for
Haley still brought it up during the ranking conversation, unprompted. The rainbow at the rim of the falls, appearing close enough to see where it started and where it ended, was her single favorite moment of the entire day. Ryan agreed it was the biggest rainbow either of them had ever seen, with birds flying underneath it.
The Red Coach Inn’s Niagara room sat quiet above the rapids, scrapbook open on the table, the falls still lit up somewhere beyond the window.
Niagara Falls earned its 17 points in a competition that still has seven more stops to go, and the rainbow was not part of any itinerary anyone wrote down.
