Chapter 6- Thanatos and Niagra Falls

 Let's establish right off the bat that Niagra Falls is a beautiful place. It is the world's most voluminous waterfall, that an astounding 1/3 of the world's fresh water will pass over at some point. The memorable statistic that is often thrown around is 'a million bathtubs' of water per second. The quantities we are talking about here are ridiculous.

 It is no surprise that people are drawn to this place. They have been for thousands of years. It is awe-inspiring, and not many things can truly be described that way without irony or quotation marks.

 Niagra falls is actually 2 waterfalls. The American falls are quite a bit shorter as they fall onto a jumble of huge boulders and kick up enormous sprays of mist.

 The Canadian falls (or Horseshoe falls) are astoundingly large and curve pleasingly into an amphitheater of water.

 So yes, it makes sense that Niagra Falls is a big tourist destination. I mean, one would have to wonder about people if it weren't. The main thing the big attractions are peddling is a 'falls experience'. A way to get closer to, or experience more sincerely, the falls.

 This is the 'behind the falls experience', which takes you through tunnels constructed for uncertain reasons

 And there is of course the 'Maid of the Mist Experience' which involves this little boat. "As close to the falls as you can get"

 This is from the 'Rapids Walk Experience'. "The closest you can get to category 6 rapids!"

 There is a lot of talk about closeness

 And experience. I think the word 'experience' was used more than the word 'falls'.

 I also participated in Niagra's Fury "the ultimate multi-sensory experience" (hey, it was included with that other stuff, come on). I speculated that this was like a movie where they spray you with water. I was correct. The less said about this Experience the better.

 Despite the touristy kitsch, it really is a beautiful place.

 This is the Old Skow, a boat that got stuck here, just above the falls, ages ago and is now just waiting to rust enough to fall apart and go over. My Lonely Planet travel guide describes it as a (perhaps) "symbol of western imperialism". Incidentally, this is why Lonely Planet guides are always preferable.

 -! What's that?! I've spotted an animal.

 The return of loaf-animal, so named because of its size, shape, and color. I have encountered him once before in California. Subsequent research has revealed that he is a groundhog (aka. woodchuck aka. whistlepig), but he will always be loaf-animal to me.

 So, like I was saying, it IS beautiful.

 So then why do people have to destroy it?

 This is something I've noticed happening in a lot of places with an outsized amount of natural beauty. People seem compelled to come and fill it with garbage.

 Almost as if they needed to counterbalance out the goodness.

 I saw a lot of this in florida and I developed the idea that maybe it was in people's natural death-drive, The Thanatos, as it was called by the notoriously-wrong Sigmund Freud. Something is beautiful, so it must be destroyed.

Or perhaps it is as simple as an inferiority complex. Nature won't show me up, I'll create a spectacle even greater. One sometimes gets an idea of one's own insignificance at such places. What an unpleasant feeling, let's exert our might as human beings to tame it. The same impulse that causes people to 'challenge' the falls by surviving going over them in a barrel. As if the falls care.

 Or maybe people just want to make money. A lot of people come to the falls > people like to spend money on this stuff > I will build this stuff so that I can make money.

 However, I'm having trouble with the assumption that people truly like this stuff. Does a drug addict like drugs? I guess in a way. But this is more than that, I think there is a need being filled here. Again, I think it boils down to the desire to feel good about oneself.

 And it's not just the money, because there are other ways to make money. See, for example, the earlier Experiences, which were legitimate (in my mind) efforts to profit off of the natural beauty of the place.

 No, I think there might be some really sick people out there who just want to Conquer. Ironically, this drive is also the one that generally puts people in positions of power where they are able to do so. 'Sup Mitt Romney. (it's an election year, come on, let me editorialize a little)

 I don't entirely blame them. It is pretty terrifying, to realize one's own tiny impact. Sometimes it's easier to just not think about these things. After a day of looking at (sorry, Experiencing) something as monumental as the falls, it's likely that people are exhausted, not necessarily physically, but existentially. This kind of thing brings you back to your humanity.

Anyway, it's almost certain that I'm overthinking things and exaggerating and all that, but being there is a really striking experience in contrast. Worth Experiencing for oneself, I would argue. So go to Niagra Falls. It's amazing and terrible.

 As sort of a palate cleanser after reading all that, here are a couple of pictures from the Daredevils Museum. It not only chronicles human beings' various attempts to Challenge or Experience the falls, but showcases some quantity of the devices used to do so. Highly recommended.

See you next time folks, when I visit someplace very different.