When we heard of the opportunity to organize a big event in collaboration with Lehigh’s Graduate Life Office (GLO) and Grad Students Senates (GSS), we felt both overwhelmed and excited at the same time. Then, all the time spent planning and organizing was a fruitful and big learning experience. The memories stick with us even if the trip is over.

Day 1:

We gathered in front of the Alumni building at 7:00 AM. After checking-in everyone, we, 36 people, were ready to go at 7:15 AM. Amazing team, super efficient, everyone arrived on time.

After driving for ~2 hours, we took our first break at the Greenfield rest area. People gradually woke up and got some chats in the fresh air.

Lunchtime was at Letchworth State Park, filled with pizza smell – from Tony’s Pizzaria. Everyone enjoying their on-average 3-slice pizza for lunch before starting for a gruelling hike at Letchworth state park. Bears are more hungry after arriving late at 1 PM at the state park. We finished 9 large pizzas without any left.

Hiking at Letchworth, the group stopped at a middle point near the lower falls. Not everyone is in the photo because some of the participants were enjoying nature more mindfully.

We then moved on to finally arrive at Buffalo. After checking in the hotel and having dinner and refreshments nearby, we went to see the breathtaking Niagara falls night view which looks amazing in the neon light.

You can see Toronto’s skyline and the falls in the night which is very picturesque. As a fun fact, 75,000 gallons of water flow from the American side of the falls.

Day 2:

The second day started with the thunderstorm weather forecast, but we headed out of the hotel as scheduled – brave Lehigh grads! Before going to the maid of the mist boat tour, it started drizzling and then raining. Everyone took shelter under the car roof’s or a friends umbrella

The bonus of drizzling: the queue at Maid of Mist is much shorter, almost no lining up at the ticket check-in booth. Everyone’s so excited and ready to get into the boat and see the falls.

The horseshoe falls were magnificent and breathtakingly good. Seeing them up from so close got everyone so excited and happy.

 

After the boat tour, we took stairs that take you very close to the falls for a better view.

One group went to see the cave of the winds while others went to have lunch. It was really thrilling at the Hurricane Deck!

Look at their smiles and waving arms!

Guanyang, our chief photographer, took a nice group picture in front of the Niagara Falls State Park sign before we started heading back to Lehigh. We arrived at Lehigh at around 11 PM and dropped everyone at their places. Great trip together, we have so much colorful memories!

 

Writing: VamC, Shasha

Photographer: Guanyang Xue, and many others

Trip leaders: Jeremy, VamC, Shasha