JUMPING RIGHT INTO IT

Drove off at dawn yesterday for a much-anticipated rendezvous with our friend in New Jersey. Traffic very light because it's a holiday in Canada, the weather cooperating with sunny and warm. Blossoms and plowed fields everywhere and the drive uneventful til we stopped at Niagara Falls for a lunch break. Streets crowded with families and group tours being gobsmacked by the sight of so much water. Might be the most accessible big waterfall in the world. We walked among the sideshows and fast food buffets.

Then there was a commotion at the rail. A guy had jumped over, falling 150 feet, but not into the water which would have been certain death. Instead, he landed within 100 feet of the fallsview platform, still alive. Some people thought he should be rescued, others not so much. I thought the rescuers could just take the tourist elevator down, walk over to the guy, and bring him up quickly. Nope. 10 trucks, 20 firefighters and cops, and tons of equipment gathered up top. Two guys rappelled down the cliff face and THEN walked over to the guy with a backboard. An hour later, a medivac helicopter arrived from distant Toronto and airlifted him to hospital. Who paid for all this, and why the complications? (We read later that he was a 40-year old and will live.)

After that surreal show, we motored on through upper New York state and down into Pennsylvania for the night.Rain and fog in the Poconos. Or as they say around here, Poke-A-Nose ---- like the guy who face-planted at the Falls!