SAVERS INDEX: THE HONEYMOON CAPITAL OF THE WORLD

Niagara Falls had been on my list of places to visit for a few years now. I didn't know anything about it, i'd never researched it, and didn't even know that it existed on both the US and Canadian border until maybe 10 days ago. For whatever reason, I just knew that I needed to go there, and mentioned it about a dozen times this year alone even though I couldn't explain to anyone or myself why I wanted to go there so much.

While I was in Ohio recently, a few people had mentioned they were either just there or just got back so I took this as a good sign and committed to taking the long way back to Philly so I could finally check it out.

Historically, Niagara Falls had always been like Mount Rushmore or Stonehenge to me. These are places that I think I don't ever need to visit but actually, I know nothing about them and totally decided this arbitrarily. Except in the last few years—with Niagara in particular—something changed. I began to feel spiritually called there: this time, to cry and to be a loner in this place I later learned happens to be the honeymoon capital of the world.

I made a playlist of only Neil Young,Vincent Gallo and Charles Manson to maximize my melancholy, but also to honor the Ohio to Buffalo to Canada crossing.

I listened to Charlie from Ohio to New York and then switched to Vincent as soon as I saw I crossed into Buffalo. When I got to the border, I got distracted by the serious tone of waiting in the line, turned it down a bit and sort of lost track of the playlist altogether.

Magically, around 15 minutes after I crossed, I heard a faint Neil Young come through the speakers and it was fuckin perfect. It was around 5:15pm, beautifully hazy and smelled like there was a fire somewhere close.

I didn't know that Niagara was going to be what it was. The perfect meeting point of all my aesthetic obsessions. Neons, signage, arcades, atmospheric fog, the sound of a loud crashing body of water, trash boardwalk food, cultural fusions, dollar store fantasy fragrance, alien stuff, thrifting, Vegas style bugged eyed tourist, cars and cruising, animatronics, pyrotechnics, mirror maze, spooky stuff, go karts, plushies, dusty gift shops with sun faded postcards...

it had everything.

it had all of it times 3.

literally three of everything.

at least three of everything and sometimes more

with all of these things sometimes making endless combinations with each step I took.

Somehow, with out actually knowing, I intuitively knew ALL of this.

Usually, I will research a new place to the outer edges looking for a trippy experience, hidden things, secrets…you know,stuff like that. It's my thing, it's what I do, ask anyone. Im the queen of "finding" things”, opening doors I'm not supposed to open, cutting lines, catching deals, etc

The thing is, I didn't do that with this place. I didn't research it to death. Partly because I didn't have time, I didn't know if I would have the energy after the 5 days I spent running around Ohio, and I had already been told to check out Clifton Hill which seemed to cover a lot of what I liked to do anyway.

This place was a catapult of some kind, or a window into something for later because it’s only been two days since I left and so far its a fountain of inspiration that's keeping me up at night. A multi-colored fog made up of tiny spherical beads of water reflecting back the boardwalk of neon lights filling every corner of my mind. If I zero in on each bead, I realize it’s a spherical projection of my memory and I can play them back. it's really sick.

I don't think the impression that was left was just about Niagara Falls, it was Ohio to Niagara. But I cant talk about Ohio yet; because I'm just not there yet. Maybe I'll work my way back to that at some point for whoever reads here. Thanks for reading btw.

(one more thing, if your reading on your phone, tap on the photo to get better resolution. You can also listen to the YouTube tracks below while you read or tap through the photos too.)