A curriculum-based assignment ... could be worse, right?
First-semester students get their travel feet wet (maybe quite literally) during their assignment-based field trip to Niagara Falls as part of TRAV107: Introduction to Tourism. Their task is to analyze various attractions in Niagara Falls for a prescribed target market and to put together a customized three-day itinerary. When in Niagara Falls, they are asked to film a sales video in which they enthusiastically present Niagara Falls to their clients. We were one of the "pioneers" who, as an educational group, visited the newest attraction, the Power Station & Tunnel, very soon after it opened to the public. The tunnel is accessed via a glass elevator offering views of the power station's inner workings. It is one Kilometre long and leads beneath all the attractions at Table Rock before exiting onto a viewing platform, even-level with the Niagara River and beside the bottom of the Falls (still in a fairly safe distance that won't drench you as much as the platform of "Journey behind the Falls" does.
Niagara Falls has been the home territory of many nations, including the early Adawanderon, Seneca, Mississaugas of the Credit, Haudenosaunee, and Anishnabek Nations, and is covered by several treaties with these nations. It was the site of the famous War of 1812, which the Canadians won thanks to the help of the IHaudenosaunee peoples. Here is a video that tells the story beyond the famous tragic story of the Maid of the Mist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6vn4lhQhdw
Niagara Falls has been the home territory of many nations, including the early Adawanderon, Seneca, Mississaugas of the Credit, Haudenosaunee, and Anishnabek Nations, and is covered by several treaties with these nations. It was the site of the famous War of 1812, which the Canadians won thanks to the help of the IHaudenosaunee peoples. Here is a video that tells the story beyond the famous tragic story of the Maid of the Mist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6vn4lhQhdw
In 2009, during my first year of teaching, we had not yet had a regular excursion to Niagara Falls, so I decided to organize one. In 2009, just like in 2022 onwards, it was Niagara Park's Kim Parker Moore whom we crossed paths with! It's a time travel back to the first cohort of students I ever taught! The focus of attractions was Clifton Hill, including the Skywheel (also new at the time, so call us trailblazers, please, and the Guiness Museum of World Records Museum, before we headed to The Skylon Tower for lunch and a hotel site inspection in the afternoon. My colleague Dawn Aitken (who matches the bus, might I add, because fashion matters coordinated intentionally or not) was my partner in crime that day and coached me on how to herd students (I was used to regular tour groups before :)))))
