06: Seeing Niagara from Noah’s Ark
Dad and I preparing to board the ark.
Logan here.
10 days, 2 countries, 10 states, 3 National Parks, Niagara Falls, 1 MLB game, 1 big boat.
If the above list seems like a lot to you, you’re not wrong. That, dear reader, is the opener of my mom’s latest Facebook post, and also a condensed itinerary from the Garner Family Vacation of 2025. Mom is nothing short of a superhero when she plans trips, researching flights, wheelchair-accessible hotels, the best restaurants and activities months in advance. There’s a lot of rough waters to navigate in the name of making sure I can travel comfortably. (If you are close to someone with a disability, you probably know that what is legally, officially recognized as ADA-compliant, is often not truly, or at least not universally, accessible). This year, however, was much more involved than any family expedition I’d ever been on. Early on a September Sunday morning, my parents and I loaded into a rental car and set off. Road trips aren’t unusual for us. This year, the novelty was in our destination. We were going to drive from Georgetown, Texas…to Canada. Here’s another kicker: it’s kinda my fault.
That last sentence was a joke! Typically, when I started telling people our travel plan, I was met with an (understandable) reaction of shock and awe, which seemed to say, Driving, really? The thing is, in our experience, getting through an airport and onto a plane is quite the ordeal. I’m pulled aside by TSA because I can’t go through the metal detector, they search me, the chair, etc. Not to mention my chair has to be stored in a separate area during the flight, so my dad carries me onto and off the plane. So, when I approached Mom last year with the idea of international travel (a brand-new experience for me), she got to work and came up with Canada, with lots of stops along the way to help break up the amount of time actually cooped up in the car.
This month’s edition of the ol’ blog focuses on two phases of this epic experience: Niagara Falls (days six and seven) and the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Kentucky (day 9). We arrived at Niagara Falls State Park in NY, and the first sight we saw (and heard) as we stepped out of the Visitor Center were the American Rapids (flowing from the American Falls), some of the most intense rapids in the world. I jotted notes of the dark and light blues of the waters (refreshingly different from our doo doo brown TX beaches), and the clean, white wakes that roared, crashed and splashed on some onlookers below. One signpost informed us that, in an average summer day, around 75,000 gallons of water per second flow from the Falls. I wanted profound material: powerful, wonderful, screensaver-in-real-life energy, and of course, it was all those things and more. We hadn’t even crossed the border yet!
Views from New York. We even got a rainbow closeup! Are you kidding me?
As we were approaching the trip, people had been telling us that the Canadian view of Niagara was even more beautiful than the American. Up until the last few days, I agreed. In fact, my favorite pictures to show people from the whole vacation have been the ones taken in Canada, especially Horseshoe Falls, to which we had an unreal front row seat from our hotel room. Then, we walked to a lookout on a cool Saturday morning, and once again, God met us with wonder. If New York was the up close and personal look at the Falls, this was the zoom-out, the whole picture. We could see water for what felt like a million miles! You’ll see photos below, but they don’t convey the full effect.
Morning over Horseshoe Falls!
Horseshoe Falls…at night!
Niagara Falls in Canada: a can’t “mist” experience!
Now, allow me, if you will, to fast forward to Monday, the last leg of our trip, after we sent my brothers off on their respective flights. We had been back in the states for a couple days. Home was ever so close, but three of us weren’t done yet. Mom, Dad and I had an appointment with a ginormous boat! If you haven’t heard of the Ark Encounter, it’s essentially a museum walkthrough experience of the Noah story from Genesis, housed inside a replica of the ark itself. Every inch of this place was another experience you have to see to believe: a massive three story ship packed (built as close to Scripture’s measurements and historically accurate as possible) with exhibit after exhibit, all designed to illuminate how science and the ark/flood narrative agree. Central to the Ark Encounter’s mission is the concept of doors. The three of us got a photo standing at the ark’s massive doors, a symbol of God’s protection and salvation for Noah and his family, tying into Jesus being our “door” to salvation today. 5 hours later, with much to chew on scientifically and theologically, we left the Ark for our car and began the long drive home.
As I think of connecting all the experiences of our vacation together, I’m latched on to the idea of “waters.” I bought one souvenir sticker from the Ark Encounter — well, technically, two, because I got an identical one for Gia. On the sticker, above a cartoon of the ark is Isaiah 43:2, which reads, When you go through the waters, I will be with you. For Noah, waters were a means of God’s justice on a dreadfully sinful world. God ordained the flood, but protected a faithful few, sealing them in to the ark to bring about a new start. Not only was there an end to the floodwaters, He gifted Noah with a sign of hope and majesty: a rainbow. (As you saw in the video above, God provided us a rainbow, too!)
You and I, dear reader, are no stranger to troublesome waves. Though not of global flood proportions, there were long drives with little to no rest and cramped hotel bathrooms that didn’t accomodate my chair, emails coming in about issues at work I can’t solve. In those times, there’s a struggle in me to be angry, impatient and lash out at the people close to me, even as they’ve worked so hard to help me have such wonderful experiences. Yet, I submit to you two things God is ever so patient with me in learning: there is nowhere I can be that He is not, (no matter the state, no matter the country) and He never has or ever will lack followthrough on a promise. Among the treacherous waters of a sinful world, each one of us has a chance to see, know and be satisfied in Jesus, learning to live in awe of his majesty, like we did in Niagara or in the gift of human creativity on the ark. Nevertheless, even the most magnificent of waterfalls or attractions can properly illustrate the gift that Jesus promises to those who choose to trust him: the presence of his Holy Spirit, “a well of water springing up within [us] for eternal life." (John 4:14).