I don’t recall when I became afraid of heights. I certainly didn’t grow up with that fear, but for some reason, the view from the top floor of a tall hotel or the nosebleed sections in a stadium would leave me feeling nauseous.

Still, the thought of passing up an opportunity this past fall to see the thunderous rapids running along the Niagara River from an old cable car suspended 200ft above the crashing waves ate away at me until I couldn’t take it anymore.

Looking ahead, instead of down, I boarded the Whirlpool aero car and found the sounds of the unforgiving river as a good distraction until the vehicle moved. As the red lift began its trip across the border, from the Canadian side of the gorge to the American side, the knots in my stomach undid themselves. It was the most anti-climatic ride ever, actually. Travelling at a whooping 7 km/hr, I could run faster than the speed we were going. Luckily for me, that meant I was able to take plenty of shots of the beautiful natural landscape, which I highly recommend seeing in person.