Niagara Falls State Park was established in 1885 and is the oldest state park in the United States
We flew back to Pittsburgh last Wednesday and enjoyed five days at Ben's house in Slippery Rock. I'm happy to report that other than a little soreness, his leg is healing up nicely. He's off the crutches and out of the walking boot!
Monday morning after Ben went to work, we loaded up the Silver Bullet and were on the road, heading northeast towards Geneva, NY. Geneva is on the north end of Seneca Lake in upstate New York's Finger Lake Region. Hearing the word, New York, I think there is a natural tendency with many people to think of New York City. Yes. the city is fun, and we've enjoyed many visits there through the years, but New York state has so much more to offer. We'll have plenty of time for adventures and exploring some of this 9,000+ square mile, incredibly scenic area. We're looking forward to visiting many of the small communities, state parks, restaurants, wineries, special events and much more that are in and near New York's Finger Lakes region over the next month.
Yesterday was all about getting here, but of course there were some fun stops along the three-hundred-mile drive. We had two planned stops, one in Buffalo and another one just a few miles north of Buffalo at Niagra Falls.
As fate would have it, we knew that we would be passing through Buffalo around 1:00 PM. Just in time for a lunch break. There probably isn't a more appropriate place for lunch in Buffalo than the place that lays claim to starting it all, the Anchor Bar.
According to legend, on a Friday night in 1964, Dominic Bellissimo was tending bar when a group of his friends came in after a night on the town. They had apparently worked up a pretty good appetite so Dominic asked his mother (Teresa) if she would fix them something to eat. She deep fried and then seasoned some chicken wings that were typically used in the stock pot for soup. The wings were such a hit that word quickly spread about this new "delicacy". Shortly thereafter, Buffalo Wings were added to the menu and a worldwide food craze was born.
There are currently 15 Anchor Bar locations in the US and Canada, but the original is still located on Main Street near downtown Buffalo where Teresa whipped up that first batch of wings nearly 60 years ago. Beth and I had eaten there once before when we were in Buffalo around 30 years ago. When I shared that story with our very friendly server, she quickly asked why it took so long for us to come back. A couple of bites into the first wings, we were asking ourselves the same question!
After lunch we made the short, twenty-minute drive to Niagra Falls State Park, which is sometimes referred to as the American side of Niagra Falls. We've been to Niagra Falls several times, but it has always been on the Canadian side. We've heard frequently that the Canadian side is the better of the two sides to visit. While the views of the falls may be slightly better from the Canadian side, we were very impressed with what we saw from the American side. We parked just a short distance (about a half mile) from the falls and enjoyed the walk along the river front paved trail and were soon standing at the upper edge of the American Falls, which flows at an average of 75,000 gallons of water per second. From this viewing area it was just another short walk to the larger Horseshoe Falls (675,000 gallons per minute). We enjoyed the spectacular views at both locations for a while, as well as walking a bit further along the riverside trail to the entrance area for the Maid of the Mist boats that will take you in for a closer (wetter) view of the falls. We had done the boat from the Canadian side on a previous visit, so we opted out of both the boat and the Cave of the Winds experience. As we left the falls, we were in agreement. The views may be slightly better from the Canadian side, but we really like the American side for what we didn't see, which was a bunch of "tourist trap" attractions.
We arrived at our Airbnb on Seneca Lake, near Geneva, just in time to catch a spectacular sunset over the marina where we are staying. It was a great ending to a day of travel.............let the Finger Lakes fun begin!
