Discover New York ~ 2 Week Trip ~ Part 3

July 25th-28th

Malone/Watkins Glen

We left Buffalo and headed out for Malone, NY. This was about a half a day’s drive. It took us around 6 hours. The roads in New York are not well maintained and  people do not exceed the speed limit so it felt like a longer drive than it actually was.

We arrived at High Falls campground around 3 pm. We had booked at this campground because there is a 120 foot waterfall on site. There are 127 camp sites with full hookup. There’s a pool, playground, picnic area and events pavilion. In spite of the waterfall, pictured below, we were not impressed with this campground overall. First off it is mostly a seasonal camping campground. Which means that most of the campers live there year round and it feels kind of like a trailer park. They do have the overnight campers in a different section than the seasonal campers which is good. The campsites do not offer much in the way of privacy and there was loud music playing till around 10-11 pm on Friday night at one of the pavilions. It was posted in their literature that this would probably be the case. We went to the waterfall which was pretty impressive util you turned away from the falls and saw the trash and old falling down building on the bank. The walk to and from the falls was enjoyable though.

Time out for a little hilarious story. Being that we were in a town so close to the Canadian border, and just south of Montreal, which is French speaking Canada, more than half of the tv stations were in French and there were very few station to choose from. So we spent the evening watching Transformers in French with English subtitles. This got David very curious about the French language so he downloaded a translation app. He spent the whole next morning making and sending snapchats in French to our daughter telling her we missed her. Oh, how I wish I had video of this because it was quite hilarious! He would try his hardest to say her name in a French accent “Saavaanough. Je t’aime. Tu me manque.” Trust me it was hilarious!

At this point you may be wondering why we decided to go to Malone, NY. It’s just this tiny town in the middle of nowhere, literally 15 minutes from the Canadian border. Not much there except one thing and that leads us to confession time. I am a Little House on the Prairie fan and one of my bucket list goals is to visit each LHOTH site. I’ve already been to the original LHOTP site in Kansas and so we found ourselves in Malone to visit Almanzo Wilder’s boyhood home & farm. This is the place that Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about in Farmer Boy. 

We arrived at the farm right before they opened for the day and were able to be in the first tour.

Our tour guide was a teacher who lives in Arizona but comes here every summer to conduct these tours and let me tell you he knows his Wilder history! 

He gave us a full tour of the barns and house. We were encouraged to ask questions and touch items that he invited us to touch. 

Me in front of the barns

Me pumping water out of the well

Front & side views of the house.

The next morning we packed up and left, we were on our way the Finger Lakes region of New York. We arrived at Watkins Glen State park. I very highly recommend this state park. The beauty of it is so hard to describe and the pictures that follow, as beautiful as they are do not do it justice.

This state park campground was a little bit of a challenge. They do not offer water, electricity or sewer. You are dry docked and must depend on your batteries and tanks while you are staying there. They do have water stations set up between every few campsites to refill tanks and they have a dump station. You may run your generator twice a day for a couple of hours in the morning and then again in the afternoon. You’ll need to do this to recharge your batteries.

The great thing about his park and most especially the section we stayed in; the Oneida Village, is that we were within walking distance of the gorge. And the gorge is why you want to visit this area. Have you seen Lord of the Rings? Picture the elven city of Rivendell and that will give you an idea of what this place is like. There are several trails you can walk in the gorge but if you can only choose one choose the Gorge Trail. It is 1.5 miles one way and offers 19 waterfalls. Below I’ve posted several different pictures from the trail.

This is a picture of a waterfall from inside a cave. Awesome!

MANY MANY stairs to climb

Underneath Rainbow Falls at Sunset

We also visited Lake Seneca which was beautiful. We drove down to the lake just before sunset and got some amazing pictures.

David & I on Lake Seneca

Pano of Lake Seneca

We had had an amazing experience at Watkins Glen and in the morning we planned on heading out to our final destination on our 2 week trip. I think Hercules may be getting homesick. :)

Discover New York ~ 2 Week Trip ~ Part 2

Discover New York ~  2 Week Trip

July 23rd-24th

Niagara Falls, Canada/Devil’s Hole State Park/Toronto

Day 2 at Niagara Falls we decided to spend on the Canadian side. We arrived at Niagara Falls State Park around 9 am and parked in parking lot 1. This is the best parking lot to park in if you’re going to walk to the Canadian side of the falls. It is a short walk across the Rainbow Bridge and much faster than driving. You’ll need to have your passport or a passport card to enter Canada and reenter the US later. You will walk up to the Canadian gate and pass through.

After passing through the gate you will find yourself on the bridge. You will see some awesome views while crossing. 

David on The Rainbow Bridge

American Falls from the bridge

After you cross the bridge you will have to go through Canadian customs. Enter the building and show your passport/card to the officer and answer his questions. They run along the lines of “Why are you visiting Canada?” and “How long do you plan on staying for this visit?” After you collect your passports exit the building and you are in Canada. The park on the Canadian side is very pretty. Decorated with beautiful flowers. There is a paved walkway the entire length of the falls. It’s about a mile walk one way. On the walk you not only get spectacular views but there is shopping available as well a boat ride into the mist of Horseshoe Falls much like Maid of the Mist and a Behind the Falls tour that takes you to the base of Horseshoe Falls. 

The Canadian side of the  Falls is very commercialized. You can walk straight from the falls to the City of Niagara, Ontario. There are restaurants, casinos, theaters, shopping and anything else you could think of to do. We spent several hours walking along the falls and exploring the edge of the city. Here is an interesting picture of the falls from the streets of Niagara.

To cross back into the US enter the border crossing building. Here is the best tip I can give you. Be sure you have $1.50 in quarters or at least a couple of dollar bills. Canada charges you to leave. Every time I think about that it makes me laugh. They do provide doing machines for Canadian or US dollars in case you aren't prepared. Once you have made it through the turnstiles you can then cross back over the Rainbow Bridge. Once you get to the US side you will need to pass through US customs. Stand in the line and then enter the building when it’s your turn. Show your passport and answer the officer’s questions. US officer’s are more serious and ask more pressing questions than Canadian ones. Declare anything you have purchased or are brining back into the US with you and you’re on your way.

We left Niagara Falls and went back to the campground, had a late lunch, picked up Hercules and headed back to Canada. This time we were headed to Toronto and driving. The plan was to meet an old friend for dinner and explore the city. It’s approximately a 2 hour (or less) drive from the campground. 

We started out for Canada at about 3 pm and everything was fine until we got to the outskirts of the outskirts of the city. Toronto is a very large city and what we didn’t know before going is that The Pan American games were being held in Toronto at this time. Traffic was horrendous! A 2 hour trip ended up taking us over 4 hours but we made it just time to have a late dinner with our friend. 

After dinner it was nearly dark but we were able to drive downtown and see a very small part of the city.

The next day we visited Devil’s Hole State Park. This is a relatively easy hike along the Niagara River. Well, easy that, is after you walk down the 300 plus steps down to the river. Whew! 

Once down the steps you can go right, which will take you back towards the power plant or you can go left which is what we did. It’s a very pleasant walk, mostly in the shade along the river.

Be aware that the farther you walk the more difficult the hike becomes. We ended up having to climb up and over boulders. It is doable but more challenging than just a walk on a path. You may turn back at any time if it gets too difficult for you. You will come to a bend in the river that creates a whirlpool. This is pretty interesting and you will notice jet boat tours coming to this spot on it’s tours. You’ll hear the people scream and yell. When we saw this we were disappointed that today was our last day because we would have loved to do the jet boat tour. 

Here is a panoramic view of the Niagara River at the Devil’s Gorge. This was taken up on the ridge not down by the river.

We were ready to head back to the campground and take it easy with Hercules for the rest of the day. Tomorrow we would pull up stakes and be on the road once again for a new destination.

Discover New York ~ 2 Week Trip ~ Part 1

Niagara Falls ~ Day 1

July 19th-22nd

Come along with me on our longest trip to date. Well, if you exclude that trip out west in 2006. We were gone for 3 weeks that trip. I may have to write about it at some point, but back to 2015. We decided to take a 2 week trip and see some of New York State. We left on July 19th and made the drive in 2 1/2 days. We left Pensacola at around 9 am and drove most of the day, stopping for gas and lunch. We arrived a little north of Nashville around 6-7 pm. We stopped at a rest area, had dinner and just kicked back and relaxed overnight. This is a big tip. Most interstate rest areas don’t mind you staying overnight. You can’t open any slide outs or your awning of course but to stop and sleep is ok and this could be a huge money saver not to mention time looking & booking a campsite and the stress of making sure you arrive on time. Check rest areas out first though because there are some that don’t want overnighters.

The next morning we got up, ate a quick breakfast and hit the road again. We drove all day once again stopping only for gas and lunch until we arrived outside Cleveland, OH. where we once again spent the night at another rest area. The exciting part about today was my first glimpse of Lake Erie. The next morning, after 2 days of driving already, we got ourselves on the road and made it to Buffalo by around 2pm. 

We were booked at Four Mile Creek State Park. We just loved this campground! It is so peaceful and pretty. There are no pads but the campground is grass covered. Everywhere you walk, except the roads of course, is full, thick grass. This place would be perfect for tent camping but it’s just as enjoyable staying in a pop up, travel trailer or Coach. There are 275 campsites ranging from primitive to full 50 amp hook up and they can accommodate the largest Coach. The bathrooms are well maintained and well lit. There is also a playground and a campstore.

It is located on beautiful Lake Ontario and you can actually see Toronto across the lake. It is only a 15 minute drive to Niagara Falls making this a perfect place to stay in this area. The only drawback we encountered is that they don't have water available at each site. But they do have many water stations available to refill your tank if needed. We were lucky enough to have a water station right beside our site.

Here’s another tip for you. If you travel to this area and stay at this campground AND want to see Niagara Falls the campground sells a ticket booklet that will save you money. It is called the Niagara Falls USA Discovery Pass. It has a ticket for every attraction Niagara Falls USA offers which includes: Niagara Adventure Theater, Aquarium of Niagara, Cave of the Winds, Niagara Gorge Discovery Center and Maid of the Mist. The pass also includes one day of unlimited rides on the Niagara Scenic Trolley. If you bought tickets to all of these attractions individually it would cost you $60. You can also buy the Discovery Pass at the park but having it beforehand saves time because you won’t have to stand in line to purchase tickets once you get there.

So the next morning we went to Niagara Falls. There is no charge to enter the park, only to do any of the attractions. So if you think you just want to look at the falls and maybe do 1 or 2 attractions then it would be cheaper to not buy the Discovery Pass. 

Ready for an important tip? When you get into the park set your cell phone to airplane mode. This will turn off your data. That’s important because Canada has different cell phone service and you don’t want to be charged an international rate because your phone picked up a signal from Canada. It’s literally close enough for your phone to pick up the signal. Canada is just across the river. So do yourself a favor and turn on airplane mode but if you forget and do get charged an international fee talk to your provided and let them know that you were at Niagara Falls USA and they should remove the charge.

We started off our day by walking over to Horseshoe falls and and spent awhile looking at the falls there. I literally do not have the words to describe the majesty of these falls. We are waterfall lovers and Niagara Falls does not disappoint!

 From there we walked back towards American Falls stopping at places along the way to view the falls. We followed a path all the way along and over the Niagara River to the Observation Deck. You get the best view on the USA side from this deck.

From the Observation Deck we went to The Maid of the Mist. You take an elevator down to the loading area, show your ticket and then they give you a blue raincoat to wear. Trust me. You’re gonna want to wear your raincoat as you will get soaked without it. Make sure all of your belongings are under the raincoat especially your phone/camera. Here’s David wearing his raincoat.

All I could think about while looking at David in his blue Maid of the Mist raincoat was Bruce Almighty loosing it on live TV. "Back to you Evan Backstabber - Pardon me, Bastard. I mean Baxter." So funny!

Once you’re on board the boat sails slowly past American Falls for some amazing views and picture opportunities. This is a great time to snap some pictures because you’re not in the mist yet and your camera is not as likely to get wet. I took my best shot of the whole 2 week trip at this point. Even David, who is a professional photographer, agreed it was the best picture either of us took.

Here is a video of American Falls from Maid of the Mist:

And a picture of us approaching Horseshoe Falls:

Once the boat gets you so close to Horseshoe Falls that you are in the mist it is like it is raining nonstop. Look up at the falls. It is so high and so massive that it doesn’t seem real. The noise is tremendous. There is no way to get a picture unless you have a waterproof camera or a LifeProof case. But the views are just amazing! Here is a picture of David & I coming out of the mist. You can still see the waterfall in the background.

Once you arrive back at the dock and disembark you can either keep your raincoat or they provide a can to place it so that it can be recycled. I recommend recycling it. You won’t need it again and it will save the park money to recycle as many as possible. 

Leaving the dock area you can take a little hike up a trail that will take to very near the American Falls. It’s a little walk, mostly uphill but worth the walk with many photo opportunities along the way.

By now it was after lunch time and we were hungry so we walked the path back to the Horseshoe Falls area. There is a restaurant there and the view is incredible. It is called Top of the Falls. The food was ok and the prices were a little expensive for our pocketbook but it is a vacation spot and New York AND very near Canada so that’s to be expected. The view was worth the price. We had an amazing view of the falls.

After lunch we went to The Cave of the Winds. Ok, this was my favorite thing to do at Niagara Falls. You get into a line, not crazy about the lines but this is so worth it. They give you a pair of foam sandals to wear and provide a place to take your shoes off and put the sandals on. They also give you a bag to put your shoes in. 

My foam sandals. :)

You then go stand in another line that leads you to an elevator. You take the elevator down into the rock. It opens up into a tunnel which you follow out to the river. Once there they give you a yellow raincoat to wear. Put it on. Trust me. You’re going to get even more wet than on the Maid of the Mist. Once you’re suited up you walk a path along the river. You will see birds that nest here. They are mostly in the water but do come up on the path from time to time. The path will lead you to different level decks. They are place right next to the base of the American Falls. You can really hear, feel and see the power of the falls from this vantage point. 

Are you brave? If so go up higher. Now you are on a deck where the water is rushing around and in some places even over the deck! The deck is rumbling under your feet. As I watched the water I wondered how they were able to build these decks. Someone told me later it was mostly done in the winter when the falls were frozen. 

Now tell me, are you feeling especially adventurous? Then climb up to the Hurricane Deck. It’s so loud you have to shout to be heard and the water rushes over the boulders at such a high rate of speed that the wind feels like a hurricane. There are 2 places where you can stand where the water is rushing horizontally off the boulders. It’s coming off at hurricane speeds. David and I both stood there. The force of the water was so great that it tore a hole in David’s raincoat soaking the back of his shirt in seconds. There’s no way to get a picture on the hurricane deck because of all the water. Here we are after coming back down.

Once again, after you’re finished with the raincoat place it in the recycle container. At this point we were getting tired so we took a slow walk back through the park and along the river, stopping at a gift shop to do some browsing. We eventually made our way back to the parking lot and called it a day. Just so you know; you will do a LOT of walking at Niagara Falls State Park so wear good shoes and plan on being here for at least 3-4 days if you want to see it all.

 After leaving the park we went back to the campground and spent the evening with Hercules who was, as always, so glad to see us. After a relaxing evening and dinner the plan was to get to bed early because we had another full day planned tomorrow.