Honeymooning at Niagara and Letchworth

 

Vacation Dates: 10th - 11th May 2008

Route:

Drove from Harrisburg to BWI (Baltimore) airport	US -11 N, I - 83 S, I - 95 S
Flew from BWI (Baltimore) to Buffalo

 

I didn't believe my eyes when my husband showed me the tickets to Buffalo and postcards of Niagara and Letchworth State park. It was another surprise gift for our anniversary. It was Thursday when I was given this beautiful gift and we were to leave on Saturday morning to catch the early morning flight. We drove early morning around 5:30 A.M to Baltimore Washington Airport. After parking in the longterm parking lot we reached the airport. There was enough time so we decided to have something before the flight. We bought the chicken biscuit from McDonalds, this was first time in my life that I had chicken for breakfast. Our flight was in time and we reached Buffalo around 10 A.M. We had booked a rental car so we drove to my husband's friends house with whom we were to stay. Taking instructions from the friend on phone we finally reached their house. His wife treated us with banana shake, some chocolate cake and sweets from India. She had made Pao-bhaji for breakfast, yes you guessed it right we had breakfast again for the second time the same day. It was simply delicious. We decided to go to the Niagara falls area during the day time and then join the friends in the evening. As planned we started off for the falls around 12:00 P.M. We parked at the Rainbow parking lot opposite the Indian restaurant Punjabi Hut. Almost all parking lots charge $5 in the weekends. We walked to the Niagara Falls state park. At the entrance the beautiful garden full of tulips welcomes you. The multihued tulips, the white flowers on the trees made the park resemble an artists palette.

 

The falls were gorgeous as ever. I don't think I will ever get bored of seeing these falls. This was my second visit to Niagara and I loved it. We walked up to the Goats Island between the Bridal Veil Falls and the Horseshoe Falls. The island has an elevator that provides access to the Cave of the Winds Tour. At one end of the Island is the Terrapin Point from where one can view the Horseshoe falls. There is a Top of the Falls restaurant at Terrapin point as well. May is a good time to visit Niagara, everywhere the grass was covered with a bed of yellow and white flowers. It was late afternoon and we were hungry. There are a lot of Indian restaurants around but none provide good food. So we went to Wendy's and had Chicken Melt sandwich. Next we decided to go to the Whirlpool State park. A whirlpool has been formed at this location where the Niagara river takes a 90 degree turn. The state park has several overlooks that provide spectacular views of the rapids and swirling water of the Niagara river. A cable car takes tourists from the Canadian side above the whirlpool. There are jetboat tours that are conducted from the whirlpool area. It was already 4:00 P.M., so we drove back to meet our friends.

It was around six that all four of us started for Buffalo City. The city boasts of some nice architecture. Roaming around the downtown we reached the Marine drive of Buffalo. This waterfront has a small beach area. There is a submarine on display at the other end of the waterfront. Walking along the waterside we reached a tower like structure and decided to climb to the top. From the top of the tower we could see the view of the city in all directions. From here we drove to the Delaware Park in Buffalo. Here  enjoyed on the swings and remembered my childhood days. It was great fun. We were tired and it was getting late so we decided to call it a day and returned home. It was time for dinner and this friend and his wife cooked a delicious meal of Rajma, Chilli Paneer, pulao, roti and raita. We watched the movie "I think I love my wife" while having dinner. Since next day we had planned to drive to Letchworth state park we decided to sleep soon after the movie finished.

I woke up around 7:45 A.M and got ready soon. All of us took turns to get ready and by 9:00A.M everyone was at the breakfast table. After having bread and omlette we packed our picnic basket and left for Letchworth. Its about an hour long drive from Buffalo city. We were there by 11:00 A.M. Letchworth boasts of the Grand Canyon of the East. The parks has several overlooks which give a good view of the canyons. The park is also famous for the three falls - the upper, middle and lower level falls formed by the Genesee river which flows through the middle of the park. The park has many well maintained trails along the gorge. Boating, Kayaking, fishing, archery, hot air balloon ride and skiing are few of the popular park activities. Cabins and camp sites are also available for overnight camping.

We first walked up to the Upper Level falls. They are beautiful but my favorite were the Middle Level Falls which has a 107 ft drop. they are absolutely awesome. When you stand at the overlook near the middle level falls, you actually get wet by the water falling down. We clicked a lot of pictures at each overlook and finally made our way to the lower falls. There is a trail that takes you to the bottom of the falls. We had a good time hiking around in the park. After seeing all the falls we all were tired and hungry. We sat down at one of picnic huts and had our food. The hut had a fire place and my hubby decided to light some fire. We all collected some dry twigs & wood and using our paper plates made a fire. 

After lunch we drove to the other side of the park which has a dam and other overlooks. We had our flight in the evening at 8:30 P.M so we left the park around 4 P.M. The weather had started to change as strong winds were blowing. On the way we stopped at one of the dairy farms and saw the cows being milked mechanically using machines. We wanted to taste fresh milk but hard luck the farm did not sell milk there. Next we stopped by at one icecream shop that sells home made icecream. All of us had soft serves standing outside with the chilly winds blowing across our faces. Once we reached Buffalo, we rested for a while. Then we packed our stuff and left for the airport. Our flight was in time and we reached Baltimore around 10:00 P.M. From here we drove to Harrisburg and reached home with beautiful memories of the trip.