Niagara
7/4:
Wow! That’s all I the words that are fitting for the environmental wonder that is Niagara falls. The sound of 600,000 gallons of water cascading down on all sides of you as you stand on a boat seemingly about to vanish into the mist forever is an experience everyone should take. The surface of the churning water gives you the feeling like any second a whirlpool will open up and drag the vessel to the bottom 150 feet below. It’s the most beautiful of chaos.
Niagara falls in itself is a bizarre place. Americas first state park and really it’s first tourist trap, it has grown to be the most advance from of it. The history of the place is mostly centered around American interactions with it. Their attempts to capitalize on it and use it’s raw power to create energy, but it’s impossible to ignore it’s scenic beauty. This is all exemplified by the large mall next to the park, however I found it pretty easy to tune that out and immerse myself in the atmosphere of nature near the falls.
One thing that I almost didn’t do, but was glad I did was Cave of the Winds. It was like $20 to do this little jaunt and I almost turned around when I found that out, but in places like this you have to give in a bit. I also bet there is some sort of package pricing you can find that will make all the experience more reasonable. Anyway, the Cave of the winds is a section in which you get to walk around on the side of the American Falls section of Niagara. It’s insane to be that close to the roaring water. In my case it had started to rain just before getting on the elevator to go down to the entry point on the outside. Kind of made the silly free poncho all the more worth it. Feeling the raw power of water coming from both the sky and flying off the rocks as it rushed toward the river below was magical.
I eventually felt like I had taken in as much as I could and knew I need to figure out a place to stop for the night. Since I was heading east and passing through buffalo I had to make one stop first. WINGS! How could I go through buffalo New York and not have some wings. So, I looked up wings on google maps and found a place called Wing Kings. It was a little store front show with a dope mural on the wall. I put in my order and headed to the brewery next door called Thin Man to wait for my order. Thin Man had some really great beer and the bartenders were very nice. When I informed them that I had ordered food next door, because I didn’t know that Thin Man itself offered food, they told me it would be no problem brining it in since it was not too busy. They also mentioned that the food at wing Kings was bomb. They were not wrong. Their wings were perfect, as were they fries which is often something I tend to dislike at wing places in California. It was a wonderful meal and just what I needed.
I headed out toward a campground I had booked while at thin man and stopped at a few places along the way out of curiosity. One such place was a small bar called Seven Stone Steps located under a hotel in a town called Cazenovia. The Bartender told me that he had just moved their with his family, because his wife was wanting to get out of the city and back into the country. He said it was a really comfortable way of life out there and that the people were really nice. If he was an example I would have to agree. I said goodnight and headed out to camp at the Stoney Pond State Forest Camping Area. I didn’t really get a good look at the place since I got in late and left early, but it seemed to be a pretty good spot if you are ever out that way and looking for a good camping location.
