Day 4: THE GRAND CANYON OF THE EAST

Today was our last day of waterfalling in New York. But we knew it might also be a great little grand finale as we would see big waterfalls in the Grand Canyon of the East carved forth by the familiar Genesee River.

After checking out of the Econolodge Motel, the day was dominated by driving from Ithaca to Buffalo while managing to avoid the toll roads this time around. Towards the middle of the day, we visited the much anticipated Letchworth State Park. While in the park, we first saw the Upper Falls of the Genesee River, which contrasted the urban-spoiled ones we saw earlier in Rochester on the same river).

This waterfall had a nice bridge juxtaposed with it. Even though the park was quite known and popular this side of New York, we were surprised at how quiet things were here. Perhaps it was a weekday, which was why it was so quiet…

Next, we checked out the Middle Falls of the Genesee River in the 90-degree heat. This waterfall was the star attraction of the park with its very wide flow and rippling character as it dropped over the familiar flat shale. We spent lots of time trying to photograph the falls while conveying the size of the falls. Even a trio of ladies posed for me when I took photos from an elevated path looking down upon the overlook itself.

Finally, we drove to the last of the major Genesee River waterfalls in the park at the Lower Falls arriving a little after noon. Of all the three falls, this one had the longest walk with stairs, but it was a pleasant (albeit hot) stroll into a gorge decorated by the short but wide falls.

We’ve seen postcards of this falls taken with autumn colors, but we obviously couldn’t get such scenery in mid June. In any case, that wrapped up our waterfalling on this leg of the trip and we would spend the rest of the arvo headed back to Buffalo. We passed on nearby waterfalls such as the 350ft Inspiration Falls thinking it might be dry by now (though we could’ve been wrong – I guess we’ll never know).

The uneventful drive ended in the Hilton Garden Inn in Buffalo just before 3pm. Well, the drive was uneventful except for a short drive through an unpaved construction area. I noticed a strange light that come on in the car and after reading the manual, it said one of the tires had low tire pressure. Huh.

Anyways, we were able to drive to the Anchor Bar to try out the original buffalo wings for dinner. I guess the recipe had been improved upon by imitators over the years because the wings here weren’t all that great.

All in all, we had a wonderful time seeing Western New York, but now it’s time to get ready for the main course of this trip – Iceland! We hope our fears of lost luggage won’t come true (they’re always on the back of our minds), but we’ll have to find out late tomorrow evening at the airport in Keflavik, Iceland.