We slept in a bit and headed a couple of towns over to Buffalo for an early lunch. We decided, “when in Rome” in Buffalo meant: we need to eat some wings. We chose the birthplace of wings “Anchor Bar” where we ordered a bunch of wings and something called Pizza Sticks which were like pizza egg rolls. Ummm… I don’t know if that is supposed to happen, but they were good! The wings were phenomenal and we destroyed that huge tray of wings. We also enjoyed hearing the different accents of the tables around us. NO! We weren’t eavesdropping, but we had to smile as we heard the bits of conversation, “you tell ’em who your dad is and they won’t mess with you.” And, “they were down the street casin’ the joint.”
After we wiped off our faces and hands of all the hot wing sauce, we proceeded to Niagara Falls. We saw the huge cloud of water spraying into the sky from miles away! The force of the water causes a permanent misting of the area. We walked over to the falls and the sheer power of the water was AMAZING!!! Reading about the people who had gone over the edge, (both intentionally and not) put us in the right frame of mind and there was no climbing of the railings.
As with the arches in Moab, there is no way to capture the size and scope of the falls with pictures. It is an experience! We watched the Maid of the Mist boats go up the river and into the mist and asked the kids if they wanted to go. The response was very mixed, so we were content to keep dry and look at the water from above.
After we walked to all the different viewing points and fed a squirrel (usually feeding wildlife is frowned upon, but the man sitting there with the peanuts “knew” the squirrels and instructed the kids how to do it) we headed back to the car. I found some texts on my phone from Nicole (of Life’s a Batch) saying her son was there with his grandma. She told me where he was and we happened to be steps away. I tracked him down and gave him a hug. (Nicole warned him first!). What a small world and too fun to send Nicole a pic of us at Niagara Falls of all places!
We got back on the road to Palmyra and found the fairgrounds where we would be camping that night and our friend Kathy (of The newly created cokie page! Katzinthekitchen) who lives nearby was there to greet us. I hadn’t met her before, but have exchanged emails and messages for quite awhile now. She was our welcome wagon and what an awesome perk to have our very own tour guide of the area! She helped us set up the trailer and then took us on the mother of all picnics. She had packed homemade lasagna, salad, bread with orange infused olive oil with chocolate balsamic vinegar for dipping, and tons of fresh fruit! Blueberries, cherries, raspberries, grapes, and even rounded out the meal with a homemade cherry pie! She spoiled us like crazy! We enjoyed our beautiful picnic right next to the Eerie Canal in a beautiful park. We saw our very first cardinal and it was the most beautiful, brilliant red!
As if the glorified picnic wasnt enough she brought a box of treasures. This thing was full of glow sticks, maple candies, maple sugar, flashlights, cookie cutters, homemade ginger syrup, maple syrup, applesauce, pasta, and that is just off the top of my head! We took a walk over to the lock on the canal and it was fascinating to see this amazing part of history. After chasing fireflies around the park for a bit, we went to that place all campers need to eventually go: WalMart. We got some supplies, things we needed, and some things we didn’t and headed back to camp. John was beat and immediately fell asleep, but the rest of us along with Kathy stayed up for a bit in the trailer and chatted into the night. She left for the evening insisting on doing our laundry. She is like Santa Claus who does your laundry!
Posted with Blogsy