20080915 Letschworth Statepark

20080915 Letschworth Statepark

A bit broken backs, from the too soft beds in the Hotel in Bath, we drive to Letschworth Statepark. The weather is very bad, with heavy rain on the Interstate. As the clouds seem to come from the North and heading south we take a gamble and go to the park. And we "won", because the rain had stopped and sometimes the sun was peeking through the clouds.
We buy a ticket of $6, drive to the Dam Viewpoint and check the maps. As we didn't have breakfast, we went to a picknick point with a great view on the canyon. Small detail, nobody else was there, but the eagles catching height. So relaxed.
As we entered from the North Main entrance, we are driving south, upstream. It is a very green and wonderful park. You can tell, a remainder of Ike past her last night, many wet places and lots of branches and some fallen trees on the roadway and the trails. Park rangers are clearing the roadway in some places.
We had sun in the park, it was getting gray, but it remained dry.
We take small (1-2 hour) walks towards the lower, middle and upper falls. Also the inspiration point has magnificent views on middle, upper falls and the old railway bridge. Many pictures taken, also a little practice for Niagara falls ;-) .
We exit the park via the south gates and cross north west through the country site(we always avoid the interstate as much as possible to see something of the country and villages) towards Niagara falls. A 1.30 hour drive, where we again had lots of rain during the drive, but not when we arrived.
From a distance we could already see the mist of Niagara falls. Our preferred Hotel (with coupon) has vacancy, so we again needed only 1 shot to hit the hotel target. In the west, last year, it was much harder to get a hotel.
We unpack and go to Denny's for a nice meal. Within 3 minutes is a outlet, that we "just wanted to look at"... So I come back with 3 tees and new sneakers.LoL. Its than already 21:00 so Niagara falls will be lighted by colored light beams, so we drive to the falls. A 15 minutes drive through the city. The circus at Canada side with casino, hotel skyline and disco lightning can be seen way before you reach the falls.
Great view and I take many pictures. Some with exsposure times of 20 seconds. Cool effects. I talked with some cops that seemed to be garding the air, but appearently "goodmorning america" is broadcasting tomorrow morning from the watch tower. We go back to the hotel and sleep arround 23:30.