US 219 through Pennsylvania is worse than the Alaska Highway! It’s full of potholes and lumpy concrete made worse by the fact that every mile or so is a village of several house and one or two commercial buildings. Oddly, each sign said below the village name: Building and Sewer Permits Required. (How come???) Then expecting much better road conditions, we happily got on I-86 while still following US 219 in New York, and were bitterly disappointed to discover it was no better!
Arriving in Buffalo and following the Niagara Section New York State Thruway across Grand Island, a toll road, we missed the connection to the Robert Moses Parkway which borders the Niagara River and all points of the Niagara Falls State Park complex. After finding it, we paid the parking fee (we were charged for two spaces!) and walked over to Terrapin Point past the closed Top of the Fall Restaurant which we found out later wouldn’t be open for the season until Thursday. The Point offers fantastic views of the Canadian Horseshoe Falls.
We then boarded the Park’s scenic trolley for a trip around the whole park and getting off near the Cave of the Winds entrance. We were given ponchos and sandals again (we should have saved the first set and reused them!).
The sandals are given to the poor though Angel Shoes. After going down in the elevator with eight of our newest and dearest friends - everybody had taken showers that morning - and traversing a tunnel, we stepped out onto the pathway to the windiest, wettest stairs leading to the Bridal Veil Falls. The experience was wonderful We felt like were being blown off the stairs and landings the closer we got to the top of the falls. Our lower legs and feet were soaked.
Afterwards we traveled north to the Four Mile State Park for the night. This was a park with great views of Lake Ontario, good breezes, and nice level, grassy, large spaces for RVs and tents. The next morning as we were leaving, we discovered that our campsite fee entitled us to free parking for the day at the Falls!
This park is the summer home for hundreds (maybe thousands) of Canadian geese as they are raising their young here before getting them ready to fly south in the fall. We had to watch where we put our feet!
