New York State of Mind

We finally were able to get away for an entire week, yes 10 whole days, with just my hubby and the Pod! I'm not sure we are going to know what to do.  This year has been crazy with work and family, so we've only been able to do long weekends. Better late than never, I guess!

Allegany State Park - Site 129.

For the week of September 15, we decided to head east to up state New York. Surprisingly, it was only a 6-hour drive to some beautiful countryside. We landed at Allegany State Park near Salamanca, New York. What a beautiful area!

We arrived on a Saturday, September 14 to the Quaker Area Cain Hallow Campground to find our absolutely, secluded, campsite carved into a side of the mountain. The campground was pretty full for this time of year, but emptied out on Sunday night. We practically had the place to ourselves on through the rest of the time we were there. The colors were just starting to change and the weather was outstanding! We had one night of rain and the rest of time was sunny with temps in the 60's and 70's.

This is a Bear-Proof box sitting on our campsite.

When we arrived at the park office, the ranger informed me that there were black bears in the area and I had to sign a bear wavier. WHAT??!!!! BEARS???!!!! He went onto to explain about proper food storage, etc. Sure enough, when we arrived on our site there was a metal storage container that you were suppose to put your food away each day/night if you were camping in a tent. Yikes!

Needlesstosay, we didn't see any bears. We figured as much since we drove all the way to Maine a couple of years ago and didn't see any moose, so why would we see bears in New York?

There was plenty to do in the park. There are 3 parks roads that meander through the 65,000 acres of forest. Some highlights include:

• Thunder Rock — an impressive rock formation of huge boulders.

Thunder Rock

Thunder Rock








Thunder Rock

• Bridal Falls — which should be renamed Bridal Trickle. There was hardly any water coming over the rocks. It was a nice little walk down to the stream.

Workin' on our selfie skills. Not too bad if I do say so myself.
Look, Jimmy is even smiling :)

Bridal Falls - Do you see the trickle of water?

• Stone Tower -  a unique stone structure built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Can you see the carved arrow etched in the stone? That points due north.

Stone Tower

Do you see the arrow etched into the stone?

• Butterfly Meadow — a great little area with a good mix of wildflowers.

Butterfly Meadow

Butterfly Meadow

Butterfly Meadow

We finally left the park and visited a few little towns around Salamanca.

Ellicottville, New York

This quaint, little ski town was straight out of a Hallmark Christmas movie. We had an amazing lunch at Ellicottville Brewing Company and I fell in love with their pumpkin latte beer. I had to bring some home that I'm savoring. It's all my favorite things, pumpkin, coffee and big, bold flavor. Yumm-O!

Flower pots as big as we are!

It was another gorgeous day and we sat on the patio next to flower pots as big as we are. I enjoyed their pulled pork sandwich with some of the best french fries I've ever had. Jim had the cajun halibut sandwich.

Jimmy's IPA Flight

Bradford, Pennsylvania
We stopped in Bradford PA for a quick breakfast and discovered that this is the home to the Zippo Lighter. Who knew? Of course, we had to stop and check out the Zippo/Case Museum.

Zippo/Case Museum

This American flag is made of all Zippo lighters!

Mount Jewett, Pennsylvania

This was probably one of the top highlights of our trip. The reason for visiting Mount Jewett, PA was to visit the Kinzua Bridge State Park. It was well worth the hour drive. This state park is based around the reinvented Kinzua Viaduct. This was once the longest and tallest railroad structure at 2,053 feet long and 301 foot high. A tornado destroyed this structure and some of the support towers can still be seen broken in pieces laying in the gorge. I can only image what this place looks like in the peak of the fall colors. The views were amazing!

Kinzua Bridge State Park

Kinzua Bridge State Park - The railroad track is still there!

Kinzua Bridge State Park

We are standing at the end of walkway. Notice the see through panels
in the floor? No thanks!

 The tornado damage to the rest of structure.
It looked like little toothpicks broken into pieces.

We are getting pretty good at these selfies!
Jimmy is caught smiling AGAIN :)

Here's some random photos from our trip that I felt were worth sharing . . . .

Our campfire on the first night. Doesn't it look like
the peace sign? I took it as a good sign for a great vacation!
And it definitely was one for the books :)

Red House Lake at Allegany State Park.
Such a beautiful day to soak up some sun. 

One final note....

            Do you know what this is?

When we arrived to the campground we had zero cell phone service. I wanted to make a quick call to my Mom to let her know that we arrived safe and sound. We saw this at the entrance to the campground, so we scurried around for all the quarters we could find. I had no idea how much it would cost to make a call from New York to Michigan. To my surprise, this was a courtesy phone since there wasn't any service in the park. It was such a nice touch! 

We had a busy 5 days in New York. We probably could have stayed 1 more day, but it was time to pack up and head to our next destination. Where we were land next to finish out our week of travels? Check back soon for an update!

Thank you Allegany State Park for an awesome vacation!