Letchworth State Park & Niagara Falls - Upstate , New York
Okay but seriously I know everyone is saying it but how is it September already? It feels like yesterday that my boyfriend and I were gallivanting through Letchworth State Park in the beginning of August. Time is definitely FLYING by but I’m trying to stay positive and be grateful for things in the present moment rather than rushing into the next one. We took a (long) drive to visit Letchworth State Park in Upstate New York for a fun little getaway and it was SO beautiful…like really really beautiful. For us Long Island folks it’s a bit of a drive, about 6 and a half hours or 8 if you decided to take the scenic routes like we did. Lol but it was all worth it and the scenic routes are always more fun anyway. BUT Letchworth State Park is a 14,427 acre park located in Livingston County and Wyoming County in the northwestern part of New York state. You guys, this park is huge! It’s roughly 17 miles long and follows the course of the Genesee River. I loved that you can just drive your car through it and stop at the points you want to see, it sort of reminded me of Yellowstone in that way. We have been wanting to visit there for a while as it it one of the few parks we hadn’t been to and I have to say, I think it is one of my new favorites. There are multiple waterfalls (my favorite) to see and they are all pretty big and have the most gorgeous views. My favorite falls that we stopped at was Middle Falls because of the size and the hot air balloon that took a ride by as we were standing there. SO amazing! They fly down so close to the falls I couldn’t believe it! Personally I would be terrified to ride in a hot air balloon and I envy the people brave enough to do it but it did make for a beautiful moment to see it float by right passed the falls at golden hour. If you are brave and have a hot air balloon ride on your bucket list, I would suggest heading to Letchworth and doing it! I believe the company is called “Balloons over Letchworth” so if you are itching to do it, check them out!
If you have read some of my previous posts you know I always mention how my boyfriend finds the most charming Airbnb’s whenever we go away. Well, I must brag that this time I found the Airbnb and it ended up being so dreamy and I will gladly take the credit for this one! We stayed at the Blue Rose Bed and Breakfast in Mount Morris, New York and it was like something out of a fairy tale. This large Queen Anne Victorian was built in 1894 and has all of the old world charm I adore. One of my favorite parts was the fact that the house is actually painted blue and had the most gorgeous gardens surrounding the entire property. If you love flowers like I do, you would completely fall in love with this place. The hosts Michelle and David were wonderful and accommodating and made us feel super safe. The room was sparkling clean, had hand sanitizer and a sign to remind us to wash our hands… Oh and delicious homemade chocolate chip cookies. (Yasss) Each morning we were given a beautiful breakfast spread that makes my mouth water just thinking about it. There was fresh fruit to start, homemade muffins, crumb cakes, waffles, egg soufflés, apple sausage and fresh spinach. Our host Michelle is an absolutely amazing cook and we loved everything we had. I definitely recommended the Blue Rose Bed and Breakfast if you are looking for a close place to stay near Letchworth State park (literally only 5 minutes away) and also Niagara Falls which is about an hour and 20 minutes away. Another great part of staying in this bed and breakfast was its close proximity to the town where there were a lot of cute shops and restaurants. We actually loved one of the restaurants so much we ate there both nights. Lol It was called Charred American Bar + Grill and was walking distance from our bed and breakfast. It’s very casual but had good vibes and was clean. The waitress completely wiped down the table and chairs before we sat down which made me feel better since this was our first in-door eating experience since like February. lol I would 100% recommended it! Their boneless wings and soft pretzel sticks with cheese sauce were SOOO good. I still crave them now…just saying.
As I mentioned earlier in the post, our bed and breakfast was only about an hour drive from Niagara Falls, and since I had never been there and my boyfriend had only visited as a child, we decided to make a trip up to see it. We made a quick stop in Buffalo to get a bite to eat and of course have buffalo wings…duh. We got wings at a restaurant called Gabriel’s Gate and they were delicious, would definitely recommend them checking them out for wings! The area around Niagara falls isn’t that pretty to be honest. There were a lot of abandoned dilapidated buildings and it seemed not very welcoming or a place you’d want to spend a lot of time in but once we entered the park area everything was much better. There were A LOT of people which made us a tad bit uneasy, but for the most part everyone we saw had masks on. Other than stopping into one gift shop we didn’t really explore around the area too much, we sort of just headed right to where the falls viewing area was. Once we go to the view point, there was once again…a lot of people. We waited for a minute to get a clear spot against the guard rail so we could really get the full view. I must say Niagara Falls is completely breathtaking, it is so loud and powerful and almost overwhelming how much energy it gives off. I am so happy I got to see it in person and experience it, it was also pretty cool to see Canada on the other side. It’s definitely worth a visit but in my opinion once or twice is probably enough, I'm not sure if its a place I would visit over and over again but thats just me. There are other actives you can do like boat rides and helicopters rides but with COVID we really didn’t feel like participating in any of those things right now. Maybe next time!
On our way back from Niagara Falls we stopped at a sunflower farm called Sunflowers of Sanborn and it was magical! I absolutely love sunflower fields, I mean who doesn’t? And it was a mission to find one around the area and this place was perfect. The entry was free which was awesome, I believe you only have to pay if you pick the sunflowers. They also had a few food trucks and other actives for kiddos but we just focused on gallivanting through the field. There were a decent amount of people but the field was huge and everyone was spread out enough to not be anywhere near you and also to be able to get photos without anybody in the background. (very important to me lol) It was a beautiful place and would definitely recommend checking it out if you are going to be in the area when the field is in bloom. We went at the beginning of August, so I'm not sure how long they have them until but I know some places have them into the Fall so it’s definitely something worth checking out.
