We were pretty excited to arrive in Youngstown, NY, right on the edge of our country. Had we had passports, we could have driven right across this bridge into Canada. While we didn't do any country hopping, we did experience a bit of a feeling of awe looking across the water to a whole other country. It was definitely a memorable moment.
We made camp at Four Mile Creek on the shores of Lake Ontario. Our spot wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either. The deer flies were not fun, but the sunset more than made up for the bites that drew blood.
We drove up to a little tavern called Bandanas for dinner. I had the roast beef on weck which was pretty good. No complaints except that I ended up using a fork and knife to eat it. This is probably considered a serious social blunder, but eating it with my hands was out of the question. The au jus made the bottom bun fall apart. I wasn't mad about it.
Landon, donning his WV gear, had a burger. Both dinners came with some crazy good sweet pickles.
The next morning we headed out for the Falls. Conveniently there was a free trolley ride that would pick you up from the state park next door and take you all the way to the Niagara Falls visitor center. The drive by car was nearly 30 minutes. The drive by trolley was almost an hour, but was quite scenic.
We purchased our tickets for a ride on the maid of the mist and lined up with all the others in our blue ponchos.
Seeing the Falls up close was a surreal experience. We were both amazed at the power and strength of Mother Nature. Words cannot accurately describe this experience. It is one I highly recommend seeing for yourself.
FYI the ponchos were pretty unnecessary. I was more wet with sweat from wearing a plastic bag on a sunny day that I was from the mist. In fact, the mist would have really been nice had I not felt pressured by the other 500 people to wear the poncho. Everyone was doing it!
We worked up a pretty good appetite at the falls and had to stop for a late lunch. A street cart selling gyros caught our eye and we were sold. So good!
Our trip to NY wasn't all about Niagara. We were also on a mission to experience the birth place of the chicken wing. After doing our homework on the origin of one of our favorite foods, we found that there was a bit of a debate about where to find the best Buffalo wings. The Anchor Bar in downtown Buffalo is the undisputed origin of these beautiful little tidbits; however, many claim Duff's to be the superior wing. So what could we do?
Nothing but try both. We had Duff's for dinner and then the Anchor Bar on our way out of town for lunch. No preference was given in choosing the order of dining. Instead it was simply a matter of geographical proximity. The verdict?
Anchor Bar for the win! Now this was a pretty close call and came down to only a few minute details. At Duff's, the wings were super crispy, which is a point in their favor. Unfortunately, their biggest misstep was a confusing heat measurement. Duff's claim is that their medium is hot, their medium hot is very hot, and their hot is very very hot. Simple right? So Landon and I like hot wings. We always order hot. While hot is relative, if you order hot, there is a good chance they will make your nose run just a little and produce a light sheen of sweat on your forehead, which is the desired effect. But, Duff's claims hot is very very hot...? We are already on the edge of discomfort in our normal order of hot so we couldn't afford to venture in to what might be very very hot. We ordered 10 medium and 10 medium hot, hoping to hit a normal hot at some point.
Sadly, we were not impressed with the heat. The flavor of the sauce was great, but they were missing the heat level we were looking for. Anchor Bar on the other hand, produced the perfect level of heat when ordered as hot. The crisp was fantastic, though not quite as crispy as Duff's, and their fries were unbelievable. Both places were delicious, but we have to give the slight edge to the Anchor Bar, the original home of the Buffalo wing!
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