Our friends Mike and Kelly invited us to go camping with them and their son Ryan, who is Aidan's age, and our destination was Letchworth State Park, in the Genesee Valley. The park is quite large, encompassing 14,350 acres, and the Genesee River flows over three major waterfalls, one of which is 107 feet high.
Mike and Kelly drove over on Thursday, but we chose to go on Friday after Aidan's morning swim lesson. The park is just 35 miles south of Rochester so it's not a far drive and when we realized we would be too early to check in for our campsite, I persuaded James and Aidan to drive to Warsaw to visit a yarn shop. Warsaw is a pretty little village with a very dramatic entrance when approaching from the east on Route 20A - you drive down a steep descent and then turn right under a very low railroad bridge.
We found the Dancing Goat Yarn Shop with little difficulty and enjoyed chatting with the owner and exploring the shop. Aidan watched a woman needle felt a Christmas ornament and asked her lots of questions about the technique. I bought a skein of Cascade Yarns Eco Duo as my souvenir of our trip; the yarn is a luscious blend of undyed baby alpaca and undyed merino wool.
After lunch in a village restaurant, we drove back to the park and although we were still early, we were allowed to check in. We quickly set up our tent in the site next to Mike, Kelly and Ryan, then we all went on a hike. Mike and Kelly cooked a delicious dinner for us all that evening and we enjoyed lingering around the campfire.
On Saturday morning, the guys and I set out to find a "nearby" geocache while Kelly remained at the campsite. It proved to be farther than we thought and it was a surprise multi-cache; in other words, the cache that we found simply provided coordinates to another cache. Although we were gone longer than we intended - at least ninety minutes - the views were pretty and Kelly did not call out the park rangers to find us.
Here are the guys in front of a small waterfall:
We ate an early lunch then went to explore other areas of the park. Here is a view of the Middle Falls:
Aidan really wasn't miserable, but he was ready to stop looking at the falls and start looking for another geocache:
James was able to capture this photo of a rainbow beside the falls:
There is a railroad bridge over the gorge, above the Upper Falls:
That bridge is REALLY high up. We were wondering if the bridge was still in use when a train rumbled over it as if in answer:
We were fascinated by a tree outside the Glen Iris Inn, which was planted in 1868 (the tree, not the inn). Look how the bottom of the tree resembles a claw foot:
The afternoon was rounded out by locating another cache and a short dip in the park pool by the guys, then back to the campsite. James and I prepared the Saturday dinner: shish kebabs on the grill with a side of cole slaw. Of course we had s'mores that night by the campfire, but found that we much preferred to pelt each other with the marshmallows than to roast the rest of them! Of all the fun we had over the weekend, I feel quite sure that Aidan will remember the marshmallow fight more than anything else.
After breakfast on Sunday, both families packed up and headed home. There is too much work involved in camping for me to describe it as a vacation, but I will describe it as a getaway and/or an adventure. The weather was lovely, the scenery was beautiful and the company was excellent, so all in all it was a great getaway.
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