As it was our final weekend in the New York area I really wanted to get out and see more of what the state had to offer. My cousin Jack (who had lived in Buffalo for a few months) had described Rochester as an 'armpit' of the U.S, which I think is a little unfair as it is clearly a lot nicer than Buffalo (although admittedly this is like saying that tuberculosis is a lot nicer than ebola). John (another medical student) and I decided to go to Letchworth State Park, as we had discovered it was the travel 'hotspot' of the month on 'rochester.com'. Whitney chose to stay at home and study, whilst Nikolai decided he would ditch us in favour of a party by a lake, involving a slip n' slide, camp fire and girls (although he claims the last factor was not the clincher and that they had him at 'slip n' slide'. That, and the ponchos they were offering in case of rain.)
A quick drive down the 390 highway saw us arrive at the gates of the park, and after paying a rather steep fee we entered. I should explain that this park is known as the 'Mini Grand Canyon', which I felt was a silly name as the attraction of the Grand Canyon is surely its size, a mini version would simply be a canyon. Regardless of this we were pleasantly surprised to find a dam (a mini 'Hoover dam' if you like) which was serving as the perch to a dozen or so turkey vultures. I am a massive fan of the
vulture,
it is such a comical looking bird and one which I had only seen in captivity up to now. I saw that the birds were flying up to our level and perching in the trees to our right and so we went to inspect with the hope of some close-up pictures. On the way I warned John that vultures are very protective of their nest and have been known to attack humans (I have no idea if this is true, but I seem to have developed my uncle Chris's taste for striking fear into the hearts of friends and family, merely for amusement). The birds did swoop rather close to our heads, which at one point sent John scampering away, laughing nervously at the same time. I must admit that the sight of 6 or 7 birds flying towards you in formation was quite unerring and put me in mind of a squadron of Spitfire (spitfire or spitfires?) coming in to attack.
There were many things to see, including another waterfall (boring), a canyon (obviously) and a train bridge. I have even included a photo of myself at said waterfall for all those
mothers out there who ask the rather preposterous question, "But why aren't YOU in any of your photos?".
N.B. I would just like to point out that "all those mothers out there" are other peoples' mothers. I only have one. Hi Mum!
