Detroit Christmas Tree
Kyle and I both had a long weekend off for Thanksgiving so we took advantage and went on a mini vacation. Thanksgiving Eve, we headed down to Detroit and to Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle where they were holding stand-up finales for a competition being held in LA. We’ve been to the show several times and this is the first time it was packed. We had a good time though. After the show, we went to American Coney Island and had some delicious coney’s (or a loose for me). We then wandered around Campus Martius to look at the beautiful Christmas tree and winter festivities. They have a cute outdoor market that we walked through and also an ice cube maze made from industrial totes that change colors.
Detroit Parade
For Thanksgiving, we went to the annual parade. There were tons of people but we still found a way to see and have fun. My favorite part is catching all the bead necklaces from the clowns. We followed them for some time and I got 12 this year! After the parade, we approached some ticket scalpers to see how much Lion’s tickets were. They were ridiculous! People were wanting $200/ticket for 300 level seats. No way. We waited around till it was close to the end of the first quarter and prices really hadn’t dropped so we headed over to Big City Bar & Grill for our traditional Thanksgiving dinner. We stayed till after half time and then headed back to the room to finish the game and nap. In the evening, we went to the Wayne County Light Fest to tour the drive through light show.
Eternal Flame Falls
On Friday, we drove around Detroit for a bit seeing the abandoned Grand Central Train station and then took the Ambassador bridge into Canada. Driving through Canada is a pretty boring drive but we were headed to New York and it was the fastest route. Our destination was Eternal Flame Falls, about an hour east of Buffalo. The trail to the falls was not a very easy one. We were prepared for slippery and muddy conditions but it was a surprise when we had to crawl over downed trees and cross a river (it was very shallow). The falls were AWESOME! It is a waterfall that has a small flame behind it. Methane naturally escapes through the earth and there is a fire that constantly burns. Occasionally it will go out but is relighted. Seeing the waterfall and the flame was my favorite thing we did this trip. After the Eternal Flame Falls, we headed to Mount Morris, NY where we checked into our hotel, ate and settled in for the night.
Letchworth State Park
On Saturday, we planned to go to the Letchworth State Park. The park was actually not charging entrance fees so we saved $8! It was however hunting season in the park and the more we drove through and saw vehicles on the shoulder the more unsettled we became about being there. The visitor center explained to us the hunting situation and we felt better. Letchworth is known as the Grand Canyon of the East. There is a river that flows through the gorge that has three waterfalls. We hiked to all of them and it was a pretty fun hike. The waterfalls were really pretty and there were hardly any people. During our hike back to the car it started to sprinkle and the gorge became foggy so we headed back to get a bite to eat at Brian’s Diner, which was really good, and enjoy another nap. Before we left on Sunday we hit the park again finishing the overlooks we didn’t get to the day before and then headed home. It was a nice way to spend an extended weekend and we got to see some cool things we wouldn’t have otherwise seen!
