My body is going to hate me tomorrow.
Today was our last full day in the area, and we could do what ever we wanted, all day long. We chose to go the state park and then to a skyline pedestrian bridge in nearby Pennsylvania. I think it was a perfect way to culminate our experience. We spent the day together laughing and being outdoors, two of my favorite things.
This morning started around 10 when we went over to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. It's been a real treat having DD so close, I know I'll miss it when we get back to Ithaca. After that we went over to the Seneca Nation of Indians Library so Devon could return the books he checked out and read earlier this week. It was really awesome because the library had two Native's come in with their traditional crafts. The two brothers made really beautiful dream catchers- it's their side business so they came down from a different territory about 40 minutes away to sell to us. After we finished buying souvenirs we stopped at subway to pick up sandwiches for the afternoon. From Salamanca we took off to the Allegany State Park.
The Allegany State Park is massive and beautiful. I hope to come back one day to camp and hike for a few days. We spent our time in one area of the park. I believe it was called something with Red Lake in it (it was an area around a lake, which was really pretty). Anyways, Nikki, Devon, and I decided to go for a hike. Niki and I were looking at the map and saw a 6.5 mile one that we wanted to try but it would've taken us way too long so we settled for the 2.5 mile, black diamond, Osgood Trail. We had to walk a ways around the lake to get to the entrance of the trail. The hike was a lot of fun, I haven't hiked in a long time and decided that I'm going to more often from now on. The trail was uphill on our way to the peak and it was over 2.5 miles without a doubt. We found ourselves in the middle of some really awesome scenery. There was an area with rocks that looked like the setting to a fairy movie or Midsummer nights dream. The temperature was just right and our walking sticks were legit. Once we got to the top of the trail we sat down and took it all in in silence. It was a really beautiful moment and feeling. You know when you physically exert yourself and you accomplish a goal, that's an great feeling. Now combine that with the beauty of the natural surrounding environment and you have a damn near perfect day. The climb down was a lot easier than the climb up. We'd walk from rock to rock and end up off the trail a little, having to search for the little blue men that marked it. One we got down we stopped along the lake to look at the view and feel some cool water. We ended up hiking for over 2 hours.When we finally got back to the picnic area Kathy, Kelly, and Olivia were no where to be found. We contemplated breaking into the van for our food, but decided against it. Kathy came back in a few minutes and unlocked the van for us. I enjoyed every bite of that sandwich.
When Olivia and Kelly returned we headed off to the Kinzua Bridge in PA. The Kinzua bridge used to be a railroad bridge that was used to transport coal or something like that. It was destroyed by a tornado. You can still clearly see the places where the tornado hit, there's not much vegetation. They restored half of the bridge and made it a place for people to go and see instead of functional. The view is spectacular. At the end of the bridge theres glass under you where you can see through to the bottom. Devon struggled with it the entire. It was funny, but I felt bad...kinda. We spent a lot of time there taking pictures and soaking in the view.
After we finished we went into Olean (also known as the squirrel town) for dinner. Nikki spotted this awesome Lebanese/Italian/Something else restuarant for us to eat dinner at. I ate a gyro and it was delicious.
We spent a lot of time at dinner tonight laughing. In fact, we spent a lot of time all day long laughing. With each other, at each other, it was all in good fun. We also started to sing in the car. While we have a music major with us, we are not the best singers (myself being the worst). I really appreciate the group dynamic that we have, I know that the trip wouldn't have been the same with any other people, and any other adviser.
I have so much more to say but again am too tired. I'll be sure to write a nice long one tomorrow with all the things I've missed talking about during the week. We're leaving tomorrow morning :(
-Bree
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