Today broke sunny and cool, with no wind or rain in sight. PERFECT for kayaking, so Lynn and Sheldon rode down to Lake Cayuga with me to get going.This was the first time I used a full skirt on the kayak. Everything went smoothly, and we were off. Lynn and Sheldon stayed ashore to explore the Park and Marina on foot…I preferred the quiet solitude and beauty of the water! Cayuga is the longest of the Finger Lakes, second largest overall, and is big enough to lose a first-timer like me. So, I stayed along the shoreline looking at the cliffs, birds, and lakefront residences and boathouses.
I found a beautiful modern-design house under construction. It looks like a potential movie set. Hey, I also found two small waterfalls dumping into the Lake! Geeeez, gravity is pretty cruel to water in this area of the world. The expedition was so great that I went again this evening, after our other adventures. Nice change after so much rain delay.
Our next tourist stop was Ithaca, home of Cornell University, and a big “walking only” area downtown called “Ithaca Commons”. Urban touring really means “shopping” in one form or another, so we attacked. Great street side pay-parking machines put us on foot close to the Commons, It’s a several blocks long, beautiful wide paved and beautified area with businesses lining the sides. One huge construction was underway, about one block long, which disrupted the ambiance. We found some local artisan shops to browse, and I even found a pair of hiking pants for 70% off due to Lynn’s shopping skills. Sweet!
We found ourselves at “Red’s Place” for lunch, and after a beer and a unique beef sandwich we returned to the truck and headed out for the inevitable “Ithaca Falls" viewing. We assumed it’d be a cheesy small waterfall, but were stunned to find a huge wall of water tumbling down a rocky gorge just 1 mile from downtown, right in a residential part of town. It was formerly used by local industry for hydro power, but that's all gone now. We hiked down to the base of the falls, which was roaring and spraying furiously from 150+ feet high. A nice college couple took our pic down there, and we got some more photos from the street. All our Falls photos don’t do a good job of conveying the power and force of the water crashing down. We’ll show you the pics anyway!
Seeking a place for ice cream, we followed our Google GPS suggestions and found NO ice cream at two of the places. BUT we ran into our new college friends from the Falls at a small shop in the Commons, and got their suggestions for some other falls to visit nearby. That led us to discover “15 Below Ice Cream”, hidden in a small storefront, where the ice cream is flattened out very thin on a super-frozen prep table, then rolled into little frozen ice cream tubes, about the size of a mini-cannoli. We got 5 of ‘em, with chocolate syrup and an Oreo. No photos, we were too busy eating.
We headed back to camp, I got another kayak ride in, and Lynn and Sheldon relaxed. Tomorrow we head for Ludlow, Vermont , to visit Lisa and Bill Deddens. The weather has cooled, it’s more like what we expected for Fall weather now, and we are stoked to see our friends and some new vistas.
All our trip photos are at this link if you are interested:
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