Tag Archives | trawlers

June 24-28 Sheldrake House Vacation

By on June 26, 2023 in The Pearl
“The lake and the mountains have become my landscape, my real world.”  -Georges Simenon
Our second family vacation of the summer was at a beautiful home in my favorite part of Cayuga Lake…Sheldrake. It’s a spectacular area with pretty homes, a great winery and no hills you have to climb down to get to the lake.

Check in time to Airbnbs is always late in the afternoon so the kids come to the boat first. We have a picnic lunch and play at the marina until it’s time to move in. This time we rode bikes, played soccer and roller skated.
The house – Sheldrake House was built in 1850 and has been owned by only a few families throughout its history. It also belonged to the New York Chiropractic College for a while during the 1970s. 
A picture of the house in the early 1900s.

The kitchen

The living room, dining room, game room and library

The Bedrooms
The Boathouse
The first evening after dinner we enjoyed playing in the boat house. There were lots of spotty rain showers in the area so we didn’t have much of a sunset.
On Sunday we couldn’t have asked for a better day to play on the lake. We spent hours riding and tubing on the boat, had a picnic lunch on the boathouse deck and spent the afternoon playing in the water on our beach.
Being on the boat is so much fun.
Everyone loved being pulled on the raft.
Graham got very brave after a little alone time on the raft.
Kyle enjoying the knee board.
Playing on the lake can wear you out.
A look at the house from the lake.
There were scattered rain showers in the area the whole time we were at the house, but that didn’t stop us from truly enjoying our stay. We filled our time playing in the water, painting rocks, playing games, riding bikes, kicking the soccer ball around, reading, working on a puzzle and enjoying some great food.

This was our favorite place to paint and to eat…what a view.
We always eat well on our little get aways.

Even the kids like to help cook.

Just a few of the wonderful things we enjoyed eating at the Sheldrake House.

Enjoying a quiet moment on the porch.

Views from the porch were amazing.

We love closing out our vacations with a fire, s’mores and family fun.

No rain for us…just a rainbow and a wonderful view of the lake.

That’s a wrap on this vacation. Lots of great memories.

Cannery Cove

By on June 24, 2023 in Idyll Time

It is another typical Alaskan day with overcast skies and 50 degree temperatures as we exit our stall in the North Harbor and work our way out into Wrangell Narrows.  Our first stop is the Petro Marine fuel dock to top off the tanks.  While down in the engine room, Jeff discovers  a small water leak on the […]

Skagway

By on June 24, 2023 in M/V Dirona

During the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896 through 1899, roughly 100,000 prospectors poured into the Yukon in northwestern Canada, in the hopes of striking it rich. The main routes to the Yukon gold fields were from the southeast Alaska towns of Skagway or Dyea, across White Pass or Chilkoot Pass respectively. No roads or railways…

June 21 – Hiking & Waterfalls

By on June 22, 2023 in The Pearl
“Choice. Chance. Change. You must make the choice, to take a chance if you want anything in life to change.” -Author Unknown
It was such a beautiful day we decided to do a few hikes at some new places. I’ve heard wonderful things about Stony Brook State Park, so we headed west to Dansville to check it out. While we were in the area we also did a little hiking at The Gully Preserve. Both places were beautiful and almost empty…just the way we like it.

Our first stop was at Stony Brook. They were doing a little maintenance at the park so we had to enter the Gorge Trail from the south entrance. This park was a summer resort in the late 19th century, following the construction of a railroad in 1883. By the late 1920s the resort fell into decline and the state of New York acquired the land. The park was established in 1928 and with the help of the CCC in the 1930s it added trails and bridges making it what we see today. Like the other gorges in the Finger Lakes this beautiful area was created by receding glaciers.

From the parking lot at the southern end we had to come down these stairs…so on the way back we had to go up.
The upper falls are known as Shawmut Falls. We had to do a little scrambling down the side of the brook to get to this one. On the way back to the main trail we walked in the brook.

The trail along Stony Brook.

The top of the middle falls.

This is the middle falls are known as Pittsburg Falls.

This is the lower falls known as Northern Falls.

This bridge was as far as we could hike today. From here we had to return on the same trail.

Looking down stream from the bridge. Maybe next time we can hike the whole gorge.

We enjoyed a picnic lunch at the state park and then we made our way over to the Gully Preserve. I had read the trails here might be hard to find, but we found that to be the opposite. They were quite easy to follow and took us to some amazing sights in a fairly short distance.
 
On the south side of the road is a large wide falls that some call Pokey-Moonshine Falls. The falls cascade over the cliff into a deep and shadowy gorge. We decided to view the falls from the top since the hillside was wet and slippery. But on a hot day the pool below would be a great place to swim. 

The top of Pokey-Moonshine Falls.

Looking down the cliff at the falls and gorge.

We climbed down this far so we could get a better look at the falls.

The falls from part way down the cliff.

To get to the falls on the north side we followed the creek just off the road. It led up to a chute-like falls with water running through a large straight crack in the bedrock and down multiple tiers. This whole area is hidden from the upper trail.
 
The trail along the creek.

A look at the chute along the creek.
The falls at the of the public trail.
On the way back to Ithaca we stopped at this cute little shop in a town called North Cohocton.

June 21 – Hiking & Waterfalls

By on June 22, 2023 in The Pearl
“Choice. Chance. Change. You must make the choice, to take a chance if you want anything in life to change.” -Author Unknown
It was such a beautiful day we decided to do a few hikes at some new places. I’ve heard wonderful things about Stony Brook State Park, so we headed west to Dansville to check it out. While we were in the area we also did a little hiking at The Gully Preserve. Both places were beautiful and almost empty…just the way we like it.

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Juneau

By on June 21, 2023 in M/V Dirona

Alaska’s capital, Juneau, is the only mainland US capital city with no road connections. The only way in or out is by air or sea. And despite having a population of only 32,000, it’s the second largest city in the US by area, after Sitka, also in Alaska. We arrived by boat, as do the…

Ketchikan

By on June 18, 2023 in M/V Dirona

On our Norwegian Encore Caribbean cruise, we didn’t take any excursions, opting instead to visit each port on foot on our own. The Jewel offered some more interesting trips, so we booked one for each port. In Ketchikan, we took an off-road UTV safari through Tongass National Forest in a Yamaha Wolverine X2. Although we…

Inside Passage to Alaska

By on June 17, 2023 in M/V Dirona

After our second night at the Vancouver Pan Pacific hotel, we woke up to find the Norwegian Jewel, the ship we’d be taking to Alaska, docked just outside our room. We boarded later that day and spent the afternoon exploring the ship, then had a wonderful time watching from our balcony at the bow as…

Sitka Soggy Sitka

By on June 17, 2023 in M/V Alpenglow

Keeping with our 2023 “style” of cruising, we’ve been staying in the Sitka area the last two weeks. The first five days after we arrived on June 3, we were on the dock.  We did lots of walks around town and on the nearby trails.  Drake was able to get two play sessions a day at the dog park a short distance from the harbor.

We did leave on June 8 with the intent to poke around south of Sitka on the west coast of Baranof Island. Our first night was at Dorothy Cove in Necker Bay a bit over 40 miles of cruising from Sitka. Most of that distance is actually protected by islands from direct ocean swell. We had one exposed section of about 5 miles for which we put our stabilizing “fish” in the water to lessen the roll from the incoming waves hitting us on our starboard side.  They did dampen the boat’s motion and improve Drake’s experience and, hopefully reduce his anxiety.

TempChart

Unfortunately, about that time the weather became a bit colder and drearier. After two nights in Dorothy Cove and with a forecast for windier conditions, we decided to get back north of the exposed open coast section.  We stayed one night each at Jamboree Bay and Sevenfathom Bay before heading to Leesoffskaia Bay, a few miles south of Sitka.  The temperatures remained cool with highs in low 50’s and low’s in the mid 40’s.. Winds were generally 10 to 20 knots with occasional rain showers.  Not exactly the weather for lounging on deck.

PrecipChart

After two nights in Leesoffskaia, we traveled the short six miles to Sitka Harbor and tied up at the transient dock on June 14. Since arriving, a strong front has passed by dropping over 1.5 inches of rain and bringing high winds with accompanying heavy seas off shore. We’ll stay a few more days on the dock waiting for a forecasted period of fine weather then head north.

Sitka Soggy Sitka

By on June 17, 2023 in M/V Alpenglow

Keeping with our 2023 “style” of cruising, we’ve been staying in the Sitka area the last two weeks. The first five days after we arrived on June 3, we were on the dock.  We did lots of walks around town and on the nearby trails.  Drake was able to get two play sessions a day at the dog park a short distance from the harbor.

We did leave on June 8 with the intent to poke around south of Sitka on the west coast of Baranof Island. Our first night was at Dorothy Cove in Necker Bay a bit over 40 miles of cruising from Sitka. Most of that distance is actually protected by islands from direct ocean swell. We had one exposed section of about 5 miles for which we put our stabilizing “fish” in the water to lessen the roll from the incoming waves hitting us on our starboard side.  They did dampen the boat’s motion and improve Drake’s experience and, hopefully reduce his anxiety.

TempChart

Unfortunately, about that time the weather became a bit colder and drearier. After two nights in Dorothy Cove and with a forecast for windier conditions, we decided to get back north of the exposed open coast section.  We stayed one night each at Jamboree Bay and Sevenfathom Bay before heading to Leesoffskaia Bay, a few miles south of Sitka.  The temperatures remained cool with highs in low 50’s and low’s in the mid 40’s.. Winds were generally 10 to 20 knots with occasional rain showers.  Not exactly the weather for lounging on deck.

PrecipChart

After two nights in Leesoffskaia, we traveled the short six miles to Sitka Harbor and tied up at the transient dock on June 14. Since arriving, a strong front has passed by dropping over 1.5 inches of rain and bringing high winds with accompanying heavy seas off shore. We’ll stay a few more days on the dock waiting for a forecasted period of fine weather then head north.