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Allan H. Treman State Marine Park

“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” ―Anaïs Nin

We’re back on the boat. We had a great week in Texas visiting with parents, kids, grandkids, siblings, cousins and friends. It was filled with hugs and kisses, lots of meals out and relaxing mornings on the back deck of Texas Pearl. 
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Allan H. Treman State Marine Park

“You can’t come back if you never go away.” —Unknown

Getting around to blogging gets difficult when you stay busy and on the go. We enjoyed Friday in Ithaca getting to know our dock mates and taking in a little of the annual Ithaca Festival…arts and crafts, food, music and a parade. Ithaca is a real eclectic town, so people watching is definitely a fun activity. People watching at the evening parade was more fun than the parade itself, but we gave up before the parade ended so we could have a nice dinner at Maxie’s. Everyone we’ve met in town has recommended it and didn’t disappoint. It’s definitely a place we’ll go back to. 
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Allan H. Treman State Marine Park

If you look across our marina you might think it’s snowing…snow in June? The June snows are white and fluffy, but warm and cottony rather than cold and crystalline. The snows of June consist of “cotton” from the cottonwood trees: small bits of cotton-like fibers enclosing a small green cottonwood seed. It’s the trees distribution agent, allowing the seeds to be dispersed as they are blown in the wind. 

Sometimes, especially near a stand of cottonwoods, there can be a flurry of cotton that resembles a light snow storm. But to this Texas girl the piles of fluff along the edges of the grass remind me of cotton. Like the bits of cotton that blow out of the cotton pickers and module builders in August and pile up along the road. 

The cotton blizzard typically lasts only a few weeks, and all is gone by July. They can be a nuisance sometimes clogging up waterways, filters, collecting inches deep in gutters, and turning into clumps of fibrous mass in the rain. These piles can sometimes be difficult to clear away.

These trees are Eastern Cottonwood, also called Eastern Poplar. Cottonwoods are some of the oldest known trees in existence. They are in the Willow family and like willows are fast growers. Their wood is generally weak and they are rather short lived as trees go, living usually only about eighty years or so. But due to their rapid growth they can provide quick shade in parks and recreational areas.

Allan H. Treman State Marine Park

“To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.” – Pema Chödrön

Ithaca promotes itself as having 150 waterfalls within ten miles of town…we’ve seen 13 so far. So blog followers, you might get tired of seeing waterfalls this summer, but I hope not. Today we rode our bikes up to Ithaca Falls and the Fall Creek Gorge. In the early 1800’s, half-dozen mills were operating near Ithaca Falls and you can see their ruins along the south bank of the creek. The plunge pool of Ithaca Falls is famous among anglers for lake-run trout and salmon. 
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Allan H. Treman State Marine Park

To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.” ―Bill Bryso

It was a beautiful morning (it did rain this afternoon), so after Stan tried his luck at fishing again, we road our bikes to the trail head of the Cascadilla Gorge. This gorge is located in downtown Ithaca and is one of the most picturesque gorges in the Finger Lakes Region. The Cascadilla Gorge Trail connects the downtown area with the Cornell Campus. The trail ascends over 400 feet, carving through bedrock – shale, siltstone and sandstone – exposing sedimentary rocks that were deposited 400 million years ago. You can see ripple marks on the rock surface, which once was the muddy floor of an ancient ocean.
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Allan H. Treman State Marine Park

The Finger Lakes Region of New York State covers 9,000 square miles. It’s a wonderland of deep gorges, cascading waterfalls, sparkling lakes, and acres of forests, farms and vineyards. It includes miles of spectacular shoreline on 11 glacial lakes and one Great Lake. The 11 Finger Lakes from east to west are: Otisco Lake, Skaneateles Lake, Owasco Lake, Cayuga Lake, Seneca Lake, Keuka Lake, Canandaigua Lake, Honeoye Lake, Canadice Lake, Hemlock Lake, Conesus Lake.

The Finger Lakes are long and narrow, and mostly run north to south. The lakes’ shapes reminded early mapmakers of human fingers, and through the years the name stuck. Cayuga (435 feet deep) at 38 miles long and almost 67 square mile in total area is the largest. Seneca Lake at 618 feet deep is the deepest of the lakes is among the deepest in the United States; its bottom is well below sea level.  

The lakes originated as a series of northward-flowing streams, but southward movement of glaciers from the Hudson Bay area widened, deepened, and accentuated the existing river valleys. Glacial debris left behind by the receding ice, acted as dams, allowing lakes to form.  

The Finger Lakes area is New York’s largest wine producing region, with over 100 wineries and vineyards located around Seneca, Cayuga, Canandaigua, Keuka, Conesus, and Hemlock Lakes. Because of the lakes’ great depth, they provide a lake effect to the lush vineyards that border their shores. Retaining lingering summer warmth in the winter and winters cold in the spring (no wonder it’s still so cold here), the grapes are protected from disastrous spring frost during shoot growth and early frost before the harvest. The main grape varieties grown are Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Vidal Blanc, and Seyval Blanc.

As soon as it warms up a bit and the rain slacks off we’ll be visiting some of the wineries in the area and finding some of the waterfalls that are so abundant around Ithaca.

Wineries in the Finger Lake region 

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Baldwinsville Free Town Dock

“It is not so much for its beauty that the sea makes a claim upon men’s hearts, as for that subtle something, that quality of air, that emanation from the waves, that so wonderfully renews a weary spirit.” —Unknown

Brewerton, NY

We left Sylvan Beach this morning. The first 20 miles were across Oneida Lake. It was a smooth trip although the wind did pick up a little. We went through Brewerton, were we spent a few weeks on our first trip up the Erie Canal in 2012. That year we rented a car to did a little sight seeing before we headed home for the birth of our first Grandwonder. Today we cruised straight by remembering our time here. 
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Sylvan Beach Free Dock

“Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.” ―Paul Theroux

Today was a much better day on the water, lots of sunshine and warmer by this afternoon, but still cold this morning. We enjoyed having the heater on as we ate breakfast. The past two days our travel on the Erie Canal was mainly in the Mohawk River, lots of bends and meandering…today’s travel was in a man made canal. Mostly a straight shot from Ilion to Sylvan Beach and we only had four locks. Two lifted us up and two brought us down to the elevation of Oneida Lake. 

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