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Canandaigua Boathouses

By on July 20, 2017 in The Pearl
Allan H. Treman State Marine Park
“At the beach, life is different. A day moves not from hour to hour but leaps from mood to moment. We go with the currents, plan around the tides and follow the sun.” –Sandy Gingras

Canandaigua Lake is one of the Finger Lakes…it’s two lakes west of Ithaca, so we thought we’d check it out on our way home from Toronto. Canandaigua, which means “chosen spot”, is a beautiful village on the north end of the lake that is a popular summer destination. The town was first settled in 1791 and by the mid-19th century Canandaigua was an important railroad junction and homeport for several steamboats that operated on the lake. In the 1850’s single wooden boathouses were built along the City Pier and the Steam Basin, where the Steamboats operated. They were originally used to store small boats, produce and farm supplies delivered by the steamboats.
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July 18 – Black Diamond Bike Trail

By on July 19, 2017 in The Pearl

Allan H. Treman State Marine Park

“People who do nothing are the ones that have no time to do anything.” 

When we first got to Ithaca we were impressed with the bike trails and we’ve used the Cayuga Waterfront Trail quite a bit, but I wasn’t interested in the Black Diamond Trail. I thought it must be something difficult…you know black diamond ski trail hard, but dock neighbors told us more about it, so we gave it a try today. This Rail Trail follows the Lehigh Valley Railroad route who’s Black Diamond Express once ran from Jersey City to Buffalo and Niagara Falls between 1896 and 1959. The luxury passenger line was named for the most profitable commodity on the railroad: coal…black diamonds.

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July 14-16 Toronto, ON

By on July 18, 2017 in The Pearl
Allan H. Treman State Marine Park

“Traveling will destroy the person you use to be to help create whomever you were meant to become.” —Kiana Azizian

We spent two wonders nights at the Marriott in downtown Toronto. It was great to have such a wonderful room to come back to each evening after walking all over town exploring the unique neighborhoods. We walked over twelve miles on Saturday. Friday afternoon we explored Chinatown and the Kensington Market neighborhoods. Kensington Market is Toronto’s most vibrant and diverse neighborhood located in the heart of town. It’s full of eclectic shops and cafes. The neighborhood has always been home to immigrants…the nationalities have changed over the past century, making it one of Toronto’s most multicultural neighborhoods. 

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Ithaca Farmers Market

By on July 17, 2017 in The Pearl
Allan H. Treman State Marine Park

“The trouble with life isn’t that there is no answer, it’s that there are so many answers.” —Ruth Benedict 

Ithaca has a wonderful farmers market…it occurs three times a week during the summer. The Ithaca Farmer’s Market is a cooperative with 160 vendors who live within 30 miles of Ithaca and grow or make their own products, offering a true taste of the region’s rich beauty and heritage through homegrown goods, produce, handmade crafts and gifts. The market opened in 1973 and the pavilion is situated in a garden-like setting, surrounded by trees and flowering plants. 
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Finger Lake Wineries & Breweries

By on July 13, 2017 in The Pearl
Allan H. Treman State Marine Park

“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.”—Maya Angelou

We’ve been visiting a lot of cute brewery and wineries in the area…here are a few of our favorite, so far.

Aurora Ale & Lager Co.

Aurora Ale & Lager are a new NYS Farm Nanobrewery located on the east shore of Cayuga Lake with a wonderful hill top view of the lake. They’re just a few miles south of the quaint village of Aurora. They brew small batches of beers from smoked porters, aromatic IPAs, bourbon barrel-aged stouts, wheats, saisons to sours. 
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July 11 – Celebrating 36 Year

By on July 12, 2017 in The Pearl

We’re celebrating 36 years together on this voyage we call life. What a great adventure it has been and we look forward to seeing what new adventures the future brings.”The Voyage”I am a sailor, you’re my first mateWe signed on together, we coupled our…

Fillmore Glen State Park

By on July 11, 2017 in The Pearl
Allan H. Treman State Marine Park

“People grow through experience if they meet life honestly and courageously. This is how character is built.” —Eleanor Roosevelt
On our way back from the Lavender Festival on Saturday we stopped by Fillmore Glen State Park. It’s an oasis of cool, dense woods crowding into a long, narrow gorge. The hiking trails offer spectacular views, unique geological formations, a botanically rich glen and five more beautiful waterfalls. The park was named for President Millard Fillmore, who was born in a log cabin about five miles from the park. 

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July 8 – Skaneateles, NY

By on July 10, 2017 in The Pearl

Allan H. Treman State Marine Park

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Today we drove over to Skaneateles Lake, a finger lake east of Ithaca, to check out the Finger Lake Lavender Festival. This area of New York is beauty…rolling hills, green pastures, beautiful tall trees, red barns and amazing views. The festival was at Lockwood Lavender Farm, which overlooks the lake. The farm is open daily in June and July for people to pick lavender bouquets, wander through their beautiful grounds taking pictures and shop for lavender products in the drying barn. But this weekend they also offered an arts and craft show, music and food. It was a great experience, but photo ops would have been better when the crowd was smaller. 
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July 7 – Buttermilk Falls State Park

By on July 9, 2017 in The Pearl

Allan H. Treman State Marine Park

“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” —Frank Lloyd Wright

We made it to Buttermilk Falls today. The state park is literally in Ithaca. The original 164 acres of the park were presented as a gift to New York State by Robert and Laura Treman in 1924. It grew to its current 811-acre through various state acquisitions in the years that followed. We hiked the gorge trail which follows Buttermilk Creek as it cascades down through the gorge about 600 feet, passing deep pools, sculpted rocks and countless waterfalls. First we hiked up…then we hiked back down the same trail.
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Aurora, NY

By on July 7, 2017 in The Pearl
Allan H. Treman State Marine Park

The little village of Aurora is nestled on the banks of Cayuga Lake in upstate New York, it looks like it could have been ripped from the pages of a storybook. About a decade ago, Pleasant Rowland, the creator of American Girl Dolls, led a massive, village-wide restoration project to restore the historic grand estates and cozy cottages into charming accommodations, shops, and restaurants. 

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