Actually, the name of the park is Watkins Glen State Park and Gorge. I added the the gorgeous part because it is. Truly Gorge-ous. If you are ever in the area, this is not to be missed! I can imagine in high tourist season the trail is very crowded and probably impossible to take photos without throngs of people. We had a lovely leisurely “stroll” (or should I say climb?) on this cloudy autumn day. Let me show you what it was like.

You entered the trail through a hole in the cliff. A sign at the beginning warned of over 800 steps ahead and promised 19 waterfalls. It didn’t lie.

The first bridge, Sentry Bridge, at the beginning of the trail after going through the hole in the cliff and up the first set of stairs.

 

The weather, although cloudy, was not cold. I was glad it wasn’t raining as the path was wet and slippery enough, especially where leaves had fallen. The trail immediately headed up and didn’t stop for one mile.

 

Little spills of water filled up pools with walls carved smooth by centuries.

 

The first big waterfall was Cavern Cascade.

Here is Rick to give you some perspective of scale.

 

 

This photo is taken standing at the side of the waterfall looking back down the canyon.

 

The canyon was narrow as it twisted its way up and up. The rock walls towered above our heads, cutting out whatever feeble sunlight was available.  Water seeped from the rock surface above and sprinkled down upon us as we walked underneath, making the trail slippery in spots. I found myself sheltering the camera lens from the watery drips from above fairly often. Onward up the seemingly endless stairs we went.

 

 

Around every turn in the trail were scenes to delight the senses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best waterfall was saved for last: Rainbow Falls and its Glen of Pools. Shangri-La immediately came to my mind.

Water just poured off the face of the cliff in a delicate shower. Imagine had it been raining!

 

These were taken behind it.

 

At the top!

Instead of making our way back down all those 800 or so slippery stairs, we decided to take the rim trail back along the top of the gorge.

The woods were beautiful!

 

 

And last, I leave you with the view looking down from the suspension bridge over the gorge. See the trail to the left? It’s a long way down! Hope you’re not afraid of heights!

 

After making our way back down to the car, we drove up the west side of Seneca Lake to stop for wine tasting and a late lunch at Glenora Vineyards. Their wines were very good, both the reds and the whites. Unfortunately the lunch in their restaurant was not very good. Very disappointing, but we did order their cheese sampler of local farmstead cheeses to take back to our room with us for our dinner which turned out to be good, but I still think Rick can make better cheeses than some of them! The goat cheese which came from Lively Run Goat Dairy (which we had passed near Trumansburg) was the best of all. Had I known when we passed the sign pointing down a side road that they were open to visits we would have stopped!

Another wine tasting (a disappointing one), then we headed back to our room at the Arbor House, thereby concluding your tour of Day 1. Did you have fun? Do your legs ache?

Sorry for being remiss and not really taking you on vacation with me. We were on the go all day long and not much time was spent on the computer. What time I did spend was spent downloading photos!

We had a great time and certainly won’t be crossing the Finger Lakes off our list of potential places to retire. We both were extremely impressed with the area—beautiful hillsides rolling down to pristine lakes. Vineyards. Farm land. Waterfalls. Gorges. We managed to see all the lakes except for Owasco, Canadaigua (the furthest West) and tiny Otisco (furthest East). We were staying in a Bed and Breakfast in Skaneateles (pronounced Scan-ee-AT-les) on Skaneateles Lake called the Arbor House Inn.

Our room was not in the main house (pictured above), but in the renovated teasel barn behind the main house. Actually, it was a suite of rooms (full kitchen, living area and bedroom) with its own private deck. Since the room I had originally asked for was already reserved by someone else for the last night we were there, the owner drastically reduced to price of the suite, making it affordable for us. Here is the view off the deck. We used the deck the first night we were there, sitting outside and sipping a glass of wine, but the rest of the time it was raining.

Just a side note: Teasels were cultivated for more than one hundred years in the Skaneateles area. The stiff natural hooks on the burr head were used a tool for raising the nap of woolen cloth.

We were convinced our suite had a ghost because we would wake up in the middle of the night to knocking/banging noises that moved around in the wall or under the floor boards. We never did figure it out.

Here is part of the main street of Skaneateles reflected in the lake as seen from the pier.

On our first day (Thursday) we drove down the east shore of Cayuga Lake. Each lake really does have its own “feel” to it. They are each different. The town of Aurora is a beautiful little place. We only skirted the bustling outskirts of Ithaca but the setting is lovely. The western shore of Cayuga is much rockier and more heavily wooded then the east. It is also home to Taughannock Falls State Park. We walked around a little bit and took in some of the fall color.

 

Then on to the real star of the park—the falls.

Taughannock Falls are the highest vertical falls east of the Mississippi River. They plunge 215 feet straight down into a rock amphitheater surrounded by rock walls as high as 400 feet. What a sight!

 

After the park it was time to make our way to Watkins Glen, our next stop. On our way we passed through the town of Trumansburg and made a note how lovely the area around it was. Down the eastern side of Seneca Lake we drove, passing vineyard after vineyard and arriving at Watkins Glen State Park just before noon.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more photos of Watkins Glen!

Here we are in our Marriott room in Rochester. I am wondering why I have no dogs to take out for final walks, or why I don’t have a cat litter box in my bathtub. Hey, it’s all good!

Today we drove up to Rochester. We veered off the Interstate at Corning, New York (home of the Corning Glass Museum which at some other time would be a great place to visit) and headed up the western shore of Seneca Lake. The sun was pretty much absent most of the day, so the skies were a bit gloomy. We were afraid that we had missed all the fall foliage as our drive through the Catskills showed us nothing but trees mostly devoid of their leaves. Wow, were we surprised to see the colors vibrant and shining through the gloom! Glorious color!

The vines shared the hillside with the trees.

The scenery reminded us very much of Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Maybe the hillsides were not as tall as there, but very similar in look with vines clinging to the side going down to the lake. Beautiful! Fittingly so, at the North end of the lake we came to the town of Geneva. A pretty town you could picture yourself living in. We passed through the Main Street area which was alive with small boutiques and shops, so unlike the abandoned downtown areas that other cities seem to have. Score one for Geneva.

Between Geneva and Rochester was mostly rolling hills and plenty of farmland. Perfect for goats! (hint, hint)

Sorry, all these photos were taken from the car. No time to really stop and take photos as we needed to get on in to Rochester.

Tomorrow Rick will be done with work by early afternoon and then our mini vacation will start. We are headed to Skaneateles and our B & B.

We’re off today on a short jaunt until the weekend. Rick has a talk to give at the Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York so I am tagging along and we’re making a mini vacation out of it by visiting the Finger Lakes. It’s partly fun, visiting wineries and seeing the sights, and partly a scouting mission for what we want to do when we grow up. In other words, to see if we like the area with an eye to retirement. I’ll be blogging along the way as I know a few of you out there enjoy going with me on my vacations!
Right now I have to go pack, get the dogs ready to take to the kennel, make sure the kitties have enough food to last until the pet sitter shows up tomorrow, and prepare for the 5 1/2 hour drive up. See you later!

 

Photos taken at Monksville Reservoir, about 5 miles from my house.

 

Well, technically this is a goat, so this is a doe rather than a ewe. Isn’t she cute? I was sorely tempted to take this one home with me.

On Saturday we drove up to Rhinebeck, New York to visit the New York State Sheep & Wool Festival. We had never been before. Somehow something else always coincided with the weekend it was happening on. Rain and cold weather were predicted, but the rain held off and only gray leaden skies showed up. The weather forecast didn’t stop anyone from coming though—it was very crowded!

The very first building we went in had a rug hooking vendor. I was hoping there would be one there. As it turned out there were lots of rug hooking stalls and those dedicated to the materials used in hooking. Why should I care, you might ask? Well, it’s all Julie’s fault over at Hookworm. Seeing her lovely project made me want to know more, so she graciously sent me links for more information. I knew immediately that this was one craft I needed to try. How creative you could be in your choice of materials! I was hooked, shall we say.

Anyway, I had told Rick about how I was going to ask for a rug hooking kit to get me started for Christmas. He was a little skeptical because he had never seen rug hooking before. When he saw the finished products he was just as impressed as I was. So, when we walked in the first building and the very first stall was Hooked on Ewe with gorgeous starter kits, how could I not buy one? Here is what the kit I bought will look like on completion:

Should be fun! So, Julie, it’s your fault if I become a hooker!

Here are some more photos involving rug hooking, from the materials to the finished rugs.

I have never seen so much yarn in my life! Yarn, yarn, yarn everywhere! And people decked out in their knitted finery! Rick and I were appropriately dressed as he wore a scarf I knitted for him last year and I was wearing my Lovely Leaf Lace scarf (newly seamed together). Ours were not quite as grand as some of the creations, but we fit right in. Frankly, I thought Rick might be bored with barn after barn of yarn goods, but he wasn’t. There were lots of beautiful crafts and wares to look at as well. I was hoping to take more photos of all the gorgeous hues of yarn but it was just too crowded in most places.

How about joining in a big knit-in? I don’t know for sure what they had planned for this project ...

We also went to meet some goats. Rick and I have this romantic notion (well, me more than Rick I think) to keep a few goats once we “retire.” I have never been around goats before but I’ve had people tell me that they are more intelligent than sheep. Obviously the goats at the Festival are not the kind that you could milk, but they are goats just the same! I talked to both the goats and the sheep. I didn’t get much out of the sheep but a few of the goats connected with me. Here are some of them.

The sheep didn’t want to be left out, so they agreed to pose for me too.

We had to laugh at the people grooming their show entries. They reminded us so much of the dog show world. This was one handsome guy.

hey, I’m trying to chew here!

Love these locks!

A big highlight of the day for me was finally meeting fellow blogger Jane of Not Plain Jane in person! We had arranged to meet before we went so all we had to do was get in touch by cell phone and designate a place to meet. It was wonderful to meet the person behind the blog and give her a hug! Jane, you are just as wonderful as I knew you would be.

I can’t believe I didn’t buy any yarn! I didn’t go with any project in mind which I think was a mistake. It was so totally overwhelming that it all started to look alike after a while. I think next year I will have a specific pattern in mind instead of thinking to myself when I saw a yarn I liked “I could do this or that with this yarn ...”

pssst, let me tell you a little secret. try not to look so darned cute and maybe those people will leave us alone! if only our fur wasn’t so soft ...

okay, never mind, that plan totally failed.

Coming home we drove through my old hometown of Hyde Park. Very nostalgic.

We had a great time and we’ll definitely be going back again next year!