Finger Lakes, Adrinodacks

Whoever said New York was all about city? We have been experiencing the beautiful countryside and mountains of up state New York.

The drive through small towns going east from Niagra Falls along Lake Ontario, was charming -- older, quaint homes and small villages right along the road.

We spent several days in the Finger Lakes area, which is one of the 20 "points of interest" listed in our 2007 Atlas. We went first to the Seneca Falls Women's Rights Historical Museum where the 1848 Convention of Women's Rights was held that started the movement. Cady Stanton and others had organized it and printed up 17 grievances now listed on a water wall next to the walls of the church, which are still standing, (see photo). The Wesleyan Chapel is sometimes called the "Great Lighthouse" because of the stand they took against slavery and for women's rights. (Go Methodists!) I felt very grateful for these early women pioneers and the community that supported them, knowing I have benefited because of them. All of us have actually!

We also enjoyed the winery trails in the area -- not as many as Sonoma County or as good, of course, but quite a number of them in such a picturesque area with lakes, rolling hills and vineyards. One of the wineries was in a rustic cabin, and would have had a roaring fire had it been cold. We were invited to sit in rocking chairs as they poured the wine and served food nibbles and chatted with us. Another lake area had even more wineries, so on one of the rainy days we stopped at several more -- all with such unique, friendly experiences. (Photo doesn't capture the beauty because of the rain, unfortunately)

On Sunday we took a hike through a gorge with waterfalls but it was raining so hard and the puddles got so deep we turned back. (One of the photos has John standing under one of the waterfalls--too dark to get the idea, unfortunately.) We drove through Ithaca and found Cornell University. We're noticing the more "liberal" spirit here with organic grocery stores (where we loaded up on some things), etc.

Then on to Lake George and the Adirondacks. We "stayed home" most of one day because it was raining, and because we needed some "down" time. But we did find a restaurant for lunch on a beautiful small lake near our campground. Today was a glorious day with more sun -- we drove up into the Adirondacks on the best highway ever -- four-lane, with fantastic scenery of the hills. We're getting a hint of the change of color -- it's going to be spectacular! We left the highway to drive to Lake Placid and toured the Olympics Sports Center where they held the 1980 and 1932 Olympics. Many athletes train there all year round. We met one of the Olympic team members--a pusher on the women's bobsled team. Saw the ice arena that had one of the most spectacular sporting events in the last 100 years -- USA beat USSR in ice hockey (portrayed in the film "Miracle on Ice", which incidentally, was filmed in Canada, not in that ice arena!) Unfortunately I don't have pictures -- I left the camera memory card in my laptop by mistake. It was beautiful and I'm so sorry not to have pictures, just good memories!