The Finger Lakes

New York's Finger Lakes

It was good to be back on our road bikes in the Finger Lakes of upper New York. Riding on the backroads between the farms and vineyards was lovely. Our campground is in a small town of Ovid between Lake Cayuga and Seneca Lake. Very little traffic other than the Amish carriages and a few tractors were on the roads.

By the second day of riding, we set our alarm clock for 6:30 since the heat and humidity were increasing.

 

Finger Lakes, NY

The Finger Lakes consist of 11 lakes with over 100 wineries. Many of the wineries have music in the afternoons.

We found several U pick berry places and Juneberry had some great looking blackberries with our names on them. Many of the roadside stands have serve yourself boxes with a place to drop our money. We did get some tasty tomatoes.

Artichokes

A mile from the end of our ride was a winery with copper pizza ovens.

Winery overlooking Lake Cayuga

The apple cider was refreshing.

The sangria was ok. It looked prettier than it tasted. Cranberry wine just doesn't do it for me.

Watkins Glen, NY

Watkins Glen State Park is the most famous of the Finger Lakes State Parks. Within  a two mile walk,  the glen's stream descends 400 feet past 200-foot cliffs, generating 19 waterfalls along its course. The gorge path winds over and under waterfalls and through the spray of Cavern Cascade. Rim trails overlook the gorge. We climbed the 840 steps which were fortunately shaded to keep us cooler.



The spray from the falls was refreshing.

We walked down the Spiral Tunnel to walk behind one of the falls.

I was surprised how long it took me to get over the pneumonia I got while in Maine. Our hikes and bike rides are getting longer each day. I ride a slow 15-20 miles before Mike drops me off and finishes his ride. It is good to know that someone has your back when things get tough.

Getting knocked down can be humbling.



Cycling in Freeport, Maine

Our day off

One day a week for 24 hours, we are totally free. We took our bikes to Freeport, Maine and got a ride sheet from LL Bean for a 25 mile loop to Brunswick. The morning was foggy and heated up pretty quickly as we rode. Pleasant Hill Road had plenty of ups and downs. Two miles before the end of our loop, I turned into Wealden Farms. Mike said that we didn't have any way to carry anything back if we bought anything. He was wrong. They had the best chocolate chip cookies and a cold drink. It was just what I needed to make the last climb back into Freeport.

 We passed several places on our ride with access to the Atlantic Ocean. The tide happened to be out.

 Green crab cages

Of course, after a bike ride, lunch is a requirement. We had eaten 1/2 of the steamers before I took the picture. Next up was some mighty fine fish tacos.

We stopped back by LL Bean after our ride and lunch but didn't need to buy a thing. I was ready to head home.

I stole a car, accidentally. The camp director told me to take the blue car with the keys in it when I needed to take a camper to the doctor one morning. The car I took was not the blue one she intended.

 

 Later that day, another camper needed to go to the Ready Care.  Mike brought the correct car to me while I got the camper ready. I got in the car and didn't know how to start it. The 14 year old camper had to help me figure out how to make it go. Once we got to the Ready Care, he took the fob and told me how to turn it off. He was kind of proud.  



 The path to Crows Point where the older campers live is a nice 1/2 mile walk.

Part of the sailing lesson is to capsize the boat and then right it. A calm day is the best for that. The boys were able to flip the sailboat but didn't have enough weight to right it. The boys in the upright sailboat got close enough for one of them to swim over and add his weight to get it upright. Success. 

 

I think these Mallards (the youngest campers) would rather be at free time or breakfast instead of the camp photo. I like this kind of photo instead of the one that everyone is posed just right.

 

We enjoy going down to beginner's beach and watch these little guys catch frogs and water snakes. They built a house in woodshop for some frogs The counselor found 3 dead frogs in the house under the bunk a few days later.

 

During "Nature Time" the little boys put 4 frogs in a box. A while later, they noticed only three frogs. The large frog had legs hanging out of his mouth. One of the boys picked it up and pulled the little frog out and let him loose. The little frog didn't last long.

Mike keeps busy fixing things and keeps the vans and boats gased up and ready to go on his own schedule.

 

One day a week doesn't sound like much time off. But we rotate days as primary and secondary nurse. We usually have the day to hang out as secondary if we aren't going to the doctor or pharmacy. Last week was exhausting with some big injuries and plenty of sick kids. Yesterday, I was primary and took a nap in the nurse's room in the afternoon. You just never know.



Cycling in Burlington, VT

Heading north

Staying on task can be difficult when there are so many places to see along the way.

We made a stop in Belton Hills, NY that overlooks a golf course in the Catskills. Even in the rain, the golfers were out there.

Lake George, NY

Lake George is a beautiful lake and town in the Adirondacks of the Upstate of New York. The rain continued to follow us as we headed north. We did manage to get a bike ride to Glen Falls along the bike path that runs along the old Military Road, the path the soldiers took in the Revolutionary War. The mosquitos were out in full force.

 Lake George is a tourist town but arriving before the holiday weekend, it was more of a ghost town. We stopped at the local Outlet stores and found everything I needed plus a few extras at 40% off. The Memorial Day sales were already marked down.

Rachael Ray is from this area and promotes the Warrensburg's Oscar's Smokehouse on her show. We thought about heading over but remembered how small our fridge is.  

Lake George, NY

Burlington, VT

The drive from Lake George, NY in the Adirondacks was less than 100 miles but the narrow country roads and more rain
made it feel like 200.

We had visited Burlington, VT several years ago to see the change of the leaves in the fall. Our visit was too short and the rain was heavy. We did get a bike ride in and found the city campground located downtown and on the bike path running along the shore of Lake Champlain. We hoped to return someday and do more exploring.

 While checking campgrounds for a place to stay over Memorial Day weekend, we found one site left for the weekend and booked it for the week. The mosquitos were even bigger here

Our site Sunday morning

What a difference a day makes. Our site on Monday. Guess they wanted to beat the crowds.

Church Street Marketplace

Yep, that's the church the street is named after.

We were at mile 25 of the marathon to cheer on the runners. They looked happy to hear the cheers with a thumbs up or thank you as they passed. I did call an EMT for one young lady that was struggling and had to lie down. I hope that she made that last 1/2 mile once she recovered. It takes 1700 volunteers to pull off the marathon for 8,000 runners.

View from Battery Park

A great place by the totem for a geocache that we found in Battery Park.

North Beach,  just outside of the campground.

Yep, another bike path.

Heading north on the causeway.

Ever since the first time we put our truck on the ferry to Alaska, riding ferries has become almost an obsession for us. We have ridden ferries on Lake Superior, the San Juan Islands and Italy to name a few. We heard about the bike ferry and I knew we would have to check it out even if the short ride was $8 each for a round trip ticket.

The bike ferry had just started running on the weekends until the middle of June. Taking in to consideration the marathon on Sunday and rainy forecast for Monday, we took a chance and left early on Saturday for our ride on the Champlain Islands. Riding the causeway the 2.5 miles to the ferry on a beautiful sunny morning and then a short ferry ride, 100 feet across the opening for heavy boat traffic. We were the only people, other than a crew of 3, on the 5 minute ride. It was still a chilly 59 degrees.



One of the ferry's crew members told us about the sunken horse ferry and the Champlain Maritime Museum. I had never heard of a horse powered ferry.

The horse-powered ferry in Burlington Bay is the only archaeologically studied example of a turntable "team-boat," a once common North American vessel type. Animal powered vessels were introduced into North America in 1814. They became a popular form of transportation for short-distance river and lake crossing, until the middle of the 19th century, when they were surpassed by the increasing use of steam power.

Lake Champlain's long, narrow shape created the need for many ferry crossings between Vermont and New York,  crossings that were ideally suited to horse ferries. The use of horse ferries on the Lake appears to have peaked in the 1830s and 1840s.

Divers certified in SCUBA can dive at this and one of the many other sunken ships.

The boat passage that we ferried around.

The north side of the causeway was full of potholes and mud for a mile. We turned off and the ride along the lake was peaceful with very little traffic.

 

South Hero, VT in the Champlain Islands

Someone loves birdhouses in South Hero. There were brightly colored houses all through the woods with dinosaurs thrown in. It made a pleasant bike ride even better and a few less bugs.

Some of the little castles on Grand Isle.

A patriotic street on Memorial weekend

Returning on the 2pm bike ferry was another story.  Since it warmed up, we dodged people all along the southern causeway. It's just part of traveling on a holiday. We were ok with sharing the beautiful day.

Heading back home.

This is a good stop for us. We were getting pretty tired after all we have been doing on this journey. Staying in one place where we can walk to town or ride our bikes to Colchester and Shelburne between rain storms was just what we needed for this week.