Fri Sept 24: Seneca Falls to Ithaca Allan Treman State Pk Marina

In which we collect another Bradley cousin ...

Off to Cayuga Lake and Ithaca!!  We had a longish cruise to get from Seneca Falls to the Allan Truman State Park Marina in Ithaca - about 5 hours - so we decided to get an early start.  (Hooray...)  We cast off the dock at 8 am and headed to the stair step lock CS2 & 3 to be lowered down to the level of Cayuga Lake.   The lake is about 31 miles long and we cruised from top to bottom on a beautiful, sunny day.

 

Early morning farewell to Seneca Falls.

Here I'm trying to give you a better idea of what a double lock looks like. In this first pic we come out of Lock 3 directly into the full basin of Lock 2.  You can see from the waterfall how far we have come down, but you can see if continues to fall so we have to go down another 25 feet.

Looking back here, you can see the doors into 2, above them the doors into 3 and above that the doors out of 3.

The lake is a BIG expanse of sky and water - we are not used to that, having been hemmed in on canals for a long time now. We are also not used to being tossed about in rough water - fortunately the water calmed a bit after we reached the first bend in the lake.

You can see us, the tiny blue dot, on the longest of the finger lakes. Below is a picture of all 11. As the glaciers receded they left long thin gouges that look like claw marks. The Iroquois have a legend that the Finger Lakes were formed by the fingers of the Great Spirit as he drew them across the earth in the days of the creation.

 

 

This is the second deepest of the lakes - and the deepest water, 400'+, that we have seen!

Once tied up at the peaceful marina, Rick makes the terrible tactical error of feeding the birds.  This will lead to bird poop on the boat later on, and much swearing.

Our engine was barely cool when Cousin Lynn Bradley Leopold showed up to have dinner with us on the boat!  Lynn, at 80, is the oldest of my gazillion cousins - my brother is the youngest of the first cousins.  In fact, seeing Lynn inspired me to update the Bradley family tree - which will keep me entertained for many hours.

We had a LOT of catching up to do, since I last saw her when I was 8!  She was married to Carl Leopold, the son of famous ecologist/conservationist Aldo Leopold (author of A Sand County Almanac), so much of her life has involved ecology, sustainability, environmental efforts and birding!

The Great Spirit put on a nice show for us during dinner - a great welcome to Ithaca.