News & Notes, Stuck in the Middle Edition.

It's been a weird week or so killing time until Thanksgiving.  I got my Wednesday cold, and then I piled on the fun with my flu shot and COVID booster last Saturday.  Initially my flu arm hurt more, but then my booster arm really started to hurt (like, can't-get-my-shirt-off hurt).  By later Sunday, my lower back got sore and eventually I had a massive headache that sent me to bed rather early.  Since I was still pretty good Sunday morning, I did get up for church, but only Carter and I went.  Craig got home from Canada very late, and I just couldn't seem to get Jacob out of bed.  He's sometimes grumpy at church anyway, so for one week I figured I'd let it go and assume he needed the sleep.  By the time we got home, he was sneezing up a storm...just in time for JV practice to start on Monday.  Thankfully, he was off school all week so we didn't have that judgment call to make, but it was frustrating nonetheless.  I gave him a couple doses of zinc and hoped for the best.  He was significantly better on Monday, so I wonder if missing his allergy pill on Saturday set him up for trouble (it did me no favors the previous weekend, so who knows).  We did a COVID test anyway and he was fine, so off he went to practice.  I ended up working from home for the third time in four work days to monitor him, make sure my cold was really gone, and that my COVID shot had no more tricks up its sleeve.  I did end up going in for less than a half day on Tuesday to wrap up a couple things, but suffice it to say the last week was a little disjointed.

I've also been stuck in the weird limbo of wanting to get started on Christmas decorating but firmly holding to my "Thanksgiving first" rule.  It's an important holiday to acknowledge our blessings, and what's the point of putting out turkeys all month if they're not even there when we finally celebrate it?  It didn't help that we got our first real snow the other night, which made it seem like even more of a reality that Christmas is coming.  It's mostly melted now, but I'm hoping the snow forecast for Friday will happen to get me back in the mood as I decorate.  First thing when we're home Friday will be pulling all of that fall decor down and starting to shift furniture (and toys) to get things in place for trees.  But with all my time at home this week (and especially last weekend, even if I felt cruddy) I felt like I was losing out on precious time.  I did online shopping instead, which was actually probably more productive anyway.  I got a few big gifts out of the way before shortages or price hikes become a problem, and I have plans for most of the rest of the boys' stuff.  Jacob's not getting much because he's getting a big gift, but I still want him to have a few things to open.  I have a pretty good plan for Carter (and his birthday as a backup if needed), but feel much better with a couple big gifts secured.  Everyone else is mostly a mystery still, but the boys are really the most important for me.  I've at least started my list of people to buy for and I'd like to knock them off in rapid succession if I can.  With all the supply chain issues and everything else right now, it was important to get in holiday mode sooner, so at least that provided a holiday outlet if the decorating wasn't an option.

The funny thing leading up to this week was that my urge to decorate and get in holiday mode was pretty strong, and it didn't occur to me until a couple days ago how challenging getting to that point actually was last year with all the unknowns (and that was all before our COVID Christmas).  It also hit me that this Christmas is now equally threatened.  Cases are up considerably (to where they were on the back-end of last year's holiday mess), and while officials still maintain 80% of hospitalizations are non-vaccinated folks, it seems like most of the cases we've heard of lately are vaccinated people.  They've fared relatively well, mind you, but it's frustrating since vaccines seemed to be the way out of this mess last year at this time, and now we're no better off aside from having a little personal assurance we won't get super sick.  All I can figure is that delta is so much more contagious so the same behavior is at least two to four times more productive in terms of spread, and also that the early vaccine adopters, who were the most vulnerable, could be losing their protection if they haven't gotten a booster, and therefore are driving hospitalizations back up.  Not to mention that COVID fatigue is seriously a thing and no one wants to put their life on hold any longer, or be even the least bit uncomfortable.  At least schools are mostly doing well, but it's definitely getting messier than we had hoped and will likely get worse for another six weeks or so.

Reality hit even more when my extended family's Thanksgiving evening plans got canceled due to a case in the family. The hosts' son-in-law got sick, and they were technically exposed, so it's a no-go.  We weren't going anyway since it's in the middle of dinner with Craig's family, but it was a stark reminder how quickly our beloved and much-missed Christmas gathering could go up in smoke, and started me wondering again if we should just commit to masks and find crazy ways to distance (there is usually none there--wall-to-wall people!), especially while eating--like setting up a firepit outside and dressing for a shift in the weather.  I think most of us would bend over backward if it meant keeping the older relatives safe and ensuring the gathering could happen at all, but all of a sudden, it's scary again.  I feel better to have gotten my booster, but Craig still needs his and I need to get Carter's shot scheduled--flu shot first on Monday, though.  But even the thought of Carter getting his scares me a bit, even more because it's the holidays, so there are all sorts of mixed emotions right now.  But I know the kids are excited for the holidays and we survived a pretty crappy situation last year, so I'm going to try to press forward as normally as possible and see how close we can get to highly functional/enjoyable.

Another oddity in this busy last week was that I found out our old house is back on the market for the second time since we sold it (third time in 12 years if you count us).  I was reviewing the listing for my cousins' house (the one where the fancy desk came from), and happened to widen the map view looking at others in the area for a price comparison.  Houses in the map area pop up on the sidebar, and sure enough, there it was!  These owners did considerably more than the last ones.  They replaced the bushes in the front with a patio (which I always wanted to do), painted the kitchen cabinets (also wanted to do), replaced the last owners' carpeting with laminate in the dining room, painted a few rooms (but our living room color scheme remains!), took down the bathroom border I put up, painted all of the paneling in the basement, and ripped out the super-plush basement carpeting.  It looked like old, possibly asbestos tile was left behind (who knew that was there?).  But the 70s drug den vibe is officially gone!  Most of the improvements looked pretty good, so kudos to them if they get their price, which they probably will in this market.  I was just happy to see the cute retro shelves and ceiling plaster designs were still intact.  I almost took the boys to the open house over the weekend, but the cold and booster issues pretty much ruled that out.

The past few days leading up to the holiday have been busy, between laundry, grocery shopping, Christmas shopping, house cleaning, work, basketball, and generally getting my life in order.  I feel like I've been cramming in errands and household tasks everywhere I can.  Jacob had his first JV basketball scrimmage this morning, and when I found out we had a half hour between drop-off and the game, I ran around the corner to Dollar Tree and Aldi to grab a few things on my list.  Then later Carter and I ran out to the liquor store and Target before dinner, only to end up at another Target in Buffalo later to pick up something ours didn't stock--and I immediately had (non-)buyer's remorse for not getting the $5 light-up mercury glass tree in the dollar section because the second Target was completely sold out, which tells me they will be popular.  I was up until 1am last night puttering around the house doing a ton of different things, and today was almost non-stop, too.  Suffice it to say, it seems like the holiday rush has come early.

Jacob's first scrimmage went pretty well.  He got 11 points and shot really well.  He had a couple giveaways and defensive lapses, but no worse than anyone else and not bad considering he's among the youngest on the team.  He's already frustrated with his coach, who literally told him the other day (despite him making the team fair and square) that he should be playing modified instead.  That was a shot considering he's actually more skilled than most of the team, but it was good to hear the same coach today tell him he was very pleasantly surprised by his play.  He's had this coach before and didn't like him much then either.  The coach didn't use him right last time--he still did well anyway--but clearly he's got some picture in his head that Jacob's not good enough.  Yet when he's playing in position and consistently, he certainly knows what he's doing as well as anyone out there.  Never mind that Jacob has worked his butt off over the last six months playing and training, so he's a very different player than he was in June.  I think sometimes Jacob struggles to put into quicker action what his brain is processing should be happening--like, he knows what needs to happen, considers his best route, and moves, but it all takes half a second longer than it should.  That should get better with experience as he refines those instincts at this level of play, but he'll get there.  Thank goodness the varsity coach really likes him, because maybe we'll just have to endure one year of this before things improve.  Or he'll just leave the school if it looks bad, but let's hope not.  It will be an interesting season, though.  After spending much of my tween years watching my brother and cousins play high school ball, I'm looking forward to it.

Well, Thanksgiving is officially almost here and I guess I won't quite be ringing it in in bed--but it's the holidays now, right?  What else is new?  This year I'm thankful we get to celebrate, and so many things have felt so much smoother in the midst of the rest of the life chaos that's happening around us, so there is much to be grateful for this year.  Time to soak it in and make the most of it before the wild ride of the holidays starts all over again!  (Speaking of which, how ARE we here again already?!  Didn't I just put that stuff away?)

BINGO! - A Much Needed Trip, Part 2

I arrived in Binghamton just before dark (stupid time change--it was only about 4:30).  I was, of course, coming to see my oldest friend Heather and my sweet godson Mason.  As I mentioned previously, he just turned one!  And yet it's still hard to believe sometimes that he even exists!  Heather and Peter waited so long to adopt, and it almost seemed like the opportunity had passed.  But then, out of the blue, there he was...and now it's been a year!  Such a little miracle, and Heather has been documenting the ways that God's timing was perfect--from her unexpected career change a few years ago (allowing finances and schedules to work out better than imagined) to where things stood for her in grad school last year when this all happened.  It just all worked out so well, and what a blessing he is to so many people!

When I arrived, it was great to see Heather, of course, but Mason was still napping!  Turns out he'd been battling a cold (which he passed to his dad and grandma), but fortunately he was in good spirits when he woke up.  He wasn't too sure about me, but we got to hang out while dinner was being made, and slowly but surely he warmed up to me.  We hung out in the hallway looking at books for a bit.

Not too sure yet...

As the night went on I definitely started getting some smiles.  Eventually he dug into the bags I brought with me--one with shoes and a couple other little goodies, including our beloved "fridge farm" toy.  He had plenty of toys to keep us occupied and interested, so it was fun getting to play with a much more interactive little guy than the last time I saw him.  Oh, and he's crawling like a maniac now, and just starting to pull up a bit more, so it was fun watching him practice those skills.  It sure brings back memories!

Later on the tissue paper from his birthday gift caught his eye, and we let him go to town pulling it out.  It look him a bit, but eventually he figured it out.

At first he was like, "Are you sure I can do this?"

Then it was just fun!

I got him a basket/scoop for bath toys, which he needed, as well as a Sandra Boynton book, Dinosnores.  Can't go wrong with her stuff, in my opinion!  

He has this adorable and oh-so-soft Thanksgiving Snoopy blanket (they're a Peanuts household as well!), and he was SO cute with it!  He loved getting covered with it and playing peek-a-boo, but he would also just flop down and cuddle it.  I don't blame him.  It was so snuggly!

Eventually it was bedtime, which gave Heather and me time to catch up--which we can pretty much do endlessly after all these years--38, to be exact!  We celebrated with a little wine!

At bedtime, I had to laugh because I walked in my room, and the cat, Gypsy, was sitting on her cardboard scratch pad looking at me like, "Silly human, why are you in MY room?"  She just sat there while I got into bed, and eventually she fell asleep as I was looking at my phone.  I have no idea when she left once the lights were out, but no joke, the same exact scenario happened the next night, too.  It cracked me up.

We were excited for a busy day on Saturday!  I took Mason duty when Mom and Dad got ready, and then we ventured out to visit Heather's mom, who just moved to Binghamton last month.  If you'll recall, she lived in Western New York near my parents, which made for a good meeting spot when we were all in town.  Well...given that her only other grandchild is grown, and Heather and Peter were running into a little bit of a child care conundrum, she graciously hatched a plan to move closer to them.  It's a lot to take on at her age, for sure, but why not maximize her time with her new grandson, not to mention her daughter?  We took a drive to her new apartment, which is conveniently in the same complex as Peter's dad.  We got a bonus visit from Heather's cousin, who also lives nearby and was dropping off a new microwave after an unfortunate incident during the move.  I got the apartment tour and it was nice catching up--I've known Heather's mom forever as well, so it's always nice to visit.  I still think back to our sleepovers back in the day and how patient she was (parenting solo while Heather's dad worked nights) to watch our Hot Looks doll fashion shows and listen to whatever craziness we had up our sleeves!  

Back at the house we had lunch and tried to get Mason to nap, but he had his own ideas!  Here he is gleefully clapping together two puzzle pieces, which he very much enjoyed doing.  I kept pointing out the giraffe one, telling him he'd see a real giraffe that night!

Does this look like the face of a sleepy boy?  Certainly not! 

This wasn't nearly the cutest of our playtime, but he was having fun!

Before he finally went down for his nap, he spent some quality time with the bonus gifts I brought him.  We had the fridge farm on our fridge for many years--maybe 10?--basically from Jacob's first birthday until sometime in the last couple years because Carter would still make it play once in a while.  The farm has magnets featuring two halves of a handful of different animals.  If you get the right two halves, it plays you a congratulatory song about making a match and does the appropriate animal noise.  If you have mismatched halves, it sings a different song about the silly animal--a pig duck, a horse sheep, etc.--and tells you, "That's silly!"  The other thing (purple and green in the picture) was a similar magnetic toy using letters.  Pop a letter in and it sings you a letter song and gives you the sound.  We got that one as a hand-me-down (missing a couple letters).  He's still getting the hang of it, but he'll pick it up quickly and it comes in handy while making dinner!  It brought back fun memories to hear the songs again, and it will hopefully distract him a little from his new favorite skill--someone learned how to open and close a cabinet, and practiced it a lot!  Time to baby proof!

While he napped, Heather and I snuck out to get our paint on!  We went to a place where you pick out a ceramic item and paint it.  It will get glazed and finished up in the next couple weeks, and hopefully she can bring mine next time we see each other--which is hopefully in a couple weeks.  We landed on nativity scenes, which seemed like a fun idea until we found out we were supposed to do three coats of paint!  That was a lot of details for three coats!  But we persevered, and eventually I had to put the perfectionist tendencies out of my mind and call it good.  It'll be a little wonky, I'm sure, but handmade and memorable is always good!

Once we got into it, we decided it was very relaxing and fun.  I may not have great artistic skills, but I do enjoy stuff like this.  I'd possibly do it more if I had more use for the end products.  I will love using this one in my Christmas decor, of course, but it's sort of like my diamond painting obsession from early in the pandemic--I tend to wonder how many times I could do it without ending up with a serious clutter problem!  But at least most of the ceramics could be used in the kitchen!

Mason got in a solid two-hour nap while we were gone and then it was time to get ready for our next big activity.  We were going to Animal Adventure Park for their Jungle Bells light display!  If you recall a number of years ago, April the Giraffe captivated the world as we waited for her to go into labor.  There was a webcam, and millions watched in anticipation.  I still remember being at my parents' and casually checking the camera on a Saturday morning, only to find hooves hanging from her behind!  Labor had begun!  I watched the whole thing and it was crazy.  A few years later it happened again, but I missed it because I was traveling all weekend.  However, the video of the AAP owner coming into the barn and seeing hooves, then accidentally spilling his coffee in his rush to prepare was pretty funny.  Anyway, knowing it was so close to Binghamton I was always hopeful I'd have a reason to go, and while their main season was over, it happened to be the first weekend of their holiday event!  And what baby doesn't love Christmas lights?!

It was very chilly, however, as the 50s from the day before had turned into low 40s by Saturday evening.  Luckily, last time I visited, I brought with me a snowsuit that Jacob wore when he was one.  It has built in mittens and seemed like the perfect choice for a cold night--even if we did make comparisons to Randy in A Christmas Story because he had a hard time doing much of anything while wearing it!

We figured we'd just eat when we got there, so first priority was finding the concession stand and a place to sit and eat--ideally in warmth!  I snapped this while we were figuring things out.  Very appropriate!

We also attempted a chilly selfie!

We warmed up with hot chocolate and other snacks in a large enclosed shed of sorts, which had lights, inflatables, animated decorations, and...Santa!  The family pic I snapped of them was cute because Mason was just staring at Santa intently from his stroller!  Then, it was off to see the lights and the animals!

Silly donkey!

Scottish Highland Cattle are so cute!

Eventually we wound around to a giant building, and sure enough, it was the giraffe barn!  It was pretty surreal getting to see the wooden structure I've watched on webcam for so long!  A lot of people were feeding carrots to the giraffes, so it was a little crowded, but it was really neat to see the giraffes in person.  Sadly, April passed away a while back, but her mate, Oliver, was still there.

Johari was brought in to be a new mate once April had retired from breeding, and oddly they've suspected for over a year that she could be pregnant.  Apparently they connected in July 2019, but the 15 month gestation came and went.  Yet she was still showing certain signs of pregnancy, had a bigger belly, and people thought they were seeing kicks.  Bloodwork and ultrasounds were inconclusive, and they admitted maybe there was another connection later on that they missed.  But here were are all these months later and still no baby.  But she's still round and the religious cam watchers are still convinced.  It's crazy!

Johari craning her neck to see, and Oliver just hanging out

Oliver looking for treats!

Hi Johari!

That tongue!

She's so cute!

Figured I'd take a butt shot since people are always staring at it anyway waiting for action.  Could be famous one of these days!

Back outside, it was chilly, so we definitely tried to walk briskly and see what animals we could find.  There were some swans sleeping near this water.

The nearby arch was pretty.

We did see some reindeer, ironically at the exact same time reindeer were mentioned in the Christmas song that was playing!

There weren't a ton of animals who were able to be out in the extra cold weather, but we enjoyed the ones we saw.  We saw alpacas, goats, a couple kinds of deer, hyenas, antelopes, and some giant peafowl sleeping in trees.  It was hard to tell which animals were off exhibit and which ones were just hiding from the cold.  It's also pretty dark so as it was you had to look closely.  But near the end, the lights were really the star of the show...

The changing lights were so pretty!

Mason did enjoy checking out the goats!

We tried to take a picture here, but it was just too bright!

Near the end, Mason was starting to get a little fussy, so while Peter ran to the restroom, I quickly ran off to do a once over of the areas we had passed by, to see if there were turns we never made.  Looking at the map later, I think we missed a couple possibilities, but we did double back to see this tunnel, which was stunning...

We also caught a glimpse of the kangaroos inside a nearby building.  Just like when we saw them at Stokoe last month, the way they lay down is just comical.  The one on the front right is laying flat on his back.  It's hard to see, but in the way back, I think you can just glimpse the very rare blond joey that was born earlier this year.  It's a red kangaroo with a condition that causes it to lose pigment.  His name is Cosmo.  Given that he looks a lot lighter than the ones around him, I think that's him in the middle of the back section.

Just before we left, I noticed this sculpture near the other giraffe barn/deck.  It's a statue of April and her baby Azizi, who also passed away recently while living at a zoo in Texas.  So sad they're both gone, but it's a sweet gesture.

Once we got home it was bath and bed time, and admittedly, I was quite ready for bed myself!  It was fun to watch Mason in the tub, though--he loves it!

Sunday was pretty basic - breakfast, church, lunch, some playtime, and then time for me to get on the road.  Not only did I want to make it home to make the boys dinner, but I also wanted to avoid the dark.  We got in a little more fun before I left, and of all the toys, his choice was the blanket!
 

Ahhh, that smile!!

We had such a great weekend!  Friend time, baby time, nature time, holiday time...what could be better?!  It felt pretty restorative, actually, to the point I was excited to get home and see my boys.  I'm hopeful our plan works out to meet up in a couple weeks when they come in for their extended family Christmas and I come in to see my dad sing in his big holiday Vespers concert (which I've always wanted to go to but it's never worked out).  Hopefully Mason will remember me and we can have a little more fun.  And I'm excited to see how my Nativity turned out!  

The drive home was mercifully easy--I'm convinced that God made that 17 to 86 to 390 route extra easy for me, knowing I'd be doing it more often.  One coffee and bathroom stop about halfway, and that was all it took!  The exits and towns are spaced really well, the scenery is nice, and the last leg is full of good memories since it's the route I take to and from Geneseo.  The Thruway route home is actually slightly shorter, and while I don't mind the first leg on 81, Syracuse is usually trafficky and the last 90 minutes are painfully boring and I constantly associate it with desperately wanting to get home.  Instead, the route I take has a last leg that's super familiar and that I have positive associations with, since I'm usually happy to have just been in Geneseo.  And when it's rainy and getting dark, having that comfort is even better.  I did hit some snow on the way home--nothing that stuck much but enough to make me cringe a little.  It's coming, people! 

After immune boosting all week after feeling a little headachy the night I got home, my cold finally showed up on Wednesday.  I had been battling reflux again on Monday and Tuesday, and after a really scratchy throat from the acid on Tuesday, I started realizing on Wednesday that my sore throat was now being fueled by post-nasal drip.  It got a little worse by last night when the congestion got harder to manage, but on the scale of cold severity, it's pretty low.  Hopefully the zinc makes it quicker, too.  I had a home test so I know it's not COVID, so I don't worry too much about going out since I'm always masked anyway.  I was also able to work from home today, which was helpful.  However, it could derail my plan to get my booster and flu shot tomorrow.  We'll see what the doctor's office says.  I'm hoping I'm better by Monday so I get one in-person day next week before an extra long weekend.  I actually freaked out a little on Sunday when I realized that this was our last full week before Thanksgiving.  I guess I did a good job keeping November busy!  Now Thanksgiving is imminent and a week from now Christmas decorating will be in full swing.  I'm not sure I'm ready, but the time has come once again!

BINGO! - A Much-Needed Trip, Part 1

Picking up where the last post left off, I woke up to a dreary Friday morning, with luckily only one kid to get off to school.  Jacob was off, but Carter had school, so I packed his lunch and got him out by 8:30.  Despite taking the day off, my next step was hopping on my work computer to check my email, take care of a couple daily tasks, listen to our weekly staff update, and make sure nothing else needed to be taken care of while I was out for the day.  Craig got home from the mechanic after an oil change before 9am, and after some last minute packing, I was off by shortly after 10am for my weekend adventure!   

Where was I going?  Well, my sweet godson's birthday was on November 3rd, and his party was on Halloween.  Originally it had been scheduled for the day before, but due to family conflicts it had to change, and due to that and some conflicts on my end, I had to miss it.  Not only didn't I want to be away from the house for Halloween (only so many years of trick-or-treating left!), but Craig had a mandatory work weekend in Canada and it just wouldn't have been possible to go without some serious help from my parents, and even then it might not have worked very well, especially with Halloween in the mix.  So, I promised I'd find another weekend where I could visit.  This one seemed to work since it was one of the few without much going on, but then Craig almost had to go to Canada again.  Fortunately, one of Jacob's potential basketball teams scheduled tryouts, so Craig had an excuse to stay home, particularly since he'd just been there Tuesday.  Fortunately he got the OK to do that, which cleared the way.  I was excited to have something to break up my least-favorite three-week stretch of the year, as the excitement and anxiety for the holidays build up but time usually drags awaiting the time off.  I took Friday off so I could meander my way down and have a couple adventures (not to mention get there in daylight), and off I went to Binghamton!

Since my family is generally not into nature (unless there's a playground involved, in Carter's case), I missed out on a couple opportunities when we went through the Ithaca area back in June.  There are a couple state parks out that way, and based on what I had seen in passing, there were some fun, easy-ish hikes and some lovely waterfalls to be had.  Because our June trip ended up a little weird and oddly stressful, I didn't push it, but vowed to myself that I would go back, possibly whenever I made it down to see Heather and Mason.  Originally I figured I'd just pick a summer weekend, but then our summer schedules ended up a little squished.  Then we ended up having a quick last-minute visit back in September anyway, and when the birthday party fell through and the rest of fall was crazy, it turned out my solo visit needed to wait a little longer.  Once I picked a date, I crossed my fingers and said a few prayers that foliage and weather would cooperate.  Earlier in the week, the weather wasn't looking promising.  It was supposed to rain Thursday night and into Friday.  As the week progressed, it seemed like the rain was going to end earlier than previously thought, at least in Rochester, so it seemed like a possibility it might be wet but doable by the time I got out to Ithaca around midday.  The drive started out sunny at home, but turned mostly cloudy as I went east.  When I got to my first destination, Taughannock Falls State Park, it seemed like it was starting to clear...and it turned out to be a perfect day for a couple fall hikes!

I had Googled the parks on my route endlessly, trying to figure out the easiest trails and access points.  I knew my time would be limited and I am only equipped for the easiest of hikes (read: walks).  My first stop was the Taughannock Falls Overlook, which had very easy access from the parking lot.  The initial view was breathtaking!

After the rains overnight (and some rainy weather over the past couple weeks), the waterfall was flowing heavily!  There are times in the summer where it's barely a trickle, so this was impressive!

See that bridge going across the water just in front of the falls?  That was my next stop!

The gorge was impressive, even if the foliage was really starting to fade. 

I had to use my real camera to zoom in on the top of the falls.  Such a pretty spot, even if the water was rather rough!

I took it all in for a few minutes, then hopped back in the car to drive around to the start of the Gorge Trail.  The first view was this small but raging waterfall.

It was flowing so heavily it was coming over the retaining wall, and despite the resulting rapids, there were wading fishermen at the base, just off to the right where the water wasn't rushing quite as fiercely.  I can't say it seemed like a good idea to me, but to each their own!

The trail was really nice.  It headed into some wooded areas along the Taughannock Creek and wound around deep within high stone walls in spots.  The foliage was clearly past peak, but there were some pretty spots.

I was shocked that I'd never really noticed pictures of this area before on the local hiking Facebook page I follow.  While the waterfall gets some attention, I thought the gorge itself was something special to see.

At one point in the mile-long walk, I came across a group of women who were excitedly collecting leaves.  Sure enough, there were giant leaves all over the ground.  This one was bigger than my foot!

At the end of the trail was the bridge you could see from the overlook.  It crossed the raging rapids and curved around to right near the waterfall.

The mist made it a little hard to take pictures up close, but it was really impressive.

Note how there are little side streams coming downhill at the beginning of the video.

I felt a bit damp and cold by the time I went back across the bridge, but had to take a selfie anyway!

I walked back along the same trail, enjoying the views and the blue sky.  I really want to go back there when the water is low in the summer because there were a couple landmarks--namely a sign on a rock structure and two rock stacks that were completely surrounded by water--that looked like maybe they're usually more accessible than what the high water allowed this time.  When I got back to the first waterfall near the parking lot, there was a gorgeous rainbow.  Beyond it you can see those crazy, brave fishermen! 

Out near the lot, you could see where the creek empties into Cayuga Lake.  It was so beautiful and blue!

At this point I was ready for lunch but I was in an area with very few (if any) options.  I didn't want to get way off course from my next stop and go all the way into Ithaca, though in retrospect I figured out it would have been barely out of my way.  Oh, well.  So I ate a granola bar, drank some water, and forged ahead to Robert H. Treman State Park.  Admittedly I was a little more nervous about this hike because of the wet weather overnight and online posters saying that it was a bit more strenuous of a hike.  I was hoping there was still a clear path and nothing would get too muddy or difficult to traverse.  

Right off the bat, the water was roaring here, too. 

I walked through a narrow gorge that reminded me a lot of Watkins Glen, with similar walls full of dripping shale.  There were a number of stairs down at one point, and I walked past an older guy who was literally running up them in workout gear.  Wow.  Eventually I approached the top of the waterfall, and it turned out that this was a crazy, twisty one.  Maybe that's why it's called Lucifer Falls?  It was hard to get a good picture from this side of the trail.  It started here with a smaller one...

...and kept cascading down in sections.

It's so much bigger than these pictures show.  I kept walking (very carefully) down a bunch of wet wooden steps without railings, and finally got down to the very bottom.  I should have known all those steps meant I had a heck of a hike ahead.  There was a lovely bridge at the bottom, but oddly, right behind me in this picture was a thing blocking the path I just came from, saying the Gorge Trail was closed.  Strange, since there was nothing blocking it up top!  Regardless, I figured I'd take the Rim Trail back and hopefully get a better view of the falls from the other side.

It turned out that the Rim Trail stairs were even more plentiful.  So many.  Around every corner was another group of 20 steps, followed by another dozen, and so on.  They just wound up the side of the gorge.

Eventually I was this high, but still had to go higher!

I had been looking all day for interesting fungi, and finally found this just off the path!

There was finally a good view of the entire falls from about 2/3 of the way up.  Notice how high the gorge wall still goes on the left.  I still had to go that much higher to head back to my car!

This was from another overlook hidden along the path closer to the end of the trail.  I was really huffing and puffing by this point, and I feel like I should be in decent shape.  I can't imagine doing this trail on a hot day.  The balmy 53 degree shady day I had was plenty!

The area on the left is the top of the final cascade, and the right is all the way down in the gorge

I was very relieved to finish the Rim Trail unscathed, since it was a little slippery from mud and fallen leaves in spots.  It had been a lovely little hike, though, with the sun streaming through golden trees.  Back at the parking lot was an old mill building (with equipment still intact) that housed the bathrooms.  This waterfall was right outside it.

Although I was very hungry by this point, I still had one more stop to make, at the other end of the same park.  I wanted to see the Lower Falls, which was just a 5-10 minute drive down the road.  As it was heading a bit downhill, there were amazing views of the lake in the distance along the way!  The falls were just a quick walk from the parking area.

Believe it or not, this can be used as a swimming area in the summer.  It was hard to imagine that day with how strong the water was rushing.  I was fascinated by the foam that collected along the shore near the base of the falls.

It was a neat little area, though.  I can imagine it gets very busy when swimming is open.

The creek leading away from it, Enfield Creek, was considerably calmer and scenic along the path back to the car.

And with that, the nature part of my trip was done.  I was so thrilled with the views and the experiences.  I was so grateful the weather cooperated, and was in fact pretty perfect for the entire afternoon.  I'll admit that I was a little nervous driving that day, worried about the post-rain conditions, hiking alone as a female who's not super great with the outdoors.  What if I slipped?  What if it was really remote and there was a creeper?  Anxiety does funny things, but I knew deep down the risk was minimal because I try to be super careful, and sure enough, it was exactly what I needed!

The next step was getting a very late lunch.  Well, that meant going into Ithaca, right to the area we frequented in June for most of our meals.  At first I thought about just getting Taco Bell because I could get something I could eat while driving and continue on.  But then I realized the only Taco Bell was the one we had the nightmarish experience with back in June.  When I got to the parking lot, I curiously sat and watched the drive-thru line, and sure enough, it was once again long and barely moved!  I was NOT going to get stuck in that mess again, and what I wanted was on the online-only menu, so I moved on.  But there was very little else on the road past there and once I got going I didn't want to double back.  I decided to go toward Cornell, since I had wanted to drive more around there anyway, and figured there had to be more fast food nearby.  It's a college campus, right?  Well...it turned out that the only easy place to go around there was on the other side of campus, a Burger King that was in the parking lot adjacent to the hotel we stayed at in June!  It was so funny how I was accidentally retracing the steps from that trip!  But since I was there, I did a couple laps of the Cornell campus, which was equally fascinating in the daylight.  I can't get over how many buildings there are, how giant they are, how varied they are in style, and simply how impressive the campus is.  It was so busy on a Friday afternoon, however, that I could barely get a picture.  I did snap this one, which just shows a building I recognized from many, many years ago, when someone somehow put a giant pumpkin on its spire.  No one even knew what it was initially or how it got there, and eventually it shriveled up and someone had to go up and grab it before it fell on people.  You can read about the prank itself here, and the actual story behind how it got there here, which apparently took 20 years to come out.  It happened back in the prime early days of webcams, and of course I watched the webcam they established to see when that crazy thing would fall off. 

Someday I will go back to Cornell, find a place to park, and wander around that campus for hours.  I know there's even more to see that I can't get to by car.  Anyway, I got my BK on the way out of town--just a small burger and fries since it was approaching 3pm by then and dinner awaited--and took the rest of the drive to Binghamton, where my oldest friend and godson awaited!  I'll save those adventures for another post!