I grew up in upstate New York, but we never went anywhere beyond the little circle of towns that my family lived near. One of my goals in life is to explore this beautiful state that is so much more than the large city with the same name. I saw more of upstate New York last week than I did in my 24 years of living there.
We spent two days in the Finger Lakes area. This was my favorite part of our trip, partly because of the beauty we were surrounded by and partly because it gave me a chance to reconnect with someone from my homestead days. For several years Trina and I lived something of parallel lives as the oldest daughters in large conservative Christian families on the same hilltop in upstate New York. It is a long and and complicated story that I will not go into on this blog, I will simply say that sometimes Christians can be their own worst enemies and for various reasons that now seem a little ridiculous, our families did not speak or associate with each other for years.
Trina and I became blog friends a few years ago and when she invited us to visit if we were ever in the area, I took her up on offer. It was pretty amazing sharing memories of our homesteads and laughing together over things that 10 years ago we would have never dreamed that it would be possible to laugh together over. You can read part of Trina's homestead story on her blog's "Tipi Tales".
My husband and I hiked the trail up to Taughannock Falls with Trina and her family. This is the highest waterfall in the Eastern United States and one of New York's best kept secrets. It is an easy, but scenic 3/4 mile hike up to the falls.
The hemlock woods along the bottom of the canyon is full of wild flowers--most of which were done blooming, but it was still nice to see the plants alive and well. We saw trillium, dutchman's breeches, Solomon's seal, jack in the pulpit, foam flowers, hepaticas, and many more.
My next post (when I get a minute) will be on Watkin's Glen--a canyon in the Finger Lakes area that rivals the canyons I saw when visiting the Canadian Rockies several years ago.
We spent two days in the Finger Lakes area. This was my favorite part of our trip, partly because of the beauty we were surrounded by and partly because it gave me a chance to reconnect with someone from my homestead days. For several years Trina and I lived something of parallel lives as the oldest daughters in large conservative Christian families on the same hilltop in upstate New York. It is a long and and complicated story that I will not go into on this blog, I will simply say that sometimes Christians can be their own worst enemies and for various reasons that now seem a little ridiculous, our families did not speak or associate with each other for years.
Trina and I became blog friends a few years ago and when she invited us to visit if we were ever in the area, I took her up on offer. It was pretty amazing sharing memories of our homesteads and laughing together over things that 10 years ago we would have never dreamed that it would be possible to laugh together over. You can read part of Trina's homestead story on her blog's "Tipi Tales".
My husband and I hiked the trail up to Taughannock Falls with Trina and her family. This is the highest waterfall in the Eastern United States and one of New York's best kept secrets. It is an easy, but scenic 3/4 mile hike up to the falls.
The shallow creek is walled on both sides by rocky cliffs.
A small waterfall greets hikers at the entrance to the trail.
A stone bridge spans the stream right before it empties into Cayuga Lake, the longest of the Finger Lakes.
The hemlock woods along the bottom of the canyon is full of wild flowers--most of which were done blooming, but it was still nice to see the plants alive and well. We saw trillium, dutchman's breeches, Solomon's seal, jack in the pulpit, foam flowers, hepaticas, and many more.
My next post (when I get a minute) will be on Watkin's Glen--a canyon in the Finger Lakes area that rivals the canyons I saw when visiting the Canadian Rockies several years ago.
