Day 23 - Ithaca is Awesome

After staying at the Cayuga Lake State Park until nearly 5pm, we hit the road and headed farther south. The drive down wasn't bad (with a well paved road for once, and great views of the lake and vineyards everywhere, but most of which were closed by the time we hit the road, and I was stuck working anyway. We headed towards Ithaca, which neither of us knew much about. I knew it was the setting of the late 90s film "Road Trip," although after looking it up, none of it was actually filmed there. I also knew it was the home of Cornell, but that was about it. We planned to stay at the Walmart one night, and check out the town. Well, we liked the town so much, we ended up staying two nights. The Walmart was quite nice, just as the reviews said. Within the Walmart, everyone seemed very fit, which was odd for a Walmart, but it was a college town. I wandered around a bit, as the shopping center had a lot to offer. I was able to pick up new coach battery that fits, as well as some other odds and ends. They had a Barnes and Noble that was still in business, so that was nice. Sarah cooked some tasty quinoa mixture for dinner, and we went to sleep at a decent time.

The next day, we got the scooter down for lunch time, and checked out some of the nearby waterfalls. Apparently a six-mile creek runs through the town, and due to the elevation, there are over 20 waterfalls within 4 miles of the center of town. We scooted to 'Buttermilk falls' first, which was kinda neat, but not too impressive. More of a gentle cascade than a waterfall, named for the foaming water which they claim looks like buttermilk, but we didn't really see it.

We then headed another 2 miles away to check out a second waterfall, which even had an area where they dammed a portion of it, creating a swimming pool in the summer. It was a much more impressive waterfall, and was worth checking out - especially since neither of them required a mile hike or anything to see (as my break is only an hour or so long). The water fell about 100 feet, and was quite calming, as it too was empty. It flowed through a gorge, with colorful trees surrounding it.

We then headed back towards home, and grabbed some food for lunch. I had some Firehouse subs, which was a nice treat, and Sarah tried out a 'Coda Life' veggie restaurant, which she said was pretty tasty. I worked from the restaurant for a while, and then we headed back to the camper to feed the animals. By then, it was about 4, and we opted to try out one of the nearby wineries - Six Mile Creek Winery, just up the hill, about 5 miles away. It was a nice drive, and I brought a long my laptop to finish up work there. It was well worth the drive, as the winery was on a tall hill overlooking a portion of their vineyards. We watched the sunset and enjoyed a cheap tasting. Again, the place was empty, but it was a Tuesday after all. They had tasty reds, and we enjoyed a small 10$ bottle before heading back to camp.

I finished up work, and then we decided to check out downtown Ithaca. It was a light work day, and Sarah didn't want to stay in, as we needed some distractions. We found a small pub called "The Westy" which seemed fitting, despite our travels not being in a westfalia. We went for the pool table, and played two games together before heading outside to their patio. We nearly instantly met a kind gentleman named John (about 56 of age), who proceeded to talk to us for the rest of the evening. He was from Wisconsin, but worked at Cornell, and was more than willing to fill us in on the events of the town, and tell us of some neat places to check out. He managed the I.T infrastructure of Cornell, and seemed to really like his job. He bought us a round, and we chatted until 10 or so. He then wanted us to check out the Ithaca Commons, which was right down the street. We decided to join him, and he offered to get us a second round at a different spot. Most places were empty, though he explained that it was not normal, simply was a slow night during the week. During his tour, he told us that Carl Sagan used to live right down the street, as he used to teach at Cornell. Being a big fan of his, I felt like I should have known that, but it evaded me. In either case, there was a memorial to him depicting the distance and relative size of the planets in comparison to the size of the sun. The memorial stretched on for miles, and even had the final planet (depicting proportional distance between the planets) positioned in Hawaii, which was pretty neat.

We popped in a second bar for the round he offered us, and met a few other people who were quite kind - a doctorate student at Cornell, as well as a Principal of a local high school. They offered for us to stay in their driveway even, but I didn't want to have to move the rig, so we politely declined. John then offered to take us out to lunch the next day on campus, to see the immense diversity of the students (which is carefully calculated by their admissions algorithms), and try out their all-you-can-eat buffet. We scooted home around 1, and made some quick noodles before heading to sleep.

The next day, I worked until 12, and then we hopped on the scooter to head to Cornell to check out the campus, and meet John for lunch. He met us there right on time, and scanned us in so that we could get in the building, and eat in the cafeteria. It was an impressive display of food, with everything from Pho, to freshly grilled burgers and wood oven pizza. They had a full salad bar, ice cream, the works - but it is an Ivy League school after all. They even had a waffle station. We stuffed our faces, and then scooted home, as my lunch break was over. A cop had pulled up next to our rig just prior to us leaving, and I was a bit concerned that he was going to want us to leave right away (as usually it is advised to only stay at a Walmart one night without at least moving a little bit), but he didn't give us any trouble, and was gone when we returned.

We then put the scooter back on the trailer, and hit the road northeast towards Utica. We stayed at Forest Lake Campground in Truxton, NY last night, and are hitting the road shortly to get to Utica, about an hour and a half away. The campground here has been okay. The site isn't exactly level, and it's quite empty. It was difficult to find a campground that was open at all, as most close at the beginning of October here. This one is actually 'closed,' but as they didn't turn off their water or electric yet, they let us stay. We're on a small lake, and had a nice fire last night. It's heavily wooded, so there was plenty of free wood to keep us warm. This morning is overcast and windy though. It was nice to have full power again too, after going without for two days. I'm very much looking forward to the weekend again as well. We plan to be in Burlington by Saturday afternoon.