Ithaca, Cicero, Scipio Center, Dryden, Geneva, Genoa, Hannibal. You might get the impression the first settlers had an interest in the classics judging by many of the names. Oswego refers to the original settlers of course.
There is a series of long thin lakes pointing north to south known rather unimaginatively known as the Finger Lakes, best known to outsiders as the home decades ago as the site of winter Olympic Games.
They are known for their beauty and we got more than one recommendation to pay a visit. So we did.
Ithaca has a large waterfront park with free access and welcomes dogs so we saw no reason not to stop by. iOverlander also mentioned a water faucet and we were at half a tank so adding 15 gallons to fill her up seemed like a good idea.
It was a lovely day and a couple of light showers weren’t enough to drive the sun away.
We got the water as advertised and in town we bought four hand made cold water pastry pies. They are shaped like empanadas but are baked not fried.
We got a Japanese curried beef pie each and I also had a potato pie while Layne predictably went for the jalapeño ( pictured below).
There was a bakery offering sourdough with corn and cheddar bits. Using the Internet when you travel opens up a whole host of small business encounters. We drove north up the east shore of Lake Cayuga.
Predictably enough the water disappeared from view and we found ourselves back in the rolling farmland and wooded valleys of Upstate New York. The roads are surprisingly smooth but there are no shoulders and the edges drop away into ditches. The result is if you miss a turn or want to make a u-turn to go back to a farm stand or something it is the devil’s own job to find a place to make a turn.
You get used to it and fortunately traffic isn’t very heavy at all and the scenery makes up for all ills. The absence of public land restricts wild camping possibilities too. We’ve turned to the Harvest Host program for alternatives to camp sites. Ontario Orchards has a massive farm store on the southern edge of Oswego and offers free parking in their extensive orchards five miles away.
We got some fruit at the store and Layne forbid me to even approach the pastry counter so we got out with actual farm food. The parking lot was as you can see just a grass space. The night was silent, except for occasional bursts of rain that pattered on the roof. Rusty was snoring and didn’t even notice.
