New York - part 3

July 31, 2019 - August 3, 2019

Many of my ancestors once lived in the Finger Lakes area of New York so we went off to Wolcott to explore an area where a fair number of them once made their home.  It was a beautiful drive along Cayuga Lake then on up to Wolcott which is close to but not directly situated on Lake Ontario.  It's an area lush with apple orchards.  I managed to find ancestors in several cemeteries, picked up a bunch of probate records and just generally checked out some of the towns where they used to live. 

Sign for the Baker Cemetery in Walworth, NY.

Headstone of David Calvin Warner - my 5th great grandfather.

Headstone of Abram P Easton, my 4th great grandfather. 
This stone, along with several other Easton's are in the Fair Mount Cemetery in Red Creek, NY.
His father and mother are also buried in this cemetery but the headstone appears to be gone now.

We went to see Chimney Bluffs State Park which is right on Lake Ontario. 
The 'beach' varies from about this wide to about 1 foot wide.
The water was super clear and there were lots of boats anchored near the shore where people were swimming.

Although we saw some super neat pictures of the Chimney's on line, they are hard to see from the water's edge.

The chimneys are formed as follows: (from an online page)
"The bluffs are formed from eroded drumlins, teardrop-shaped hills of glacial till that were deposited and shaped by glaciers during the most recent ice age. The erosive power of wind, rain, snow, and waves has formed the landscape into sharp pinnacles."

Every years the chimneys look different - depending on rain, snow, freezing, etc.

Barney loved this walk on the beach.  He was one tired puppy when we finished.
Here you can see some of the boats anchored off shore.

New York - part 2

July 26, 2019 - July 30, 2019


Wanting to explore the Finger Lakes area of New York State a bit more we headed to Trumansburg on Lake Cayuga to set up a base for our explorations.

The Earth Museum in Ithaca was our first destination.  It holds numerous fossils which help tell the story of our planet. We both enjoy looking at fossils but trying to imagine what life was like back millions of years ago is just beyond my thought processes.  

The is the skeleton of a Right Whale - the whale that was hunted almost to extinction because it contained large quantities of oil and baleen.  Notice how closely the bones in the flipper" resemble the anatomy of our own arms and hands.
This particular whale died as a result of getting caught in discarded fishing nets and lines - an all to common occurance in our polluted oceans.

In spite of all the fossils we've seen I still can't tell you the difference between the Cambrian and the Cretaceous or the Tertiary and the Triassic periods.  I don't suppose I ever will know the difference but I still find the fossils interesting.   

This cool chart shows when Pangea (the supercontinent or original land mass on our planet) was breaking up and beginning to form the continents as we now know them.  It turns out it all began during the time of the dinosaurs.

Skeleton of a Mastodon found in Hyde Park, New York when a couple was enlarging a pond in their backyard!
It is one of the most complete and best preserved mastodon skeletons ever found.
Can you imagine how exciting that would be!

I think this explains the blue ice in the Ice Mine we saw in Coudersport, PA!
Maybe I should send a copy to them.

Taughannock Falls, one of the highest falls in the Eastern U.S. was just a short drive and short hike from our campsite.  We were able to take Barney on this excursion and he loved it!

This short series of falls is found at the beginning of the trail to Taughannock Falls.
Because it's late July, the water flow is fairly low.

Another short fall on the way up the trail to Taughannock Falls.
The bottom of the river is literally giant slabs of rock.
Imagine what this must be like in late winter/early spring when the snow is melting!

The river has cut through one layer of rock on it's way to Lake Cayuga.

Above and below:  Lots of people have had fun building cairns at this spot.  There's a lot of rock to work with.
I suppose next year these will all be pushed over by the spring river flow.

Taughhannock Falls!  We made it.

The Womens Rights Historical Park is in Seneca Falls, NY - where the struggle for women's rights began in 1848.

These bronze statues represent the major players in the struggle.  People like Elizabeth Cady Stanton,
Lucretia Mott, Martha Wright, Jane Hunt, Mary Ann M'Clintock and Frederick Douglas.  
Many of husbands of these women were also involved in the struggle.

The faces of the brave women who began the women's rights movement.
Jane Hunt (top left), Mary Ann M'Clintock (center), Elizabeth Cady Stanton (bottom left), Lucretia Mott (bottom middle) and Martha Wright (far right).  We owe these women a huge debt of gratitude.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton later joined with Susan B. Anthony to focus on gaining a women's right to vote.  Elizabeth did the writing, Susan did the traveling and speaking.  They didn't always agree but they forged an amazing friendship and a formidable team.  Neither would live to see the 19th amendment enacted.

We were so glad we went to this National Historic Park.  It's humbling to see what these 19th century women did to advance the cause of women's rights.

New York - part 1

July 20, 2019 - July 26, 2019

From Coudersport, PA we drove northeast through Corning, NY and onto Campbell where we set up our base to explore the area.

The Rockwell Museum (an affiliate of the Smithsonian) is located in Corning.  Despite its name it's not about Norman Rockwell although that would have been fun.  We were so glad we decided to visit as it holds some wonderful pieces of art.  

There were fabulous paintings -

Mt. McKinley (Denali) by Sydney Laurence

Sun River War Party by Charles M. Russell

Clouds in the Canyon by Thomas Moran

There were incredible bronzes:

I have a particular love of bronze statues. It began after we visited a foundry and saw what it takes to create a bronze statue.  After that experience it was also easy to see why they are so expensive.

The Bronco Buster by Frederic Remington (his first effort at a bronze!!!!)

The End of the Trail by James Earle Fraser

Whoops - we didn't get the name of the piece or the sculptor but isn't it wonderful!  

The Last Drop by Charles Schreyvogel

There was amazing Native American work including baskets, beading, painting and carving.

This is the largest fetish I ever recall seeing.  You can't tell from looking at it but it's about 4 inches tall.

Our next destination was the Corning Museum of Glass.  This museum definitely qualifies as a MUST SEE if you are ever in the vicinity.  There is so much to see I would suggest giving it two days.  If offers the history of glass making (35 centuries with examples), optical glass (e.g. microscopes, telescopes, cameras, etc.), fiber optic glass (and how it's changed the world), specialized glass (e.g. windshields for cars), contemporary glass, hot shops where you can watch glass blowers make their projects, and you can even make make a glass project yourself.  It's just an amazing place and I won't be able to do it justice.  Here are just a few of the glass items we saw (an an explanation where I can provide one).

A Dale Chihuly piece

Raindrops glowing in the dark

Gilded and enameled glass

Roman cut and engraved glass.

Forest glass from central and northern Europe - middle ages to 18th century.

Louis Comfort Tiffany window

Lynx made of glass pieces.

Glass desert pieces

Glass petri dishes.  

Modern chandelier

Fused glass strands

People see different things in this display.  They look like gondolas to me.

I can't even imagine how something like this is created out of glass. Exquisite!

If you are ever in the vicinity of Corning, NY please don't miss the Corning Museum of Glass!  It is amazing.

From our campground in Campbell we drove to the town of  Watkins Glen to hike up a trail to see a long series of waterfalls.  As we found out it's a very popular spot.  We had called ahead to make sure we could bring Barney on the trails and we were assured we could.  What they just didn't bother to tell us he couldn't be on the main trail - the only trail where you can actually view the waterfalls!  Had to go back to the car, find a shady parking space, then get the car arranged for his comfort before we took of on the gorge trail.

Looking back towards the visitor center from the gorge trail.

The water just shoots through this narrow pass through the rock.

It's easy to see the hundreds of layers of rock laid down millions of years ago that have been cut through by the stream.

To navigate the gorge trail you have to climb lots of wet and muddy steps.

Looking back down the stream.

The trail leads behind this waterfall.  You can see the kind of work that was done to build this trail.

Looking back from just before we duck under the waterfall.

Tired legs and concern for Barney cut our visit short so we didn't see the entire series of waterfalls.
What we did see was spectacular!

Again, driving from our campground in Campbell, we went to Hammondsport, NY to see the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum.  Laura wants to take the controls on this section so ... over to Laura.
Hello Everyone! Any aficionado (such as my youngest brother Mark), will know who Glenn Curtiss was! He was "the fastest man on earth", riding his V-8 engine motorcycle (which he produced himself) in 1907 and that record was not beaten until his death in 1930. Please read printed story below this picture.

As you can read below, Glenn set the world's speed record on his V8 motorcycle in 1907. 

What an amazing ride this must have been! Over 136 miles per hour, going a mile faster than any man in history!!

Here is one of many inventions Curtiss obtained patents for.
You'll see as you read on that he was really a mechanical genius!

It looks like a great idea if you only go about 5 miles an hour otherwise you could become a flying object out of this seat!

Glenn Curtiss was the first person to land an airplane on water (1910) and take off from water (1911)
Much of his experience with planes was gained when he worked with Alexander Graham Bell and a group of flight enthusiasts up in Baddeck, Nova Scotia.

This tells about an amazing land, sea and air vehicle that Curtiss invented in 1911! Who knew?!
The Navy was very excited to get a hold of this and bought several for their use. 
Curtiss is now know as the father of Naval aviation.

And here it is! He was also inventing a regular airplane about the same time as the Wright brothers. 
They were in serious competition with each other and lawsuits were the result.
Curtiss made the "first officially witnessed flight in North America" per the museum and Wikipedia.

This invention of his "blew my mind"! The one below in 1929 might have been the first 5th wheel travel trailer!! There was a model of one in the museum but I really liked these old pictures with the old cars pulling the trailers. Wouldn't it be fun to have one of these? It even had a stove to cook on and a toilet and sink, plus a couch that made into a bed.

Notice how the trailer roof hangs over the car and essentially provides a roof for the car!
Not so good in the rain though.

This picture of Curtiss (and possibly the buyer) was great too. I took pictures of the inside of the full sized model that was at the museum but they didn't show up very well because they were through the windows so I didn't include them here. The Curtiss Museum was one of the most  interesting museum's about a guy not many have ever heard of. There were quite a few of his inventions besides motorcycles there, plus other brands of bikes and some older cars from the 1920's-1950's that were built by the usual car manufacturers. But since I love old cars (and motorcycles) I had a lot of fun checking them out. I also sent pictures of several motorcycles to my brother Mark without their names showing and he knew them all! Of course he did, he's owned numerous 'bikes' since 1970 at age 16! That's all folks! Until next time I choose a fun topic to write about, 'happy trails to you, until we meet again'!!