Upstate Installment

So much to tell and to share, some stitching and some adventures.....this is going to take more that one post.   It all started back in March when my daughters told me to set aside some time in August for a vacation together.  All was to be revealed on my birthday which was one of those milestone years that ends in a zero.   Anyway, a week after my birthday while visiting one daughter, we Facetimed with the other and I learned the plan.   Packages were numbered to be opened in order.  Number 3 was a drawing on tissue paper with little symbols and icons.   It didn't really make sense or reveal anything.  (I tried to photograph it but it doesn't show up well).   #4 was a map and I was to overlay the tissue paper with symbols and such over the map.   It was a map of the Finger Lakes in upstate New York and they had planned a tour of the wine regions of the Finger Lakes.    Have I ever said I have the best daughters in the whole wide world.....well maybe, but I say it again because I do.

So Wednesday I headed to DD#1 so we could head up to Seneca Falls NY.   DD#2 was driving from the Boston area to meet us there.     On the way we were slowed for roadwork and this just stuck me funny.....look closely.   Seems in addition to growing corn, they are growing railroad crossing signs!

 Not much later, we see a train....helps make those street signs more reasonable.

 I don't remember the storm clouds as we drove up....surely they were a harbinger of the weather we were to face driving home.    Being from flat 'ole south Jersey, I am always enchanted by the mountains.

 On the way to our destination of Seneca Falls, NY, we drove through Skaneateles (pronounced "skinny-atlas" (thank you for the correction!  E.W.) and not "scuh-needles" as we made the mistake of saying).  We made plans to stop for a few hours on the way home to enjoy some shopping and walk past the beautiful, huge Victorians homes.

And then we arrived in Seneca Falls, NY.  What an adorable little town.  Victorian homes and that old time feel.

We stayed in a carriage house.    It was adorable and very nicely appointed.    Big baskets of petunias greeted us on the porch.  (more on the inside later)

Across the street was this episcopal church.  It is dubbed the most photographed church in New York.    It was on a an "I Love NY " brochure some years ago and it draws shutterbugs...believe me there was an unending stream of cars and people with cameras.....or maybe they were chasing Pokemons!     It is quite stunning from the other side of the canal.   This view does not give it justice at all.

The church really had some beautiful stained glass windows.   Walking tours are available to view all the windows from the inside. 

 This is a photo from the internet of the view from the other side of the canal.

 More of the view from our place.  The canal connects Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake.

Now let me tell you a little about Seneca Falls.  There is a common belief, although never confirmed by write Frank Capra, that Seneca Falls was the inspiration for Bedford Falls in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life".  So much so that there is a museum dedicated to the movie.  Although close by, we did not go.

Could this plaque have inspired Capra?   Locals think so.....

Street signs by the bridge with names like "George Bailey" and "Clarence".

Old knitting mill......seems we can never get too far from crafts.

And this was all just the first afternoon.......more to come......stay tuned.