I must be getting older; and visiting Dad

During this last trip I seemed to get exhausted each day with just plain driving. I didn't notice it until we stopped, but then I needed a nap. We were only driving about 6 hours per day, usually.

We were in the Trumansburg area for 3 days and part of another day this trip. We found Dad in fine fettle. He will be 89 next month, and has the curiosity of a young person. He reads, listens to the news, and comments on current events with conviction. :-) His energy and activity were better than we have seen in the last couple of trips. We spent hours driving around the area, with Dad contributing stories about people he knew (more and more stories seem to be about people who have left the scene).

One day we went on a wild goose chase looking for a chainsaw that had not been fixed. Dad no longer runs it, but does supply parts and fixes. We drove all over between Cayuga and Seneca Lakes just taking random corners at his direction, chasing stories down the road.

One day we took off to Ithaca for a doctor's appointment, then stopped in a Chinese grocery to get Dad some green tea. He drinks it like water all morning. One box of gunpowder tea - $8.99. There we also found lon ngan (Bower romanization). These are dragon's eye fruits, something like li chee, but not really. The lady at the register was happy I asked her about them. They are only available once a year. You peel them, removing a thin, stiff skin and exposing a jelly-like, sweet, mild flavored fruit. There is a pea-sized pit inside, so be careful if you get some!

Then we went off to Enfield Glen (Robert Treman State Park). I had not been for years. Cornell University used to have a Physics Department picnic there every year. For us country kids it was a real treat. There was soda pop (we never had it at home) - mmmmm, grape. There was square dancing, soft ball, hiking, volley ball, and just plain wiggling, followed by a dish to pass supper. Physicists know how to have a good time! We always celebrated the windy downhill part of the road as being the last stage of the picnic journey.

This trip we passed through a newish gate on the walk up to the falls.

Dad lead us past the bath house up toward the dam and the falls. There is a lot of stone work in all of these state parks. During the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) days, this was the only work available for many people. CCC was part of Roosevelt's New Deal, saving many from desperation during the depression days in the 1930's. The Finger Lakes benefited greatly.

The swimming area is beautiful, even with the dam opened and the pool drained. Back in ancient history I was called here to lifeguard once. Most of my guarding time was spent at Taughannock Falls State Park.

The falls itself is kind of typical of the area, shale layers providing a cascade. This time of year is usually fairly dry until the fall rains come. (They arrived during our visit.)

Many of these State Parks have lovely stone building like this.

Weather had taken a coolish turn by the time we arrived (60F or so). Even so, these hardy bees were at work on goldenrod and other late flowers.

We took a parting picture of the spot where the road dips through the creek. We always loved driving through this part, so we did again.

Nobody wanted to climb the glen (lots of stone steps and waterfalls, and big climbs), as we had only one car. So we drove on past the wiggly parts of the road and parked at the top of the park (several miles away), near the old mill. There were lots of interpretive signs here, but Dad supplied his own narrative as well.

Apparently his great uncle owned a mill on Taughannock Creek (many years ago). When Dad and John Duddleston were young, they used to invade the mill, with his uncle chasing them from floor to floor. Eventually, the state of New York purchased the mill, just before the Flood of 1935. The deal closed a week before the flood, which then came along and wiped out the mill.

Here you can see some of the wooden teeth on the main wheel of the Enfield Glen mill.

We had been here many times before, but this time I had a camera.

Here is the pit where the millrace entered. You can just see the dark hole on the far side.

The impellor sits down in the pit on the opposite side. It is detached here from the shaft to the right.

The gear on the shaft was the main driver, with a series of reduction gears taming the motion for the millstones.

All the power for this mill came from this small creek.

We had time for a couple more days, one day driving through Watkins Glen during its preparations for the Vintage Grand Prix parade. We just missed it, but saw a cabillion convertible sports cars as we drove through. After getting a replacement for Dad's thousand year old microwave, we took a long hike down to Seneca Lake (at the old Boy Scout camp). Dad and I both wheezed our way successfully up the hill on the return trip. He gets along very well for an 89 year old. I was quite happy BH (better half) and I had been walking daily down in Austin.

A dinner in Sheldrake at Kidder's Landing finished up the trip. Sheldrake is a gorgeous place mid-lake on Cayuga Lake's western side. It houses beautiful Victorian mansions and several restaurants. We sat outside and watched the sunset along the lake. A bit of ice cream at Cayuga Lake Creamery (voted New York's best), a snooze, and we were on our way on the next leg of our journey.