Cayuga Lake and Taughannock Falls, NY

Most of our time the last couple of weeks has been spent catching up with relatives and friends in the area, some of whom we had not seen in almost 10 years. Yesterday we decided to play tourists and revisit some of the natural beauty in this part of the country. We drove down by the shore of Cayuga Lake, one of the finger lakes, which was carved by glaciers. For our next stop we picked Taughannock Falls State Park. It was cloudy and looked like rain might come soon, so we went to the overlook at the top. There is a trail you can take which goes close to the base of the falls, but we decided against that for now.

Fall colors are everywhere.

Looking across Cayuga Lake at some of the cottages on the west shore, surrounded by trees hanging on to their many colored leaves.

A look at Stewart Park at the south end of the lake.

Taughannock Falls

The water plunges 215 feet, which makes this the tallest free-falling waterfall in the northeast US. If you look closely, you can see where the lower falls trail ends at the bottom right.

The Texas tourists.

The water fills the pool at the bottom of the falls.

The following are a sampling of the beautiful trees in the state park down by Cayuga Lake.

Travels from Montana to New York

After spending the summer in the Yellowstone area, we left abruptly in the middle of the day on Oct 3, to avoid the 1 to 3 feet of snow and very cold temperatures they were predicting. The weather was chasing us, so we had longer days on the road than we normally plan on. Our first overnight stop was in Billings, MT and then on to Minot, ND to spend 3 days visiting our youngest. The weather was cold, wet and dreary, but we had a great visit.
Our next destination was the central NY area and with the cold weather at our heels, we covered that ground in 4 long days, with nights in Minneapolis, MN, Davenport, IA, and Sandusky, OH.
Here are a few sights seen along the route. The weather was not the greatest and most of the shots were taken out the window of our truck while on the move.

Crossing the Mississippi River very early in the morning. It's been quite a while since we've been on the east side of the river.

We were glad we were not too late to see the show of fall colors in the east.

Now that we have stayed in Iowa, we only have 5 states left to visit. We should be able to cover New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Maine without too much trouble. Alaska and Hawaii, who knows? You can make your own map at www.visitedstatesmap.com

Big Springs and Cave Falls

We spent this day, taking Tom and Nancy to Big Springs, where we saw this muskrat having a cool dip. You can see more photos of this location on previous posts.



At our visitors' suggestion, we went to a place we had never visited. We had read about Cave Falls, which is located at the southwest corner of Yellowstone NP. The access to it is from the Idaho side, so is not visited by very many. It was definitely worth the trip.

The aspens are starting to turn.

A distant view of the Tetons from the west side.

More aspens, which can vary in color from pale yellow to bright orange and all shades in between.

The next few shots are self explanatory, as we take a walk up to the base of the falls. According to what we read, there was supposed to be a cave there, but a recent rock slide appears to have covered the entrance.

More Friends Visit !

For a few days last week, we were doubly blessed to have 2 couples visiting us. It was great for all of us to have time together, as they are friends too. Our boss was gracious enough to give us a Saturday off, so we could spend the day together. We started our day at the Campfire Lodge for breakfast. It was a wonderful meal, with great company and all at the shore of the Madison River. In the afternoon we had a cook out at Tom and Nancy's rig, where we were glad to be joined by two more friends.

Larry, Claudia, Diane, Dave, Nancy and Tom posing for a group shot behind the Campfire Lodge.

Some fly fishermen just downriver from the restaurant.

The SKP Boomer line-up: Tom & Nancy, Dave, Betty, Jeannie (soon to be a Boomer), Diane (Dave's better half), Claudia & Larry. As is common for Boomers, we had great eats and lots of laughs.

The following day we went for a ride with Tom and Nancy along the Mesa Falls Scenic Drive. We missed Dave and Diane :( but they had to head back to South Dakota.

A strange looking bug. Looks like a cross between a bee and a butterfly.

Upper Mesa Falls. We took the nice walk which got us up close to the falls.

The lookout for Lower Mesa Falls gives a more distant view.

Zooming in on Lower Mesa Falls. We recently saw a report of an extreme kayak ride over these falls. We'll let you decide if it's an extreme sport or stupidity.

Most of the flowers are gone, but the leaves are turning beautiful colors.

Friends Visit Us and Yellowstone Area

One of the best things about this lifestyle is the wonderful friends we have met since we went on the road. We enjoy seeing all the beauty this country has, but it does not compare with time spent visiting with friends and relatives along the way. When we get to share the beauty around us with others, it multiplies the enjoyment exponentially. This week we have the pleasure of having two couples visiting us. The following are from a day we spent with Dave and Diane showing them a few of the wonders outside of Yellowstone.

The green and blue colors of Wade Lake are awesome.

A bee on a musk thistle flower, considered a noxious weed, but beautiful anyway.

A Steller's Jay.

This butterfly finds one of the few blooms left in the late summer.

Larry enjoying his new camera again, taking close up shots of bugs.

A pretty yellow bird flies from branch to branch eating insects.

After going to Wade and Cliff Lakes, we shared another wonder with our friends, Big Spring in Island Park, Idaho. The water is so clear, you can easily see to the bottom.

The fish thrive here in the 52 degree water.

The water from Big Spring feeds the Henry's Fork of the Snake River. The cabin seen here was built by John Sack. He was a German man who built it and all furnishings by hand. The small building by the water is his generator for electricity.

The ducks like it here too.

As we were visiting at the spring, this female moose came out of the woods very close to us.

She crossed the road and headed for the water at the big spring. It was interesting to watch her put her head in the water, past her eyes, in search of food.

Miner's Lettuce grows well here, a favorite of moose.

Except for the head, moose look very much like horses.

This moose must not mind the very cool water.