Our next leg of the 2025 Fall adventure was in Cayuga State Park. Which was next to Cayuga Lake! Our campsite was very close to the lake and we stayed for three nights. The campground had many sites, most without electricity. Our site had electricity and we shared water with another campsite. The rule for water sharing was to only hook up our camper to the water for 15 minutes so we could fill our on board tanks. Which we did. Steve is finally getting the hang of how to configure the RV to use on board water. But Vicki still has to tell him when the water is not running properly (no water pressure?)
This site was well within wine country. The state park is along the Cayuga Lake Wine trail, a self-promoted trail that included ten wineries along the western shore of Cayuga Lake. We visited the first winery along the trail: Montezuma’s winery. Lexi joined us (very dog friendly) and we had a glass of wine along with some flatbread and spinach/artichoke dip. The wine was good but pricier than we wanted. There was ‘live’ entertainment with a singer blasting music inside the winery, even so we had a very enjoyable evening.
Steve didn’t see any close by hiking or biking trails, so he went out on the road next to the lake and biked south for eight miles (and back for another eight.) There wasn’t much traffic on the road, so it was a pleasant ride.
In the afternoon we went into Seneca Falls (Steve, Lexi, Vicki) to visit the National Women’s Rights National Park. But the visitor center was closed due to the government shutdown (so no cancellation mark for the passport book). Outside the visitor center was a water wall that had the Declaration of Sentiment printed on it, a very thought provoking and meditative monument.
We also walked around Seneca Falls for a bit, stopping for lunch at Parkers on Fall. We ate outside, with Lexi sitting next to us. The food was good but the ginger beer (from Ithaca Soda) was even better. Seneca Falls was a quaint town with a active, walkable main street. And the town also has the “It’s a Wonderful Life” museum.
On Sunday Steve went to St. Patrick Catholic Church in Seneca Falls, a very picturesque old church.
The next day all three of us went exploring for waterfalls. Our first stop was the Great Gully waterfalls. Which were disappointing since the lack of rain since early summer meant the stream was more of a trickle. But we hiked along the rocks on the stream bed. V-very interesting seeing all the large rocks that make up a river bed. The hiking was interesting – not walking on solid ground.
We figured all other nearby waterfalls would also be a bust, so we went looking for wineries instead. And we found Hearts and Hands winery (https://heartandhandswine.com/) that had an outdoor tasting area. Lexie made herself comfortable, and Vicki and I shared a couple flights of their wine. The wine must have been good, we bought four bottles of various vintages (their Arvine, Dry Reisling and Chardonnay). We also enjoyed talking to the other tasters: the couple that was there before us recognized the Oceania logo on Steve’s golf shirt. They have been cruising on Oceania for 14 cruises; they obviously liked the line. V. – Very fun comparing notes with the fellow cruisers and very different doing it at a winery in upstate New York.
Since the winery didn’t offer any food, we stopped for ice cream on the way back to our campsite. Lexie got another pup cup. Maybe that’s why she likes traveling in the Mini Cooper: an ice cream may appear. V.- she has gotten good at relaxing while we enjoy the wine, snacks and other “winers.”
Cayuga State Park is where we became aware of another Asian invasive species: the brown Marmorated (stink bugs). They were looking for a warm place to winter and our RV (and other RVs) are attractive. They swarmed the exterior of our RV and we found them in our RV for the rest of the trip. Steven found out why they were called stink bugs while Vicki was careful to capture and release them outside.
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