Falling in Ithaca

I've been doing lots of hiking lately and thus have fallen behind on the blog. Today is a catch-up day. This first of two posts is from April 15th, a day spent in Ithaca. We approached the city by way of the Cornell University campus, stopping at the museum there. We saw many intriguing works of art from the famous and not-so-famous. I learned a lot about Asian religious art and saw a series of photos from a religious ritual in (I think) India. It wasn't all Asian though, there were many genres, media, and cultures represented here.

Next stop was the mall downtown. We wandered around for a bit, browsed and bought at a used bookstore, then found a quiet little restaurant for lunch. After lunch we drove up to Cayuga Nature Center for a couple of short hikes then up Route 89 to Taughannock Falls. The first two photos here were taken from the overlook, several (hundred?) feet above the base of the falls. The closeup (second photo) was taken on my Panasonic advanced digital with a 500mm-effective lens. I like the way the water blurs with motion in some spots while in others you can almost see each drop as it ripples down the gorge. Afterwards we walked the trail along the lower gorge where we passed the falls shown in the third photo. The last picture was taken at the base of the falls, our last stop of the day. We were tempted to stop at the Cayuga Creamery for some of their famous ice cream but managed to will our way past, saving it for another day.

It was a great day, great companionship, great meal, great hiking, awesome views!