The Finger Lakes

Friday, June 14, Day 53

We had a terrible time getting out of our campground.  The woman at the office said they had installed a little ark at the playground for the children, and it had been raining ever since! 

We are now in the Finger Lake Region  If you look at the map, you will see these long bodies of water of which there are five main ones, eleven all together.   Formed by glaciers, the two largest ones, Cayuga and Seneca are about 40 mies long and 3. 5 miles wide.  They are among the deepest lakes in the country.  Seneca is 618 feet deep, well below sea level. Since they all take essentially the same shape, they resemble human fingers.

A remembrance from the past:  When our son Chris was in grade school, each student had to make a flour and water replica of a state.  He chose New York, and we tried to think of some defining geological feature.  We came up with the Finger Lakes.  So there were these five huge indentations in the casting.  I had no idea how small the lakes actually were until just now.  I do remember though, telling him, "Don't worry.  Your teacher will have no idea an adult helped you with this."   

We went by the home of Harriet Tubman in Auburn.  This area is a very attractive tourist area, and the home gets lots of visitors.

As does this, the home of William Seward,  former NY Governor and Senator, and Lincoln's Secretary of State.  He was an avid abolitionist and  one of the men who was wounded the night Lincoln was assassinated.  He was also responsible for the purchase of Alaska, i.e. Seward's Folly.

And we are beginning to see signs of the Erie Canal.  This was one of the places on my list of things to see.   More on this later!

At Skaneatales, (one of the lakes and towns) there is this tour boat.  You can see  the other  end of the lake, about 16 miles.  This lake is about 1.5 miles wide.  But it is 315 feet deep!

A lone kayaker on what turned out to be a lovely day.

These large homes are on the waterfront.  I continue to be amazed!

We encountered a group of Japanese tourists on the dock and one of them took our picture.

These apartment buildings look a little European.  They have great waterfront views.

The water is crystal clear.  I took this picture from the end of the dock, and the bottom was very clear.

We took back roads to get from one lake to the next.  In between are huge morrains, mounds of earth and rocks pushed up by the glaciers.  There is great farm land around here, and the ridges between lakes contain some beautiful farms.

If you want to know the names of the eleven finger lakes, here goes:  Otisco, Skaneateles, Owasco, Cuyaga, Seneca, Keuka, Canandaigua, Honeoye, Canadice, Hemlock and Conesus.

 Just over this hill is Aurora, home to Pleasant Rowland who created the American Girl dolls.  She has given a lot of money to the town for refurbishing and graduated from Wells College, which is located here.