Anniversary on a Motorcycle Part One
It was fifty-four degrees, breezy and sunny with blue skies, the promise of Spring finally taking root.
Going for a walk on a day like today wouldn't require more than a light sweatshirt to be comfortable. Unless of course you were visiting from a southern state like Florida, then you would be freezing, but for northerners just coming off of a long cold winter, it's nearly balmy.
However, if you have ever been on a motorcycle, then you'll know that breezy translates into windy and unless you only go for a short ride, you will quickly find yourself chilled and fifty will feel a lot more like thirty. Because I do know this, I layered up. In fact, I wore long johns top and bottom, two pairs of pants and five sweatshirts. And being that my top sweatshirt is blue, the overall visual effect is something like Violet from Willy Wonka after she ate the gum and started blowing up.
I nearly cut myself from these pictures, then figured it was as good a place as any to start working on my vanity issues.
The first part of our day consisted of a scenic ride along Seneca Lake to Watkins Glen with a small entourage. Halfway to our destination (an Italian Restaurant) is Hector Falls, providing a nice first photo op for the trip.
These two pictures along with the one just below were taken with my new GoPro, a camera I am still trying to get used to. Particularly the odd way the pictures curve around. The rest of the photos were taken with a new camera app on our phone, and I unfortunately can't say that I prefer the GoPro yet. Maybe once I've played with it a bit more.
Our Tag-Alongs
This was actually my first time at Jerlandos, and I have to say their wood-fired pizza is amazing, highly recommend.
After the delicious meal we decided to ditch the entourage, and head to Taughannok State Park, which gave us another scenic ride, this time along Cayuga Lake.
Taughannok is located in Trumansburg NY and home to several waterfalls. The one I'll be focusing on in this part is what people consider the "Main Falls" and is in fact the falls that the girls all walk to in Chapter One of Reborn.
It is not the one that Anna describes in the beginning, that one will be the focus of part two. And instead of walking the bottom trail to the falls we chose to go to the scenic overlook, mainly because we got a late start and probably wouldn't have made it before the sun went down. Also it affords me the opportunity to do another post down the road about the the trail to the bottom of the falls.
The visitor center
Entrance to the Upper Trail
The Main Falls are a staggering 215 ft in height, making its drop nearly 50 feet higher than Niagara Falls
The last time I walked the Upper Trail, it took us to a place very near the top of the falls. I've heard that part of the trail has since been shut down due to hazardous conditions. One of my missions later this spring will be to discover if that's permanent. (Also to sneak my way over to it even if it is... danger? I laugh in the face of danger, muhaha)
Here you can see the end of the lower trail on the bottom right.
Even though I'm calling these my anniversary posts, they also could be considered the first two blogs in a series of waterfall and gorge articles that will be coming your way, as this area is literally teeming with them.
Stay tuned for Part Two of our Anniversary, many more photos of beauty to come.
Generously created for me by @son-of-satire
Excellent post dear friend @dreemit, beautiful images, I really like places with casacdas, they are fanatic to watch the water run, motorcycles I liked since I was young, but I never had the opportunity to have one, for that reason my three children when I gave them a motorcycle, the maoyor tube a motorcycle Honda Tornado, My daughter A Honda Tunin Trip and the smaller a Honda 110cc.
Excellent images thanks for sharing
I'm glad you enjoyed this my lovely friend, I will be doing another post with more waterfalls tomorrow :)
What a great way to celebrate an Anniversary! The day looked like one of these perfect days you can only have in Spring time. Funny that you are trying a new GoPro, I've planned to buy one, too, for my surfing sessions. I am sure it needs some practice until you fully get behind all its magic ;)
The falls are breathtaking! That's probably the only thin I am missing on my little island from time to time: there aren't much sight seeing spots and adventure is much more limited to imagination ;)
Again, I am really happy for you two! Cheers to the upcoming years! Love is awesome ❤️
Love is truly awesome. I met him when I was eighteen. He's a little older, brought two boys with him to the mix whom I adore, though they are much more like little brothers than sons, the age difference isn't quite parent/child.
We are about two decades in on this love affair, this was our seventeenth anniversary, can you believe that? I can't, time flies. And there is such thing as true love, because I have it. He is my soulmate, my best friend, my lover and my mentor. Lucky am I ;)
Yes you are! Wow, seventeen is outstanding. I've heard a couple of times about these high school loves and I think they have a great potential. My two brothers love their girlfriends from Uni still, and one of them got married last summer. He's 9 years younger than me and I cried the whole wedding day, it was soooo emotional! ;)
These bonds are surely forever. I am truly happy you found yours!
murdercycles! Had me 3 of them, a r6/06, a zx12/90, and a fz1/11, demolished my r6 running from the cops (got away too, long story), my zx got stolen, and the fz is fairly ok but in some impound. Going to try to get a dirtbike, and not give my wife a heart attack :D.
Lovely pictures, and so true
I fell asleep on my r6 through nevada 3 times, waking up from dreams as I was veering off the highway at 70 mph, and through wyoming in 40 degree weather with 3 pairs of jeans on, a bunch of sweaters and sweatshirts and 3 pairs of gloves I was doing the dance with one hand in the engine the whole time, I rode my fz1 through wyoming 2 times, both times through sleet and snow and no visibility, takes some meditation and determination to push through those conditions, and massive amounts of luck :D, I was the only two wheels I saw both trips.
Wow, yeah I can definitely imagine you were the only one on two wheels for those trips!! When my husband was young, around twenty, he talks about one winter when his car blew up and the only transportation he had to and from work was a kawasaki ninja. For about two months he had a fifty mile round trip every day, through all kinds of snow and ice, and temperatures that got down into the teens.
Incidentally my stepson's first word beyond mama and dadda was kawasaki, I kid you not. Kasaki, he'd say, LOL
That's hilarious! I feel for your husband! I hope he had heated gear, as even good gear won't give you much protection!
Nope, the way he tells it is very similar to my grandparents stories of walking miles to school in blizzards, haha! Apparently he just layered up. He's a manly man, lol ;)
LOL I know 25 miles isn't much, I think through wyoming I must have been driving for an hour, the first time for 4+ hours, but still, men are duuuuummm compared to you guys! I've done my fair share of dumm, just 2 days ago I walked outside the house to get a snake in flip flops with the vacuum cleaner pipe/extension! 15 fireant bites later my wife still has sympathy for me, one stoopid ant got me right on top of the 2nd toe right by the nail, I took a shovel and dug out the whole area and used the dirt to make a little walkway which I covered in grass for our ducks. To my defense though, I thought it was going to be a little snake(misheard the kid), not a 5+foot long broad banded water snake, harmless to everything but our little ducks.
Men are dumb.
Looks like you had/are having a nice trip :D
I love waterfalls, we only get them in "winter" here though XD
Thank you! It was yesterday, but there will be many more of these adventures to come now that nice weather is on its way.
The best time for waterfalls here is early spring due to snow thaws. Then it really depends on how much rain we get. If there's a lot of rain through the spring, and at least some consistent rain in summer then the waterfalls will continue majestically on through. But if it's dry, then they'll slowly fade.
Lovely photos and looks like a very fun trip. Bet the GoPro is fun, though as you say, not quite for portraiture.
The waterfalls are amazing. Hope you find the upper trail when it is warmer. Best to fall in when the water isn't so cold ( :
Look forward to more of the anniversary trip in next installments.
Thank you my friend! There's one more installment of the anniversary, but I am definitely going to be doing a waterfall and gorge themed series as the spring progresses. If you've never heard of Watkins Glen gorge, you can google it, but I will definitely be doing a post on that. We live about twenty miles from there, also twenty miles from Ithaca on the other side, which is home to a number of parks and waterfalls :)
I was glad when you said you would be offline enjoying this time !!!
Those waterfalls remind me of my travels all the way across Canadastan here, stopping in the Alberta and BC areas on the side of a road and filling up my water bottles here and there, by hand, right from the waterfalls like those.
Good for you!
Thanks sweetie, I had a blast! I love road trips like the one you just described ;)
Thanks so much for what you said in @htooms post, it was really nice to come across!
And here's part two, my favorite pictures of the lot :)
https://steemit.com/life/@dreemit/anniversary-on-a-motorcycle-part-two-anna-s-falls-and-excerpts-from-the-novel-reborn
That really is an impressive waterfall. Those trees look wintry still, I'm glad the temperature was nice. Happy anniversary!
Thanks! It was yesterday actually, which you probably realize since I've been talking to you all day today LOL hee hee.
I know, and I already said it yesterday, but it was an anniversary/ waterfall post!
You're right, and there will be one more tomorrow...although that one will also feature excerpts from Reborn to highlight it ;)
(s)teeming with them LOL
Oh that's good, I need to incorporate that somehow :)
Amazing pictures :-) Thanks for sharing your beautiful tour :-)
Happy anniversary, you two! :D It's so fitting that there is a particular focus on waterfalls, as they're a known source of renewable energy. Keep the love alive and surging like these powerful bodies of water <3