Taking a Break from the DIY

We spent most of July working on the house, which was totally exhausting. Let's just say we've had a few days where neither of us wanted to do much of anything. But, if you know the two of us, you'll know we also find nature relaxing. Since we haven't had much time for a real vacation, we've been exploring the awesome hiking in Ithaca, as well as the fun summer activities here in town. As a bonus, Amit's weekday off is Wednesday, so we've been loving the fact that we get three whole days to explore together! (And Wednesdays make for some very quiet hiking, it's so nice to be able to avoid all the tourists.)

With three state parks all within 15 minutes, 

we've been getting a lot of good hikes in.

This was at Treman State Park.

We spent our Friday nights in July at Cornell, 

listening to the free concerts.

And eating some awesome ice cream.

During the week, we go for our nightly walk along the inlet.

Emma loves it!

The last time Ron and Mom were in town,

we took a little time out to do some shopping.

Mom and I are going to do some fun decorating with these!

We took this photo on our first hike in Taughannock State Park.

We had a big storm last week, 

and this was the same waterfall two days after the rain.

Unbelievable!

And this was the Upper Falls in Treman this past Wednesday.

We couldn't hike along the gorge because of the damage.

And what do we do on our Saturday mornings?

We go to the Farmer's Market, of course!

Well, after buying our eggs, meat and veggies for the week,

we sit next to the water and enjoy some fantastic breakfast burritos!
(And a little sparkling, fresh orange juice with a shot of beet juice.)

  

We're having a great time here in Ithaca and keep finding awesome new places to go! It's been great to have so much to do when we don't feel like painting trim.

Our First Ithaca Adventure

Clearly this will be the first of many exciting experiences in Ithaca. We're slowly approaching the end of June, and our move to Ithaca can't come soon enough! We went back to Ithaca two weekends ago, so that Amit could sign his contract. Of course we made a weekend out of it. In addition to a very fun evening at the Glacier Gala, we fit in a morning hike at Buttermilk Falls.

The falls are actually about a 5 minute drive from our new house, so we'll definitely be hiking there often. I'm so excited to be living in a town that's so close to fresh produce, grass-fed meat, and most importantly, gorgeous hiking trails! They say that Ithaca is gorges, and it really is! Here are some of my favorite photos from our hike. It was so hard to decide which I liked best!

We actually started at the top and hiked down along the water.

On the way to the largest falls, 

we saw a lot of beautiful, smaller ones.

At the top of the falls...

...and the bottom.

The climb up was tough! 

We need to start training for these gorges,

we'll be getting some great workouts!

Last one.

I love the way the walls were carved out. 

Oops... I lied. Here's a picture we took while sitting in the sun on Cayuga Lake on Saturday, before the gala. Yep, I think we're going to LOVE living here! Ready to visit yet?

If you wanted to see the rest of the pictures, try this link. I'm trying to decide between Snapfish and Shutterfly for storage, so I figured I would see if this works.

http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=9054703025/a=2431405025_2431405025/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/

It's Hiking Season!

Hooray! Spring is coming! And with spring comes warm, enjoyable hikes. We did spend our winter weekends hiking, but who wants to take their mittens off to take pictures? Not me! On Sunday, we went to Chimney Bluffs State Park, only an hour away, since Amit was interested in seeing the bluffs up close and in person. It was chilly and windy, but sunny, which was a welcome change to our other hikes.

The bluffs looked interesting even from the start of our hike.

\

We started in the woods, following a very random, overgrown trail.

That was quite an adventure.

The views were totally worth it, though!

After our hike to the other end of the park,

we headed down to the beach to walk back along the lake.

I definitely never though Lake Ontario had a landscape this different. 

We felt like we were on a different planet!

Luckily we had some snow to walk on.

The clay was very wet.

Our shoes were coated in mud from when we did actually walk on it.

The bluff really do look like chimneys!

The view was unreal!

We really did not expect such an impressive hike so close to Rochester. Western NY keeps surprising us with the different places we've found. We're so blessed to have been given the opportunity to continue to explore out here and in the Finger Lakes!

Enjoying the Snow

Well, we've been wanting good snow the last few winters, and clearly we got it! Our first winter in NY has definitely made up for the past two years of disappointing snowfall in MA. Since we have more than a foot of powdery snow, we were so ready to take out our skis last weekend.

It was still snowing on Saturday morning,

so we went out and skied near some ponds close to home.

On Sunday, since the weather was nice,

we went skiing at Mendon Ponds Park.

There were lots of people out skiing and sledding and snowshoeing.

Since Emma doesn't come skiing with us,

we took her back to Mendon Ponds to hike on New Year's Day.

What a strange dog. She likes to sniff and stick her head under the snow.

And just for reference - 

This was the pile of snow outside our house on New Year's Eve.

 We had a low-key New Year's.

We had ribs on Christmas Day (one of our new traditions), so we decided to start another rib tradition for New Year's Day.

Only problem with this plan? We had to shovel our way to the grill!

Our ribs and Brussels Sprouts and Kale salad with bacon.
A totally primal way to start 2013!

Having all this snow on the ground was a great start to the New Year and thanks to one of my Christmas presents, I have even more awesome food projects to work on!

Yet Another Weekend Trip

That's right, since I'm stuck in Massachusetts, we planned another super-quick weekend trip. This past weekend we met up with Ron and Mom again in Hudson for a weekend of hiking and eating. Cuyahoga National Park is so huge that we still haven't even put a dent in really exploring it.

On Saturday, we hiked to see Bridal Veil Falls. We were blessed with more beautiful weather, and even though the leaves were gone, it was still a great hike!

We brought the tripod on this trip.

Family photo time!

Thanks, Irene.

Bridal Veil Falls

This was the dedication at the falls. 

We thought the quote was fun.

After hiking for a while, 
we came to a road and a river.

 Amit demanded that I take picture of him spear-fishing.
By the way, there were no fish.

By now it was time for a bathroom break.
Amit decided to cause a little trouble.

We had yet another, super fun weekend in Ohio. We also managed to visit a microbrewery in Akron called Thirsty Dog Brewing Company and everyone gave in to my anti-beer attitude and we enjoyed some great wine and a beautiful view at Sarah's Vineyard. The winery was close to the park, so hopefully it will become a habit when we meet up for our hikes. All in all, it was another fun weekend. We found some great bike paths that would be really fun to cross-country ski on, so we'll see when we get back to Hudson for our next  reunion. I can't wait to see those waterfalls in the spring!