8 September 2012 Syracuse to Watertown

My early morning task was to drive from Cortland to Syracuse and pick-up Ali at the airport. There was supposed to be rain later in the morning and the early afternoon. So much for the weather predictions. It was raining from the start with most of the drive in a downpour. My journey was easy compared to Ali's white knuckle jet ride. All ended well though as she made it to the airport.

We were on vacation with the mission to complete the Seaway Trail GeoTrail. We wanted to do this in 2011, but GeoWoodstock ended that plan. This was going to be a week with great geocaching destinations including Lake Ontario, the Saint Lawrence Seaway, a stop in the Adirondacks, and a dip into Ontario. Even heavy rains can't spoil the anticipation on the first day of vacation.

Our first stop was at a historic canal bridgehouse. The bridgehouse looked interesting, but was already closed. The bridgehouse would have taken a distant second to the Lake Champlain canal boat replica that was at the dock and hosting visitors. Our geek side was thrilled at the chance to check out this boat. The crew was super friendly and gave us a great tour. It may be the only canal boat to have its own tug.

Birds in the rain

We had never seen these sunflowers before. Our first view of them was at the water's edge at Merrill Park. They would reappear a few more times on our week's journey. Merrill was also innteresting since it was the first place I have seen a home made disk golf course. It was well done.

Our journey took us the the river in the image below. Trout season was on and there was a lot of fishing muggles.

Sandy Island Beach State Park was a mixed bag of weather. We arrived at the park with very dark skies and rain on the way at any moment. The cache was a park and grab so we found that and decided to drive to the main section of the park. By the time we got there, the wind was fierce and the skies had opened. After a few minutes the rainbow below was visible in the sky. Eight minutes later the blue sky was back and we could visit the beach. It must be a wonderful place to spend a day in the summer.

Our last stop was at a New York DEC boat launch site near a small stream. The sun set as we reeled in the last find before heading to Watertown.