Day 47: Canadaigua to Liverpool

Today’s Highlights:
We had another beautiful ride today across the northern part of the Finger Lakes region. We were able to cycle close to the north shores of Seneca Lake and Onondaga Lake. We were too far north of Cayuga Lake to see it, but we had our first rest stop in the Montezuma National Wildlife Preserve, which is the large wetland north of that lake. At Seneca Lake, in the town of Geneva, there was a nice public park with trails and a small marina. I saw two Great Blue Herons there, and I made a quick side trip to ride through the park. From the viewing stand near the entrance of Montezuma, we saw acres of grassy wetlands. There were some bird houses for sparrows, I think. I did not have time to explore, and did not see any other birds. However, there would be a lot more activity during migration season. It was a very pretty and peaceful place. Toward the end of the route, we rode into Long Branch Park and onto a bike path along the shore of Onondaga Lake. This large lake was also very scenic. I wanted to jump into it, but a local person told me that it was still being revitalized and too polluted to swim in. Oh well.

We passed through some notable towns today also. Waterloo is designated as the official birthplace of Memorial Day, and the Memorial Day Museum is in the town. Seneca Falls played a prominent role in the Women’s Rights Movement. Both towns had nicely preserved buildings from the 1800’s. There is a lot of historical significant to the area, including the Erie Canal. We saw a small section of that today too, but expect to see more of it tomorrow.

In between the lakes and towns, we enjoyed more scenes of farm, fields, woodlands and streams. Everything is lush and green here.

It was another very humid day. We started at 6:30 AM to beat some of the heat. It was in the low seventies, which was not bad, but still very muggy. We had a little tailwind all day, and that helped me move along quickly. Also, Andy kindly gave me a pull again this morning, and I hung on his wheel until I reached Seneca Lake and stopped for pictures while he moved on. At that point, I was averaging 19.5 mph thanks to him. By 9:00, it was close to 90 degrees and quite hot with the humidity. I rode with Emma from the SAG stop, and we pushed along fairly quickly to shorten the time outside. I still stopped for pictures in places. We finished the seventy mile ride around 11:30 AM before the hottest part of the day. Since I couldn’t jump in the lake to cool off, I had to settle for a banana split at a nice ice creme stand near the hotel. Life is good.

Pictures Of The Day:

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Statistics:
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