Sunrise | The Beauty Around Us

Deruyter Lake Getaway: Day 3

Thursday, June 30, was our last full day at DeRuyter Lake.

We watched the sun rise from our water’s edge dock.

We ate breakfast at Quincy Square Diner for the second day in a row. Bob ordered the Quincy omelet, same as the previous day. I ordered chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. Both meals were delicious.

Since our arrival at DeRuyter Lake, we have seen an elephant in a field on our daily drives into the village of DeRuyter. We stopped at the field this morning, and I took a picture of the elephant.

According to Syracuse.com “Concrete sculptor John P. Kennedy created the DeRuyter mastodon in 1992 when he was just starting to make life-like creatures out of foundation material. He’s since branched out into all sorts of critters, generally of the non-extinct variety…”

We visited two waterfalls in the morning. Delphi Falls is 4.2 miles from our Airbnb, and Chittenango Falls is located an additional 10 miles from Delphi Falls. This was our first visit to Delphi Falls and our second visit to Chittenango Falls.

We had a personal tour guide at Delphi Falls. A local woman stopped to talk with me, while I was waiting for Bob to complete his business in the port-a-john.

Delphi Falls County Park is located in Madison County, NY. The park used to be the home of a private person. The property was made into a park only recently. The house is still standing. The waterfall would have been visible from the backyard of the residence. Our “tour guide” walked with us the short distance to the waterfall.

Our first view of Delphi Falls
The falls trail was easily navigable.

Our “tour guide” took a picture of
Bob and me at Delphi Falls.

Chittenango Falls is located in Chittenango Falls State Park. The main attraction at Chittenango Falls State Park is its picturesque 167-foot waterfall.

We visited the top of the falls first. It is easy to see the top of the falls. Just walk from the parking area towards the Gorge Rd Bridge. Please note the footbridge at the end of the video. We hiked to that footbridge.

It is a bit more difficult to see the bottom of the falls. We hiked down hundreds of steps, descending 170 ft into the gorge.

This video shows the falls trail to the first overlook and the trail leading away from that overlook.

We hiked all the way down into the gorge.

The footbridge at the base of Chittenango Falls

View of Chittenango Falls from footbridge

As I wrote earlier this was our second visit to Chittenango Falls. We visited Chittenango Falls 5 years earlier on July 2, 2017. As shown in my blog post written about that day, the water gushing over that waterfall was impressive. The trail to the base of the waterfall was only partially open in 2017. During our second visit, there was much less water falling over the waterfall. We were able to hike down to the footbridge to view the waterfall at its base. I am glad that we were able to see Chittenango Falls from that vantage point. What a beautiful view!

Before returning to our Airbnb we stopped in the village of DeRuyter for lunch at the Coal Yard, where we enjoyed deluxe cheeseburgers and onion rings.

We returned to our Airbnb, after lunch, and stayed there for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Bob played his ukulele often, while we were on vacation.

This is the dam at the north end of DeRuyter Lake.

We enjoyed the view across DeRuyter Lake.

This is an island in DeRuyter Lake (looking south).

We enjoyed watching the activity on the lake.

This is just some of the activity on the lake. We saw several kayaks, as well as a few people swimming in the lake.

Our three-night vacation at DeRuyter Lake was very nice. We would like to make a return trip one day to Airbnb “DeRuyter Lake NY House for 2 on Water’s Edge“.

There is one more blog post about this vacation, so don’t go away 🙂

Deruyter Lake Getaway: Day 2

We spent much of Wednesday, June 29, at Airbnb ”DeRuyter Lake NY House for 2 on Water’s Edge”.

I watched the sun rise from the comfort of our dock, taking a few pictures and videos as I did so.

Sunrise at Airbnb “DeRuyter Lake NY House for 2 on Water’s Edge”

The steam rising from the water made sunrise that much more special.

We showered and got dressed. The Airbnb has a small septic, so small that our hosts request passionately that we conserve water. The following notice was posted on the refrigerator:

“Every drop of water used to cook, clean, shower goes into a tiny septic system that has no leach field. We beg you to conserve! To help we have provided disposable eating utensils, face and body wipes and Castle Soap that can be safely used in be the lake! Yes, jump in the lake, lather up and rinse rather than fill the septic with shower run off.”

We didn’t bathe in the lake, but we were conscious of how much water we used during our 3-night stay.

We ate breakfast at Quincy Square Diner in the village of DeRuyter. Quincy Square Diner was across the street from where we ate dinner the precious day.

Breakfast Specials at Quincy Square Diner

We both ordered a Quincy Omelet with toast. Inside the omelets were cheese, sausage, ham, green peppers and onions. I didn’t want sausage in my omelet, so my portion of sausage was added to Bob’s omelet. I ordered a glass of orange juice, and Bob ordered coffee. Both meals were delicious; service was good. We overheard a conversation shortly after being seated. A man said it is coming up on a long weekend. Another man said “everyday is a weekend”. That remark made Bob and me chuckle. Retirement is wonderful; life is good!

We spent the day at the Airbnb generally doing nothing. It was a great day of relaxation. In no particular order, this is how we spent our day.

We did our Bing searches and solved the Wordle game of the day.

Bob played his ukulele.

We ate a picnic lunch at the table on our dock.
I took a nap for an hour.

I started reading a new Fern Michael’s novel “No Way Out”.

Relaxing at Airbnb “DeRuyter Lake NY House for 2 on Water’s Edge”

I shared this photograph on Facebook and had a couple people ask how I took this picture. I placed my Kindle Paperwhite E-Reader on the dock, snug against a railing. I opened my camera phone and, then, I propped my iPhone on my Kindle and flush against a railing. I sat down. Using the camera remote on my Apple watch, I took our picture.

We did leave the Airbnb a few times, after breakfast. We made two trips to the DeRuyter Lake General Store, located at the south end of the lake. The General Store is stocked with bait and tackle, camp firewood, ice, beverages, beer and wine coolers, ice cream, CBD oil and more. The General Store is where one goes to launch a boat and fill up with marine fuel. I believe kayaks can be rented there as well. I purchased a DeRuyter Lake long sleeve T-shirt on our first stop and two King Cones on our second stop. We drove to Heritage Hill Brewhouse for dinner.

We both ordered BBQ platters. The meals and service were good. The view from the Brewhouse was fantastic, too. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of the view. If you scroll through the Facebook page, though, you will see pictures of the view.

Chincoteague VA Vacation (4th post)

We got up around 6:00 am on Monday, April 18th and saw another gorgeous sunrise.

My breakfast was two bowls of oatmeal in a cup. I included sliced peaches in one bowl. I also ate an orange. Bob ordered from McDonalds. With the exception of Bob’s McDonalds breakfast, we ate breakfast at our AirBnb “Tranquil Shores” throughout our vacation.

We ate lunch at “Tranquil Shores”. We had plenty of leftovers to put together a very filling lunch. Leftovers included grilled ham steak, macaroni and cheese, two hush puppies each and three shrimp each. For dessert we had applesauce.

For dinner we ordered delivery (free anywhere on the island) from Famous Pizza and Subs. It was our first time ordering from this restaurant. Our order was for two baked spaghetti with garden salad and garlic toast. We added meatballs to one spaghetti order. We shared the meatballs.

We are happy that the restaurant delivered, as it was a chilly, windy and rainy day. Dinner was delicious. We could have easily split one spaghetti dinner with meatballs. I couldn’t eat all of my spaghetti. It will not go to waste, though. I placed it in a storage container, and we will carry it home with us in the cooler.

So, this was a stay-at-home day. It was a relaxing day. We read, surfed the Internet, and watched TV. Bob played the ukulele. We packed for our drive back home.

—————

We departed Chincoteague at 7:30 am on Tuesday, April 19th. It took us longer to get home than it took to get to Chincoteague because we told the GPS to avoid highways on our way home.

We ate breakfast at Dayton’s Restaurant in Salisbury MD. This appeared a popular restaurant. There was seating available, but not much! It seemed the waitresses knew most of the patrons by name. The food and service were both great.

Early afternoon we stopped at Sheetz in Lancaster PA for a bathroom break and to pick up a light lunch/snacks.

Our route took us over two mountains — Blue Mountain and Second Mountain — via seven-mile long Gold Mine Road. Gold Mine Road begins in Union Township PA off Route 443 and ends on Route 325 south of Tower City in Schuylkill County, near the Dauphin County line.

We are on Gold Mine Road,
crossing over Second Mountain.
GPS indicated that we were in Jonestown PA.

We are on Gold Mine Road,
soon after crossing over Second Mountain.
GPS indicated that we were in Tower City PA.

It really was surprising where our GPS took us, when we told it to avoid highways.

The GPS directed us onto the Quehanna Highway,
near Karthaus PA in Clearfield County.

It was snowing, as we approached our hometown of Warren PA.

The next time we travel to and from Chincoteague, we will not avoid highways (unless we split the travel time into 2 days). We returned home at 7:14 pm, approximately 12 hours after we had left Chincoteague!

This concludes my account of our Chincoteague VA vacation. We are already making plans for a return trip next Spring. We plan to go in May next year. Perhaps the weather will be more consistently warm a few weeks later.

Chincoteague VA Vacation (2nd post)

We got up around 6:00 am on Saturday, April 16th. We watched the sunrise.

We drove to the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and rode our bicycles. We bicycled Wildlife Loop to Black Duck Trail to Woodland Trail, back on Black Duck Trail and finished Wildlife Loop. We rode 7.04 miles.

We saw a Snapping Turtle on a pond, while bicycling the Wildlife Loop.

Woodland Trail
This is the boardwalk to the pony overlook.

The highlight of our bicycle ride was ponies, lots of ponies, at the Woodland Trail pony overlook.

I took the next picture, while we were on the Black Duck Trail, returning to the Wildlife Loop.

We returned to AirBnb “Tranquil Shores” for a light lunch. We watched an episode of “Vera” on BritBox, a new streaming service that we purchased recently. I ended up taking a short nap.

Around 4:00 pm we drove to Ray’s Shanty, where we ate dinner. It was our first time eating dinner there. Bob ordered a prime rib dinner; I ordered a fried shrimp dinner. Both meals were delicious, and the service was excellent.

After dinner, we returned to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. We drove around the Wildlife Loop and then to the seashore and back. We saw egrets, one great blue heron, snapping turtles, and four deer a long ways off. I didn’t take any pictures, as I forgot to insert the memory card in my camera. I had taken the card out to upload pictures onto my iPad that I had taken that morning.

When we left the wildlife refuge, we drove downtown. We stopped briefly at Robert Reed Waterfront Park, where we went for a short walk. We, then, continued down Main Street to Beebe Road and made our way back to “Tranquil Shores” from there.

We watched another episode of “Vera”. It was around 9:15 pm, when that episode ended. We went to bed shortly thereafter.

Chincoteague VA Vacation (1st post)

We spent 5 nights at AirBnb ”Tranquil Shores” in Chincoteague VA. This is the fourth time that we have stayed at “Tranquil Shores”. We plan to return next Spring as well.

We arrived at “Tranquil Shores” around 4:00 pm on Thursday, April 14th. We left Chincoteague to return back home at 7:30 am on Tuesday, April 19th. This blog post and the next few that follow will provide details of and photographs from our Chincoteague vacation.

We got up around 6:00 am on Friday, April 15th. We sat outside on our screened in porch, drinking tea / coffee, listening to the morning bird songs as we awaited the sunrise.

We ate a breakfast of eggs, sausage and waffles at “Tranquil Shores”.

After breakfast we drove to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and bicycled the wildlife loop (approximately 3 miles).

This is one of several ponds found on the Wildlife Loop.

After our bicycle ride, we drove to Assateague Beach, stopping at Toms Cove Visitor Center.

We walked on the boardwalk and, inside the Visitor Center, I got my National Park Passport cancelled with a rubber-stamp ink marking that recorded the name of the park and the date of our visit. I purchased a collectible Passport stamp set for 2022. There are 10 stamps, one National and nine regional.

We are lunch at Metopkin Seafood. We have eaten here a few times over the years. The food is ALWAYS delicious. Bob ordered a crab bites basket. I ordered a fish and fries basket. We added 6 hush puppies to our order.

After lunch we drove to Assateague Island MD. We stopped at the Assateague Island Visitor Center, where I stamped my National Park passport, and we bought a “Night Sky” buff for Bob.

“Night Sky” is new merchandise
for the National Parks store.

Before leaving the Visitor Center, we walked the Rackliff House Trail. The main trailhead is located behind the Visitor Center and is about a 1-mile loop. There is a spur off that loop that connects to another trailhead located at the Assateague State Park headquarters. We walked that trail too.

Rackliffe House Trail
We really liked how the trees
formed a canopy over the trail.

Rackliffe House Trail
Looking across to Assateague Island MD

Rackliffe House Trail
On the left is the Milk House.
Behind the Milk House is Rackliffe House.
On the right is the Kitchen Garden.

We were only able to explore the grounds, as the Rackliffe House was closed.

The trail continues from the house to the Assateague State Park Aviary. The birds were outside but behind a fenced enclosure. We were not able to see any of the birds. I haven’t done a lot of bicycling or walking so far this year. I decided to wait at the state park, while Bob walked back to the Visitor Center. He picked up our car and came to get me. We drove onto Assateague Island.

That evening we enjoyed watching the moon rise over Chincoteague Island.

It is really nice that we can see the sunrise and the moonrise from the comfort of “Tranquil Shores”.

South Carolina Vacation: Surfside Beach SC to Warren PA

On Wednesday, February 16th, We “checked out” of Airbnb ”Seaside Cottage” around 6:30 am and drove to the beach, where we watched the sun rise.

Bob and I at Surfside Beach
minutes before the sunrise

Watch along with us, as the sun rises!

This was the first sunrise on the beach that I saw in the week we were in Surfside Beach. I wasn’t able to get to the beach in time for sunrise the other mornings. A prescription drug that I take with dinner rarely allows me to leave the house before 9:00 am, unless I have the availability of a close by bathroom. Bob saw a beach sunrise the first and last day.

After seeing the sunrise, we began our drive back to Pennsylvania.

We arrived at the Quality Inn New River Gorge (Fayetteville, WV) around 2:00 pm. We checked in and carried our baggage into our room. Soon afterward we walked to Elliott’s Whitewater Bar & Grill, located on the hotel grounds. There was a flurry of excitement, as we entered, I thought there was going to be a bar brawl. The guy cussing was told to “just go”. He did, after a few minutes and more cussing. Someone walked out with him to make sure that he left and didn’t hit anyone’s car! The bar quieted down after that man left. Later we learned that the unruly man had been there for several hours drinking Jägermeister and was saying things he shouldn’t be saying to the underage waitress. The waitress felt so uncomfortable that she asked the manager to come sit in the bar. A couple of the men at the bar, who had been there for only a short while, kicked out the unruly man. By the way, the food and service were excellent. Bob ordered a pork chop with onion rings. I ordered fish sticks with a loaded baked potato. Both meals included a side salad.

Soon after dinner we drove to the Canyon Rim Visitor Center, where we viewed the New River Gorge and the New River Gorge Bridge. The Canyon Rim Visitor center is about a mile north of our hotel. We had planned to stop at the visitor center the next morning, but it likely will be raining. So we visited this afternoon.

New River Gorge Bridge, as seen from Canyon Rim Visitor Center Grounds

We have stopped often at the Canyon Rim Visitor Center, but we had never seen this particular view of the bridge. As we were crossing the bridge I noticed a man and a woman standing at an overlook. When we arrived at the visitor center, the first thing we did was look for that overlook. The trail shown in the photograph displayed above leads under the bridge. Bob walked down and back up that trail (steep climb!), but was not able to walk under the bridge. The passageway was locked.

We walked down a boardwalk to an overlook of the bridge. We could have walked farther, but neither of us felt like doing steps.

Bob and I at the overlook of the New River Gorge Bridge

We walked behind the Visitor Center, where we saw the New River Gorge.

Around 6:00 pm we lost power at the hotel. We had no electricity until 8:11 pm. We never did find out what caused the outage. The power outage did not affect the hotel only. Nearby businesses lost their power as well. By the way, soon after the power went out, we lied down and fell asleep. The power coming back on awakened me. That is how I knew the time the power came back on.

We departed Quality Inn New River on Thursday, February 17th, shortly before 7:15 am. Before leaving, we enjoyed a complementary breakfast of scrambled egg patties, sausage and biscuits; orange juice and tea/coffee; and muffin/danish. The hot food was served to us. The remaining foods we were free to pick up ourselves. The server told us the way they do breakfast is not COVID related. They do breakfast this way year round.

We reached the West Virginia-Pennsylvania border around 9:30 am. We still had a 3 1/2-hour drive until we would be back home. Up to this point we had avoided the forecasted rain! Ten minutes later, at Masontown exit (exit 14 on I-79), we caught up with the rain. The rain was with us the rest of the way home.

We got off I-79 at the Slippery Rock exit. We were getting tired of interstate travel. The slower pace was welcome.

We stopped for lunch at Eat’n Park in Franklin. Bob ordered a chicken sandwich with cheesy fries. I ordered a turkey club sandwich with a fruit cup. We each ordered pie for dessert.

We were back on the road at 12:35 pm and returned home at 2:00 pm. We drove a total of 1,750.40 miles, since our departure on February 8th.

This was the first time that Bob and I had ever been to the South Carolina coast. We enjoyed our visit very much — so much, in fact, that we are already talking about going back next year.

South Carolina Vacation: A Beach Walk and Lunch with Friends

Bob went for a walk the morning of Thursday, February 10th, leaving the house around 6:30 am. He walked to the beach and back home. Bob saw the sunrise at the beach.

I saw the sunrise from the front porch of our Airbnb “Seaside Cottage”.

Sunrise, as seen from the front porch of our Airbnb “Seaside Cottage”

We picked up our grocery order at Walmart at 8:00 am. We drove back home and put away the groceries. For breakfast we ate instant oatmeal and fresh fruit. It is a gorgeous sunny morning. I sat on the front porch and enjoyed the sunshine, as well as the heat from the sun, while drinking a cup of tea.

Around 9:15 am we drive to the Surfside Beach library. Bob printed the Erie Insurance auto insurance card from the website. We left the new card at home, and he wanted to be legal.

From the library we drove to the post office, where we mailed Valentines Day cards to our two granddaughters.

We returned home from the post office, where we rested and relaxed until 10:20 am. At that time we drove to our friends Marge and Neil’s condo at One Ocean Place in Garden City Beach.

Marge & Neil on the balcony of their 10th floor condo at One Ocean Place

The view from Marge & Neil’s 10th floor condo at One Ocean Place

You can see the Surfside Beach Pier (under construction) and Myrtle Beach beyond the pier.

The four of us went for a walk on the beach.

Neil, Bob and Marge in front of One Ocean Place

Marge and I
We rested before walking back to One Ocean Place.

Marge likes to walk along the water edge.

After our walk we drove the short distance to River City Cafe in Surfside Beach. All of us rode in Neil and Marge’s car.

River City Cafe is known for their burgers. Burgers is what all four of us ordered for lunch.

After lunch we drove to our Airbnb “Surfside Cottage” to show Marge and Neil where we are staying.

Soon we were back in the car, driving back to One Ocean Place. We parted ways at this time, making plans to possibly get together before the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Here is an interesting tidbit. Back in Pennsylvania it is an approximate 20-minute drive to Marge and Neil’s house from our house. Here in South Carolina we are an 8-minute drive only from each other.

Once we returned to our Airbnb, we were in for rest of the afternoon and evening. We ate dinner at 6:00 pm. Dinner was tuna casserole, green peas, grapes and chocolate pudding.