Back to the Finger Lakes

Spring is just arriving in upstate New York and flowers are beginning to bloom. The trees are full of buds and will be turning green soon. I love spring, it’s my favorite time of year. I love watching everything come back to life after a cold grey winter and this year I’m getting to enjoy it twice. I did a post about the Finger Lakes last year when we first arrived in Ithaca, but I thought I would remind everyone just where the Finger Lakes are and why we love it here.

The Finger Lakes Region of New York State covers 9,000 square miles. It’s a wonderland of deep gorges, cascading waterfalls, sparkling lakes, and acres of forests, farms and vineyards. It includes miles of spectacular shoreline on 11 glacial lakes and one Great Lake. There is something new to explore around every turn in the road...festivals, farmers markets, farm stands, waterfalls, streams and creeks to fish in, cute little towns and dozens of wineries. The natural beauty in the area is breathtaking and if winter is truly over...the weather is amazing. 

Here's a list of the Finger Lakes (from west to east) and how they are pronounced. 

Spring blooms

Not quite green...but still beautiful 

We maybe on the hard for a few more day, but we're enjoying a wonderful view from our deck

Take a Tour of The Pearl

There seems to be a lot of people we know that don't realize what our boat looks like (almost everyone, except close friends and family, think we sail). When we tell them we're headed back to the boat for six months...they can't imagine how we can live on the boat. I guess people think it's a small daysailer. They ask questions like...where do you bathe, do you have to eat all your meals out, where do you put all your stuff? They have no idea that it's equipped with all the comforts of home. Well, almost all the comforts of home, we do miss our comfortable chairs. The Pearl doesn't have the room Texas Pearl has, but we love sitting on the flybridge, relaxing and enjoying the view whenever we can. It's the place we like to start our day, as well as end it.

Here are pictures of our saloon and galley (Most of these pictures were taken years ago...we've added more personal touches now...mostly pictures of the grands). Our galley has plenty of space to fix any meal we want and we even have a wonderful grill mounted on the stern rail. There's a large cabinet under the coffee pot that we use as a pantry. 

We now have a drop down TV mounted above the door on the right.

The v-birth is where I like to sit and watch movies, read or work on my pine needle baskets...it's my little hide away. There's a full closet to the right and the head is to the left. There's a lot of storage space under the bunks and four drawers to store more stuff. Having storage space isn't our problem...remembering where we've put things is.

This is the front head located in the V-birth. It's my private powder room.

This is the hall leading down from the saloon into the stateroom. That's a large hanging closet with built in shelves for shoes. I even have room on the floor for a large laundry basket.

This is the stateroom - there's more storage under the window...lots of drawers and shelves. 

The lazaret is just to the right of the bed...that's where Stan stores things like extension cords, folding chairs, an extra anchor, spare lines...all kinds of things we might need but don't want to be tripping over on the deck. We also have two large drawers under the bed...with extra storage behind them. 

The stateroom head may seem small, but it's bigger than other boats our size and I even have a small bath tub.

We didn't like the color of the vinyl in the shower so we painted it a few months after we bought the boat in 2011. The paint has held up well and still looks wonderful. We have more storage for towels and essential in a cabinet under the window.

Our favorite place to spend time on The Pearl is on the flybridge...it's a great place to entertain or just relax and watch the world go by.

And it's especially a fun place to be when the grandkids are around.

Northeast Classic Car Museum

Last fall before we winterized The Pearl and came home for the winter, we spent one last fun filled day with cruising friends, Maryanne and George. We visited the Northeast Classic Car Museum in Norwich, NY and enjoyed a wonderful dinner together. Soon we'll be heading back to upstate New York for more incredible adventures. That is...if spring EVER arrives!

The Northeast Classic Car Museum opened in 1997. It has over 170 vehicles from 1899 through the early 1980s. It exhibits vehicles related to the evolution of transportation, with particular emphasis on the role of the automobile and its impact on American culture.  

Permanent exhibits feature Franklin  automobiles which were manufactured in Syracuse from 1902 to 1934, legends such as Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg and Packard, luxury vehicles, post-war vehicles and cars made in New York State including the Mora, Pierce-Arrow and Maxwell. Special exhibits are featured on a changing basis.

Just a few of the cars we saw

This is a 1933 Franklin Olympic that the museum lets you take pictures in...what fun.