Before we landed in Ithaca, I alerted Dirck that the airport was little more than a Quonset hut so imagine my surprise when it looked completely different. Still small but more like an airport. The rental car agent fillled me in that since my last visit 2 years ago the airport has been overhauled. And of course it’s the little things that impress me including a vending machine in the women’s bathroom with free tampons and sanitary pads. I’ve never seen that before. The world as it should be!
We arrived on a crisp fall day and Ithaca never looked better, with the trees starting to turn red, yellow and orange, the sun shining intensely through fast moving clouds, making the pastures a dazzling green and Cayuga’s waters shimmer. I was instantly happy in this place that I have loved since my parents took me here as a child.
Our Airbnb (Coyglen) is as lovely as the photos. An upstairs apartment in a pretty old white farmhouse with a curving wrap around porch. It sits high atop a green pasture that looks out across the hills at a slit in the woods that is Buttermilk Falls. A sweet yellow lab not unlike ours came over to greet us as we sat near a weathered wooden barn in plastic Adirondack chairs, marveling at the view. We are just south of downtown off of 13A, near my other favorite state park, Treman.
The owner told us the house was part of a dairy farm and the gravel road that runs past the house and old weathered bar is Coyglen road and leads to Coyglen, a very rugged hike with no paved trail. Hikers get very wet but the scenery is worth it, I’m told.
Dinner was in Lansing, at Salt Point Brewery where we met our friends whose wedding we are attending. Dear, dear Myra, my friend of 40 years who I haven’t seen in two years. She came rushing over with arms outstretched and I did the same. A long overdue hug and we were off to races, catching up, meeting members of the wedding party from Kansas City, Wichita and Des Moines (believe it or not.) This is the bride’s family. The groom, Myra’s son, is from Connecticut. They met as students at Cornell. Lovely people all and we had a great time, sitting outside on a lawn around the fire pit, with the lake in the distance, drinking beer and cider and eating very good pizza.
Dirck and I couldn’t resist stopping at Purity Ice cream, an old haunt downtown, which we passed on our way back to the Airbnb. Love this place!!
TakeBetsywithyou 