New and old favs in Ithaca – East Shore Road House (breakfast!) and Johnson Museum/dairy Barn (Cornell) and old favs: Ithaca bakery, Greenstar, lake time, Ithaca beer, the commons, Salt Point Brewery

We had a rare (for this visit) rainy day, which fortunately didn’t last long but with the temperature suddenly fallish (60s, not 70s or 80s) we did some indoor activities, starting with brunch at the terrific East Shore Road House in Lansing. Local food producers, husband-and-wife operation, creative entries, cheerful service, short wait on a Saturday. Perfect.

Next stop the Cornell campus to go to the Johnson Museum, designed by IM Pei. Haven’t been there in decades.

I didn’t remember the top/fifth floor with its long glass windows affording spectacular views of Cayuga Lake, the valley, Cornell campus and a classic tempestuous Ithaca sky. Another favorite was the second floor outdoor deck with a long, sloping, zero-gravity wood bench where we laid down and looked up at the ceiling dotted with flashing little lights, like stars in the night sky – an LED art installation.

We walked around the campus, across the suspension bridge high above Fall Creek Gorge. We saw lots of unfamiliar new modern buildings on campus in addition to the old favorites — The Straight (student Union), Goldwin Smith Hall, McGraw Hall (history). Final on campus stop: the dairy barn (which isn’t a barn any more) for Cornell ice cream! Perfect.

Yesterday was lunch outdoors at the edge of a cornfield at Ithaca Beer Co. where I had a “Cornell chicken” sandwich…apparently Cornell chicken is a thing (cider vinegar and an egg are main ingredients) and I found the recipe on Epicurious. The day before was sandwiches from Ithaca bakery, grocery shopping at Green Star Market, and a quick stroll around the Ithaca Commons downtown (which sadly has little to offer.) we also had good pizza at Salt Point Brewery in South Lansing, which closes pretty early (9 pm) on a Saturday night, at least by Chicago standards.

And of course, a highlight was another late afternoon swim at “the lake.” Millie our pup is a fan of the water too.

The Long View at the top of Johnson Art Museum.