Sloansville to Buffalo

Day 2 of my Route 20 journey! [Day 1 here.]

After visiting with my grandmother, I drove through most of upstate New York on Rte 20.

Map of Route 20 from Sloansville, NY to Buffalo, NY

New York has a Route 20 Association, with a website. Here are some of the things I saw and did along the way:

Hills of Upstate New York

I saw windmills in Bouckville, NY–hooray for renewable energy sources! Renewable energy and windmills are now part of a unit in a course I teach, Principles of Engineering.

Windmills

I stopped for a bit in Cazenovia, NY, with a historic downtown that still has its original storefronts, mostly from the 1800s.

Albany Street (Rte 20) in downtown Cazenovia

In Seneca Falls, NY, I turned south for a scenic side trip along the longest of New York’s Finger Lakes, Cayuga Lake. Cayuga Lake stretches about 40 miles long, down to Ithaca, NY. I drove south on NY Rte 89, on the west side of the lake, through Ithaca, and back north on NY Rte 90 on the lake’s east side. It was a beautiful drive.

Cayuga Lake

On the southwest side of Cayuga Lake, I stopped to see Taughannock Falls. Taughannock Falls, at 215 feet tall, is taller than Niagara Falls! I had a picnic at the falls’ scenic overlook.

Taughannock Falls from the scenic overlook

Then I took a hike in Taughannock Falls State Park.

From Gorge Trail in TF State Park

While I was reading a sign about a steep slope where rocks often came crashing down, I heard a loud rumble as a huge tree came tumbling down that slope. I ran to get out of the way, but the tree didn’t make it all the way down to the trail. In the picture below, it’s the big tree laying on the ground with roots sticking up.

Fallen tree

I reached the falls; here they are from below:

 

Taughannock Falls from the bottom

Back in Seneca Falls, I visited the Women’s Rights National Historic Site, home to the famous First National Women’s Rights Convention in 1848.

Seneca Falls Convention site

They have a fountain there with the entire Declaration of Sentiments transcribed upon it. You should click this link and read the declaration; it is a powerful document.

Seneca Falls NHS Declaration of Sentiments

Continuing along Rte 20, a bridge was closed in Caledonia, NY, so I unfortunately had to follow the detour signs around the closure.

Detour - bridge closed

I stopped for the night at the outskirts of Buffalo.

More photos I took Wednesday can be found here.