Ithaca is Gorges

Check out that amazing view. That's Kevin, Matt, myself and Dan (Go Red Sox!) looking at probably one of the coolest things I have seen to date. We headed up to Ithaca after work on Friday. Kevin is getting his masters at Cornell and he was amazing enough to organize everything for us, from renting the camp sites to the van. There were a total of seven of us and we camped at a state park. Steve, Bridget, Dan, Matt, Meghan and I got to our campsite after midnight on Friday. Kevin had set up two tents but it was too dark to pitch another so five of us slept in one. It was my first time sleeping in a tent! I had never been camping before so this whole trip was an adventure for me. On Saturday we took an early stroll to see that waterfall. Nature is so impressive.

After being totally awe inspired we trouped off in our  van to begin our wine tasting tour (with Kevin as a truly wonderful and responsible DD). The finger lake area has a ton of wineries and vineyards, there is something about the weather coming off of the lake that stabilizes the climate and makes it great for growing grapes. The area is known especially for its white wines, but my favorite ended up being a Cabernet Franc. Although there are dozens of them we only ended up at six of seven. It's such a good deal, anywhere from $2 to $5 will get you a taste of 2-8 different wines. Some places pour miniature sips, other places pour you half of a glass. It's the good life.
We were all pleasantly tipsy come the end of the day. Here Dan and Steve stroll arm in arm by some growing grapes.

                                                                                     To be perfectly honest, by the time we reached the last winery, I was too boozed to even sample.
The whole experience was slightly overwhelming. The majority of the wines we tasted were absolutely delicious. Some of them? Not so much. There was one winery (I can't recall the name) where the tasting actually happened in the owner's living room. It was a slightly sketchified feel and the whole decor needed an overhaul (as well as a decent dusting). The couple gave a presentation before passing out each sample, while that part was interesting and enjoyable the wine itself was acrid. I'm serious, none of us could enjoy a sip of that garbage! One of the samples had a distinctive ham taste to it. Forever known to me as "Ham Wine" and for the record, I hate ham wine. To add to the wretched flavor, the man who was pouring the samples managed to make lascivious comments toward me and Steve (awkward much?). For all consideration, that was the only poor experience we had. Most of the wineries were delightful. One of them had a goat that we were able to feed treats to. It was a very fat, piggy goat but sweet none the less.

We got back to our camp around 5pm and we all relished in a much deserved nap. After that, we headed into town for dinner and a sneak peek at what Ithaca was like. I have to say, that place has some pretty weird art scattered around (like a bronze statue of a man with a vagabond hat and fairy wings). It's a really wonderful town: super cute and friendly with a great variety of restaurants. I do love a good college town. Saturday night ended with some good ole fashioned campfire fun and a rousing game of "Would You Rather...".

Sunday we got to a slower start. Kevin took us to a bell tower concert on the Cornell campus in honor of the graduating classes. I never thought that bell ringing would be such a rigorous endeavor. The women who were making the bells chime at some points were on one leg, reaching the levers with both hands and a foot. They played an awesome array of classical song and both of them were sweating by the time it was over.

Then we got a delicious lunch and walked the bridges to look over some of the gorges. It was so hot we decided that we should go swimming in one of the quarries. Steve and I hadn't brought bathing suits so we went to wal-mart in order to procure some inexpensive ones. For a grand total of $15, here is what we came up with:

Pretty rich, right? We got a whole lot of looks for that one. Some people genuinely complimented our patriotic attire.

I can't even begin to explain how much fun it was to swim along these rocks. It was pretty incredible. There were rocks to climb on, ledges to jump off. I even swam under a waterfall, that was so cool. Dan said it had been something he'd always wanted to do - Kevin made sure it happened. We stayed there for a good amount of time then grabbed food at a grocery store and headed back to camp.

Sunday night was another great time around the campfire, making s'mores and playing drinking games. For someone who had never been around a real campfire like that with a bunch of friends it was a great experience. It was such a good time, it was bananas. Here is a final montage of experiences: