A Perfect Summer Wrap-Up

I'm black (I mean, back), Bloggy Friends!

I hope you guys have had a fantastic weekend. We returned yesterday evening, completely rejuvenated and ready for what's coming next. We had a great time in Ithaca. I feel like I found a piece of myself there. The whole experience was exactly what I was looking for. We were sheltered from the hard-hitting city life and given the opportunity to lie back and take in the refreshing, natural scenery that Ithaca offered. It's a neat place, this Ithaca, nestled in the valleys of the Finger Lake region of New York. This small, liberal town offers an interesting mix of the ultra-scholarly types and the grungiest of hippies. Besides it's eclectic downtown area, Ithaca is famous for the many, impressive gorges located in the area. These gorges were created millions of years ago as massive glaciers carved their way across the land during the ice ages. We spent most of our time exploring "The Commons", or the center of town, and all the areas surrounding it. To the west we found Cornell University, arguably one of the most prestigious schools in the country. To the northeast we hiked the trails up to the phenomenal Taughannock Falls State Park, and spent one afternoon in the wineries of Seneca Lake - which lies due northwest of the town of Ithaca. Galileo, like I mentioned before found a piece of himself too. He had the greatest time you could ever imagine, running through the fields like a wild coyote!

I can't rave enough about our bed and breakfast. The Log Country Inn is located in Spencer, NY. The rooms are surrounded by acres and acres of lush forest land. It is owned by a woman of eastern European descent, named Wanda. She is a fantastically diverse lady who prepared unique breakfasts for us, and our fellow guests, every morning. One day we had a traditional Japanese breakfast, another we had filling Russian pancakes before she made her specialty on the final day - Polish blintzes! Breakfast was a fun time because we had a chance to sit around and chat with the other visitors. We met some characters, and made friends we could exchange travel tips with every morning. Our cabin was the furthest away from the main house and for the most part we had it all to ourselves. It was great! I'd love to take a bunch of you Bloggy Friends back and take up every room of the place. We'd have a rip-roarin' good time!

This trip was a perfect way to wrap-up my wonderful, summer festivities. What a summer it has been! I've done a lot of adventurous traveling, housed some of my best friends as guests and spent time with others visiting the city. I couldn't think of a better way to spend it. As I sit here, my mind is all aflutter at everything I need to do in preparation for my first day of classes tomorrow (Tuesday). I'm really excited to get back. This will be a busy semester for me, but one that I feel will be completely productive and rewarding.

You can access our album of Ithaca photos by clicking this HERE. I have also attached a video of some of my favorite parts of the trip. Please forgive me, the thing is a little over seven minutes long! Feel free to start and stop it if you don't have the time to sit through it all. I usually keep my videos very short, but there was just so much to share and I didn't have a lot of time to make several of them like I have in the past. I hope you enjoy!

Have a great night. I will talk to you soon!

Love, Josh