Back to My Roots

We had a relatively short day today covering eleven miles from Seneca Falls to Geneva, NY.  Coming into Geneva, we crossed the north end of Seneca Lake. The lake is the largest of the glacially carved "Finger Lakes," and it's the deepest lake to reside entirely in the state of New York at 600 feet.  There's even a Navy connection as the depth allows the controlled testing of sonar transducers and arrays.

Signs of spring in Waterloo, NY on the way out of Seneca Falls

Seneca lake is just under two miles wide and almost forty miles long and generally runs from  north to south. The south wind was kicking today, and the long south-north fetch was allowing some pretty impressive wave to build in what, for all practical purposes, is a freshwater inland sea.

South wind breakers at the north end of Seneca Lake

It felt good to be back near the water.  We left the edge of the Atlantic exactly a month ago, and apart from streams, rivers, ponds, and small lakes we haven't seen any truly significant expanses of water since abandoning the coast.

Back near the water, and I’m still being photobombed by the grizzled old man - Just can’t seem to shake him

Geneva, NY felt like a port town with the Seneca-Cayuga Canal, the lake, the highway and rail lines running through the hustle and bustle of hotels, hostels, pubs and eateries, warehouses, manufacturing plants, seagulls, sailboats, and evidence of fishing and other water related industry scattered about.  In short, it felt a little like returning to my roots.

The lake, the railroad, the canal, and the bustle of a port city all felt very much like being home

I hadn't realized how much I'd missed the water, but today was a good reminder of the influence that oceans and seas (even inland ones) have exerted on my life.  I'm drawn to the water, and today felt like home.