Maple Sugaring

I'm down in Maryland this weekend for a girls' weekend, but last weekend our family went to the Maple Syrup Festival at the Cayuga Nature Center.  My very favorite thing about living in the northeast has to be fresh apple cider in the autumn, but running a close second is local Maple Syrup.

After a grueling morning bleachers workout, we headed to the Maple Syrup Festival where they had a pancake breakfast.  They didn't have any gf pancakes, so WD just filled up on Maple Sausage, but SB chowed down.

They have animals to look at both inside

and outside,

as well as some cool Look & Touch stations.

By far, though, the coolest thing was the 6 story tree house.

It was built by high school students(supervised of course,)

and featured stairs, ladders, 

secret spots, 

and chain webs.

You could feel the building sway in the wind at the top.  The Nature Center has multiple hiking trails where you can find their bee colonies,

fun little surprises like this bird's nest,

and signs of maple syrup production.

One of the trails had Maple Sugaring demonstrations, both the old school method over a fire, and the modern method with a giant evaporator.

After hours of hiking and exploring,

SB was wiped out, and took the easy way out of the woods.  He's tipping the scales at 55lbs, so this is probably the last year you'll be seeing pics like this.

Thanks for popping in and enjoying the Maple Sugar Festival with us.

Daytripping in Ithaca

The weather has been so ridiculously gorgeous around here.  We've had 6 consecutive days of record breaking highs.  When the temperature is in the 70s in March in upstate NY, you better believe that I'm going to want to be outside enjoying it.  For point of reference, this is what March looked like last year.  The Christmas lights didn't come down til mid-April last year because of the snow.

Not far from here is the town of Ithaca - home of Cornell University.  It's a gorgeous area(or Gorges if you read the souvenir t-shirts.)  The surrounding area is full of gorges and waterfalls.

It's also home to a fantastic shopping center known as the Commons.  You can find lots of fun little shops, and amazing eateries.

The original plan was that my Gym Buddy, Desi Friend, and I were going to spend the day in Ithaca shopping then check out one of the falls.  But we got a late start to the day because the night before involved 2 separate trips to the ER.  One for GB who needed stitches because of an accidental food processor incident, and one for The Princess who broke her arm in a swingset fall.  I drove P(who I love like a daughter) and her mom(my BFF) to the hospital and did my best to keep them both calm.

She has a purple cast now and SB was the first one to sign it.

We hit the road much later than expected so we targeted some of the specific shops that we wanted to stop at. I wanted to stop at Urban Outfitters, because I had seen this fantastic pendant in their online catalog.  It's brass and it was love at first sight.

They didn't carry it in the store, but I did come away with a fantastic sweater dress for only $5.  It was clearanced for $10, but all the clearanced sweaters were an additional 50% off.  You can't see it in the outdoor light with my mediocre camera skills, but there's a metallic gold thread that runs throughout the sweater dress for a bit of glam shimmer.

I also picked up this adorable owl lip gloss.  Also in a gold finish.  Can you tell I had that pendant on my mind?  The heft and unusual shape means no more digging around in the bottom of my purse for my lip gloss only to pull out a tampon.  Tell me I'm not the only one who's done that.

I found this onyx acorn box at Ten Thousand Villages.  They're a fair trade organization that carries some of the most beautiful handmade jewelry and home decor.

We also stopped at Greenleaf food Co-op.  I love how extensive their bulk foods section is, and they carry such an incredible variety of gf and natural foods.  They have the most amazing selection of fresh baked gf foods.  I do quite a bit of baking, but there's something special about being able to bring home pretty little cupcakes in a bakery box for WD.

Speaking of food, we stopped at Viva Taqueria & Cantina for dinner and the food was amazing!  We started with the vegan nachos to share.  I had a smothered burrito.  The tomatillo sauce was so fresh and tasty.

GB's dinner was equally yummy looking. Sorry for the blurry phone pic.  I was hungry!  DF had a fajita that I failed to take pics of.  Again, hungry!

Ithaca is one of those towns where it wouldn't be unusual to see blue dreadlocks, and it's much easier to find restaurants that cater to those with special diets.  I'm already planning on signing WD out and taking him to dinner the next time he has a game in Ithaca.

Thanks for popping in and visiting Ithaca with me.