Bike Around Owasco Lake

Owasco Lake as viewed from Emerson Park

If you can ride 30 miles on a bike you will love the ride around Owasco Lake. Riding around the Finger Lakes is always a visual feast, but the hills can be grueling. The trip around Owasco is the easiest of all the lakes.

The view from the end of the pier at Emerson Park

Emerson Park, at the north end of the lake is a great place to park as it has nice bathrooms and access to water. There is a $2.00 fee to park. Emerson is a lovely large park with swimming beach, room many picnic spots, a walking pier and it is home to the Merry-go-Round Theater.

The entire ride is a little over 30 miles.

The main routes surrounding the lake are 55mph roads, but they usually have good shoulders. I recommend that if you are going to ride around a Finger Lake that you start at sunrise and you avoid peak summer months. Another benefit to an early start and a clock-wise circuit is that you will get nice shade on the west side as you journey uphill from Moravia. I saw a generous array of wildlife, often crossing or eating in the middle of the road: fox, hawk, vultures, goldfinch, deer, and several woodpeckers

Tom Thumb Drive-In East side

To start my route I headed south on the east side of the lake on Route 38, passing the Tom Thumb Drive-in, to Rockefeller Rd. Rockefeller has no shoulder, but it is nicely paved and much quieter. The land quickly turns from residential to large farm fields which provide an unobstructed view to the lake. Stay on Rockefeller all the way to Moravia, where you’ll turn right onto N. Main Street to head back north on Rt 38.

Rockefeller Road’s rolling hills include some vintage tractor barns

If you have time stop in Moravia. Fillmore Glen is just outside the downtown area. This lesser-known CCC treasure is on the level of Buttermilk Falls and Watkins Glenn. Pick up picnic supplies at the grocery in town or the farm market across the street from the park entrance and take a hike to see the falls, or a swim in the pond at the bottom.

Beautiful architecture in downtown Moravia

Moravia is the birthplace of President Millard Fillmore. It has beautiful homes, some of them in need of some extra love. The streets are quiet and shady. I was hoping to find a breakfast spot and there was nothing available.

Dee-Dees:  A fun ice cream stand at the southwest end of the lake

As you leave town and head across the inlet before turning north you will pass The Betty Blue, a local watering hole that might be worth checking out another time. Soon after you pass Dee-Dees Ice Cream which looks like it would be a fun stop.

Inlet to the lake serves as a filtration system

I took a quick break at the Owasco Flats, This is a nature preserve with floodplains, forest and wetlands. Over half of the water flowing into the lake comes through this inlet. This lowland is home to many animals and is accessible by footpath.

Owasco outlet through Emerson Park

Now you continue a long slow climb north. Compared to the climb north on Canandaigua Lake, this is easy. You are rewarded with a great view at the top and then 38 begins to hug the lake side so closely you ride between the lake homes and the water.

The road narrows, as you wind along the lake edge, making this the least safe section, but it is such a lovely ride. Owasco appears to be a big fisherman’s lake. I watched many bass fisherman trolling along the water’s edge.

Pass by the historic Springside Inn, also home to Oak & Vine Restaurant. Before you know it you are going through the rotary and back in Emerson Park. A 30-mile ride is a great warm up. This ride has so many visual treats, no wonder riders make this a regular loop.

 

 

Oak and Vine — Fine Dining near Owasco Lake

The Oak and Vine is a gastropub inside the Springside Inn

Many Finger Lakes lovers have heard of The Springside Inn, but how many know the gastropub tucked into the bar side of this historic landmark?

The Oak and Vine is a cozy bar inside the Inn.

Prior to some summer theater in Auburn, we stopped at the Oak and Vine for dinner. There is ample seating inside and out. We chose outside so we could watch a wedding in progress, while chatting with our friendly and helpful waitress.

The Oak & Vine offers an array of American cuisine featuring organic pasta from Flour City Pasta and locally sourced organic produce from Happy Bee Farms. Seasonal-menu offerings range from creative pizzas, vegetarian and gluten-free options. Off-menu they emphasize fresh fish and regionally sourced beef.

everything that makes my mouth water

Lobster beautiful to look at — a bit chewy

Main course, beautiful to look at — even better to eat.

The food was beautifully prepared. We enjoyed appetizers ranging from Carpaccio — with Moroccan spiced shallots, capers, chives, and fresh lemon to Lobster salad, one of the specials.

A bottle of Cava made the summer night sparkle.

Our entrees were slow roasted salmon, served with truffled Brussels Sprouts & mushroom ragout, roasted buttered & herbed potatoes, and a beautiful standing rib, with smashed potatoes and asparagus.

The Springside Inn of old is now used for weddings and banquets

There is ample parking, and it is only a minutes drive from the lake edge, not too far from town. The Pub provides private dining, casual pub-seating, and outdoor tables overlooking The Springside’s beautiful gardens.

They are especially popular for their affordable Pub Plates:  Cuban Sandwich, Sweet Thai Chili Glazed calamari and Focaccia Muffaletta.

Reviews on Yelp.

Finger Lakes Summer Musical Theater, in Auburn, Opens with Altar Boyz

A single stage set for the musical Altar Boyz

If you are looking for an evening of inexpensive fun this summer, you should head over to Auburn and catch a performance of the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival (running all summer long, three different venues).

The first show of the summer at the Auburn Public Theater is a light-hearted one-act musical called Altar Boyz. The fast-paced show is a hilarious — but tastefully rendered — parody of a christian boy band that has been sponsored and commercialized into a traveling musical road show.

I was amazed how they danced, sang and joked through out, poking gentle fun at serious moral issues like religion, addiction, premarital sex, and homosexuality, in a light-hearted manner that kept everyone in the audience laughing and smiling.

My husband, who grew up in the Catholic Church, had a continuous grin and lots of belly laughs for the entire show.

The Altar Boyz are appropriately named Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (Juan), The fifth and my favorite, is a Jew who just wants to try on a choir robe — Abraham. Each actor is a fabulous solo singer and their voices work beautifully together, as does their comedic timing.

One of the funniest running gags in the show is carried on by Luke, the muscled and mindless teen member, who confesses that he too has struggles. The Boyz hem and haw to name his burden, eventually referring to it as “severe exhaustion,”

The nice thing about this show is that the music and lyrics remain central and the story is kept to a “show-bizzy” minimum. There is one set for the entire 90-minute show and the five-person cast rarely stop singing except to grab the next set of props.

Auburn Theater is small, COOL, comfortable and every seat in the house is great.

“Altar Boyz,” presented by the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival.

Auburn Theater right in the heart of downtown Auburn with free parking

Auburn Public Theater, 108 Genesee St., Auburn.

90 minutes without intermission.

The Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival has planned to add a fourth venue since its 2012 opening. In 2014, it will — just not in Cayuga County.

As soon as each of the six shows in next year’s festival finishes its local run, it’ll ship up to Rochester for a one-week engagement at the 1,964-seat Kodak Center for Performing Arts.

2012 Finger Lakes Musical Theater Festival — a season filled with happy beginnings

WIN 2 FREE TICKETS TO SEE ALTAR BOYS, COMPLIMENTS OF THE FINGER LAKES MUSIC FESTIVAL: (Total value: $84).

RULES: Just share this blog to Facebook and “like” my Finger Lakes Summer Page. Then send me an email letting me know you want a chance to win tickets.

I’ll announce the winner on this blog and on my Finger Lakes Summer Page.

Connie’s Tex-Mex, Auburn, New York: great mexican food and some Finger Lakes flair

Connie's Tex Mex, next to the prison in Auburn

Long-time fixture in Auburn, Connie’s Tex Mex offers super-size tacos, with fresh ingredients and generous portions. It took me 2 days to eat my order of Tostadas and salsa. Two chicken tacos were more than I could finish at one sitting and a taco is only $3.25.

Connie’s serves all types of authentic mexican fare as well as barbecue, salads, burgers and subs. The only thing they are missing is beer. I figure that a restaurant located next door to a prison might attract some interesting characters, but at 7pm on a Friday night it was full of couples and families enjoying great mexican food at very reasonable prices.

Note several five-star reviews on Yelp.

Located at 141 State Street, right next to the Auburn Prison. Parking right across the street.

Open 1-9 M-Sat.

Filmore Glen, Moravia’s Treasure

The Finger Lakes region has several awesome parks with waterfalls. Little-known Filmore Glen is another example of the beautiful work of the glaciers that passed through 10,000 years ago and left us the “gorgology” the makes the Finger Lakes region so special. The park has five waterfalls, several miles of great trails and 60 campsites plus a natural stream-fed swimming hole.

Auburn’s Historic National Treasure: The Seward House

The beautifully preserved Seward House is filled with hundreds of portraits beautiful furniture and china, which span his 40-year political career, as Governor, Senator and Secretary of State

Knowledgeable staff is on-hand to provide guided tours, throughout the day. They share intimate details about Seward’s family and the history of this beautiful home. Unfortunately, photographs are not allowed inside the house.

Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center: Auburn New York

Located at 205 Genesee St in Auburn

“Building a vibrant community through the arts,” is the tag line for the Schweinfurth Museum. They are quietly contributing  through their amazing art exhibitions, classes, films, performances, and lectures in Auburn New York, as well as their commitment to recognize and promote the art of quilting and fiber arts.

What they don’t mention is that this gallery is also a location for showcasing the work of Finger Lakes artists.

I could not take photos of the incredible prints that were on display at the gallery, but the tiny gallery brings in powerful shows for such a small footprint. It’s worth the trip or a quick detour while enroute to somewhere along Route 20.

Crazy Quilt or Puzzle Patchwork Quilt, hanging in Cayuga Museum

“Quilting by the Lake” is an annual conference held in June and July, at Onondaga Community College, which features 31 quilting classes for traditional and art quilters of all levels, lectures, a quilt show and vendors.

From the end of October through January the Schweinfurth hosts a juried exhibition of quilts.

Close-up of a "crazy quilt" from the Cayuga Museum

The images above were taken at the Cayuga Museum (Next door to the Schweinfurth Gallery).
Crazy Quilts (1880) were created by sewing scraps on to a larger foundation fabric. They were also called puzzle patchwork or mosaic patchwork.

Fabric scraps could be purchased through mail order magazines, and cigar and cigarette businesses offered fabric as premiums with their products

Bambino’s Bistro brings a big slice of Italy to Auburn

Bambino’s Bistro serves great Northern Italian cuisine at reasonable prices. Step through the doors and you are in a warm, comfortable bistro setting with white tablecloths and candlelit tables.

Owners Guillermo and Gabriella Salinas left their busy Brooklyn restaurant, transforming an Auburn pizza parlor into a the hottest spot in downtown Auburn.

The Cayuga Museum: Capturing Auburn’s Legacy

Front of the Greek Revival Style museum

I bet you did not know that 20th Century Fox and IBM had their beginnings in Auburn New York. Neither did I until I took a trip to the Cayuga Museum.

The Cayuga Museum of history and art, is housed in a classic Greek Revival Mansion built in the mid 1800s, by Dr. Sylvester Willard, who made his fortune in corn starch. Willard Case inherited the mansion in 1916. He donated the property so that it could be preserved as a museum in 1930. It appears to have been relatively untouched for the last 85+ years.

Lion on the front door and on the gates

Outside a beautiful wrought iron gate still remains, and the original massive wood front doors still perform as entrance to the museum.

Ouch. I'll take my ergonomic saddle any day.

There is a suggested admission of $3 — perhaps this is their admission that this museum a work in progress, a bit of a hodge-podge, but completely charming. This is not a heavily curated museum, rather it is a genuine piece of local history that has been lovingly and gently preserved.

Tiffany window, east entrance

The front entrance way is lavish with marble floors, beautiful wood trim and a curved stairway winds up with a thick bannister and stained glass window at the top of the stairs.

There is also a business entrance on the east side which later had a Tiffany window added.

Children's room, sweet and creepy

Upstairs, one room has beautiful “crazy quilts” hanging on the walls, while next to that is the children’s bedroom, with samples of their clothing, a cradle and doll, plus a display of their toys in a glass case,

The adjacent room, in stark contrast, is a collection of items from the original Auburn prison, including artifacts from the electric chair and a carved stick from the executioner with the names of everyone he had executed.

Auburn was the first prison to contain individual cells, the first to institute the widely imitated “Auburn System,” the first to execute a prison by the electric chair. There was also an asylum in Auburn.

Close-up of the 3,000+piece clock. Impressive hobbies before the age of TV.

Nearby, in a tiny alcove there is an incredible 3,100-piece thousand-year clock built by Willard LeGrand Bundy, a local jeweler, in his spare time. He and his brother formed a manufacturing company in Binghamton in 1989, inventing the first employee time clock. This firm changed its name to International Business machines in 1924, now known today as IBM.

Wilard and his son Ted Case were the inventors of talking films. Their back yard laboratory still remains, in the same condition as when they with darkroom, and recording studio. This studio is the birthplace of Fox Films (now 20th Century Fox).

Restored Carriage House with awesome weathervane

Today the carriage house is being restored to house  a restored lab. The carriage house is beautifully painted and sports a ram weathervane that came from one of the woolen mills originally located along the Owasco Inlet.

Be inspired wimpy Ginkgos!

Most impressive in the grounds behind the museum is the largest Ginkgo Tree in New York State. we have a very tall and spindly Ginkgo in our front yard. I wanted to show it a picture of this massive specimen for inspiration.

The Cayuga Museum is located right next door to the Schweinfurth Gallery on Genesee St in Auburn. Hours are Tues-Sun, noon to 5.

East entrance used to be used for Doctor Willard to see patients