Jennifer sent me an email one weekend, saying that she was at Ithaca with Adam. At first I thought Adam was socializing with the good peers at Cornell, after all Ph.D. students meet and toss around dissertation ideas, right? But she explained that, instead of visiting the Hampton, like the rest of the Manhattan crowds, the two of them opted to go hiking around Ithaca’s gorges instead.
The last time I was in the area was 1998. I was accepted to Cornell’s summer college program, made some friends in similar predicament, and a group of us walked by a local waterfall to satisfy the urging of our eager parents, all of whom spent thousands of dollars for us to attend the program and wanted to live vicariously through every dollar.
There’s me! A decade younger and not at all enjoying the beautiful surroundings.
Jennifer and Adam seemed to have a good time. Both of them are much more athletic than I was and they did drive 5 hours for the view. They visited Taughannock Falls, which is slightly higher than the American side of the Niagara Falls. From the pictures they took, it was a good trip.
What I can’t figure out is, how did they end up in Watkins Glen?
Almost an hour drive, directly west of Ithaca, is Watkins Glen. The town is supposed to be scenic, being at the tip of Fingers Lake. But Watkins Glen is most well known for auto racing, something that neither my family nor Adam’s (as far as I can tell) is interested in.
As it turned out, the shop where they rolled the pennies was in Schuyler, directly outside of the park’s entrance. Penny designs can be deceiving.
New ECs from Watkins Glen Schuyler, NY
