It’s a joke or a stereotype… the September back-to-school assignment for an essay on What I Did Last Summer.
Well, I have some thoughts on what I want to do THIS summer. Some of them have actually been on the list for quite a while. But it seems like whenever I’m about to get started, some family member winds up in the hospital. Still, a man can dream… and try… so, what I’d like to do not just SOME summer, but THIS summer….
Visit Genesee Country Village. I’ve been there several times before, but not for quite a few years. In particular I want to walk the nature trails. I want to see the gallery of outdoor and wildlife art. And I want to see their reproduction Civil War observation balloon.
Two out of three of those are going to be weather dependent, of course. If weather permits, maybe I can squeeze in watching a game of “town ball,” that very early version of baseball.
Hike the Letchworth Trail. This is 26 miles along the east rim of the gorge, in Letchworth State Park. Had I been on my own theoretical schedule, I’d have finished two years ago. As it is, I haven’t yet started. Onward!
While I’m over thataway, visit the early 19th-century Mills Mansion in Mount Morris. Each year some of my American History students visit for one of their required projects, but I’ve yet to be in town and available at a time when it’s open. I’ve got to plan ahead and do that.
Tour the new wing at Corning Museum of Glass. I’ve had several invitations, but schedule hasn’t permitted. This summer I hope to make it happen.
Walk and bird-watch frequently in Mossy Bank Park, above Bath. My wife and I were just there this morning, now that it’s reopened for the season. An 1851 diarist wrote of how it had become a Bath fad to go up to Mossy Bank for picnics and rambling. And we’re still at it! Most seasons lately, we even have eagles and osprey.
Hit Cruisin’ Night in Penn Yan. That’s loads of fun with the crowds, the old cars, the open library, stores and restaurants. We miss it about as often as we hit it, mostly through inattention, but this year we’re trying to schedule it in. (June 19th!)
Play some miniature golf. At least as of last season there were courses in Bath, Penn Yan, Harris Hill, Corning, Wellsboro, and Watkins Glen. We still haven’t covered them all.
Spend a day at the Windmill. With all that hospitalization, we’ve missed the past two years. But wait till this year!
Walk in to Taughannock Falls. Mrs. Window on the West hasn’t had a chance to do that, but now we’ve actually got it in the calendar! (Weather permitting.)
Go to Steuben County Fair in Bath. I’ll probably wind up volunteering at the one-room school, so that should make it easy.
Get the bike tuned up, and start cycling to work. It’s a catch-22 with Addison’s disease – you need the exercise, but you pretty much start the day already tired. Still, except for emotional inertia (and bad weather), there’s really nothing to stop me.
Do some hiking on the main Finger Lakes Trail in the Burdett-Watkins Glen area, linking up stretches that I’ve already hiked.
Visit Record Archive (a cool place) in Rochester, and pick up some more music CDs to listen to while I’m driving.
Well, all that should keep me busy. Maybe it’s too much for a single summer, but we live in an area with lots of great stuff to do. And without some planning ahead, the whole summer will just turn into work and grocery shopping. Summer in the Finger Lakes should be much more than that.