We'll Have to Come Back to Seneca Falls

Wednesday, September 7 - Saturday, September 10, 2016
Waterloo, New York

Another beautiful travel day through the countryside brings us to Waterloo Harbor Campground. It's just down the highway from the museums I want to visit, has full hookups, and is a lovely little park on the canal. But no satellite connection on the first week of the NFL season so I start looking for a new place before Sunday. 

Site #10, perfect if it had football

Seneca Falls is a destination I've been looking forward to. There is so much history here - human rights history, women's history, Memorial Day history. Two of the Finger Lakes are here, a lot of natural beauty to enjoy.

Unfortunately, illness and nasty weather keep us from most of it.

Thursday I sleep late and wake to dripping outside. It's not raining (yet), it's 85 degrees with 100% humidity. Nasty.

A good day to visit the Womens Rights National Historic Park. I spend over an hour enjoying the exhibits, and plan to return to watch the movie and see the Wesleyan Chapel next door. 

The First Wave commemorates the first Women's Rights Convention held here on July 19 and 20, 1848. 100 women and men signed the Declaration of Sentiments. The 72 year fight to give women the vote begins.

Wearing bloomers, and other scandalous behaviors become more common.

The right to vote is only one battle in the war against inequality

A war that continues

Regardless of culture, race, industry and economic standing.

Women across the globe take up the fight for women's equality. Many lost their lives for the cause.

Presented just two years ago at Convention Days here in Seneca Falls, the Declaration of Equalities for Muslim Women is inspired by Elizabeth Cady Stanton's famous 1848 document. The fight continues.

Because inequality continues. The stats on Hispanic wages note domestic service jobs pay more than day labor, giving the bump to women for this group.

While these amazing women were battling for equal rights for their sisters, they were also fighting for equality for all peoples. Many suffrage warriors were abolitionists as well. They stood up for Chinese laborers and Native Americans being forced from their lands. Equality was <is> a right being fought for on many fronts. 

We take so much for granted. As humans, as women, as Americans. While we owe a lot to our veterans who fought for our freedom on foreign soil, we must recognize the veterans of these battles for our civil rights. Real freedom means equality for all. The flag doesn't just fly for a segment of our population, it flies for all of us. 

It is hard to believe that when I entered college in 1973 women could not have credit without their father or husband as a signer on the account. The fight for women's rights has been a very long one.

There are only two tours a day of the Elizabeth Cady Stanton House, also part of the national park, and I get there just as the second one begins. The skies are dark and the air is hot. Eight of us stand and sweat as we learn about this home and the smart, rebellious leader who lived here with her family. 

The home stands in a riverfront neighborhood a mile from the museum.

I get no good pics of our enthusiastic and knowledgeable ranger. All the wallpaper in the house is duplicated from what Elizabeth chose for her home. I always find the "how they know this" part of tours very interesting.

Great wide plank floors upstairs. 

Not only do Elizabeth's words make history, but her unique child-raising is well documented. In essence she believed they would raise themselves. One can only imagine how "busy" the home with seven children was :-)

None of the original furnishings remain, and the park is collecting period pieces to fill the home.

The children's playroom is directly above the kitchen. The opening to the left of the fan was a "dumb-waiter" that brought meals up to the nanny and her charges when the Stanton's were entertaining guests below.

One of the original pieces of the home is the stair banister. The stairs have been moved since then, but walking up them my hand slides over the same wood that Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton held in 1848. Like walking out the tunnel at NFL stadiums, this is the highlight of the tour for me. The opportunity to "be there" is very moving.

The original house was much larger, with two wings removed sometime over the decades. The property of sloping lawns once held an apple orchard. Still, the restoration provides a wonderful historic experience.

While we're learning about this American icon the skies open up. Unfortunately it brings no relief, just more wet. The yucky weather added to increasing heartburn sends me home instead of returning to see what I missed at the museum.

I plan to return there on Friday, as well as to the Women's Hall of Fame down the street. That doesn't happen.

I make a quick stop to see the future home of the Women's Hall of Fame across the canal.

We start out in the morning with good intentions, driving first to Cayuga Lake State Park. Perhaps the strangest state park we've seen. There's no "entrance", we turn at the sign, pass a playground, a beach, a building, and are immediately in a neighborhood of lake-front homes. Turning around we find a similar neighborhood on the other side of the playground. This is the state park? 

It's a nice walk along the water, the lake is choppy in the breeze, only birds visible playing on the surface.

Cayuga Lake

Feathered notes on sheet music

We drive through the tiny campground, not realizing the larger section is across the highway. Perhaps that's where the 140 acres of park are?

I'm really not feeling good so back home we go. After a long nap, Tessa and I take a walk around the campground.

Tent sites in the trees.

Cat Tails and bright weeds line the path to the water.

My favorite seasonal camper.

Pretty spot where the canal meets the small harbor

Telling me she's ready to play.

Happy dog.

Fast dog.

Okay, I'm done.

We could probably extend our time here to see what we've missed. Unreasonably I feel like if we move on I'll feel better and the weather will cool off. Most certainly we'll be able to see the opening day of the season. So, knowing I'm likely going to regret it, we pack up to leave on Saturday.

Our 75-mile drive takes us through the steepest climbs of our travels so far. Very unexpected! Lots of straight-ups, followed of course by just as many straight-downs. Few other drivers, and passing lanes, make our 30-35 mph speeds stress-free. We aren't in a hurry :-) 

Cider House Campground in Bouckville (try and find us on a map) is a nice un-shaded park just off Hwy 20. Level gravel sites with lots of grass and pretty views, FHUs 30 amp, five bars of LTE coverage, great water pressure. Satellite connects immediately.

The forecast for Sunday is 20 degrees cooler, and I'm already feeling much better. Maybe I won't regret the move :-)

Back in SoCal the grandsons are rocking the cuteness.

Ezra almost 13 months old

Max almost three weeks old

Pancake Jedi

Little Prince