Our Walk on the Erie Canal - a photo essay

On Sunday my husband and I walked on the towpath of the old Erie Canal. It's his favorite spot to walk, as its very flat and he hates hills.

You can click on the photos to see them larger.

We started out in Manlius Center.



There's a parking lot with a map and some signs explaining a little of the history of the area.



The tow path is where they used to have animals tow the canal boats, a slow but environmentally friendly way of transportation. Now many of the areas along the canal have walking/biking paths.



You can see where we started out on the map, and a little of the canal and path.



Even though it was January the weather felt more like November. There's still a lot of leaves on the ground. The canal was partially iced. You can see the iced parts in this photo where the reflection is blurry:



We walked for about four miles, and I enjoyed the cold but not freezing or windy weather. We went there a lot last summer and fall, and it's interesting to see it without the trees. Sadly, one aspect is that the noise from the cars is louder. I didn't realize how close the road is to the canal when it's blocked by all the greenery. But this was a minor complaint.



I expected this dead tree to come to life and attack us. I guess I've seen the Wizard of Oz too many times.



This is Sumac. The only thing left at this time of the year is the fuzzy red tips and branches. It's quite striking. The tips are sour and you can make a lemonade-like beverage out of them.



We didn't see any animals except squirrels, and of course dogs being walked. When we were there in the fall we saw a deer.

After our walk we went to Fayetteville, which has a very ugly shopping mall with a giant parking lot that I hate going to, even though I like the stores I just feel horrid every time I go there. But we saw the older parts on Sunday, and it still has a nice old downtown and cool neighborhoods. it's actually somewhere we might consider buying a house at some point.



One of these houses is the birthplace of Grover Cleveland, I think it's the third one down.

Two places that I want to come back and explore when I'm by myself are this antique store:



and graveyard:



Those are the kind of places that bore my husband but fascinate me.

Sadly, it looks like I will just have to get a car. It's impossible to live here and do anything like go to school or meet people without a car. To get a job, they just assume that you have a car. That depresses me.