Stone Tower Trail/Allegeny Forest/Rosy Colored Dawn: Homer Got It So Right

6:45  Rosy Colored Dawn

7:20

Stone Observation Tower in Allegheny Forest

Allegheny Forest 

Observation Tower

Up too early, at 5:30, the only virtue being I get to watch the darkness slowly change to a rosy colored glow, which eventually washes out to light pink, then white, as the sun rises to the east.  The lake is like glass, the only sound the quacking of a lone duck, which woke up Evie a few minutes ago, at 7:00.  Slight horizontal waves (lines)  move towards shore though there's no wind.  The lake is amazing mix of color, shades, shadows and textures.

Yesterday, we had an adventure, driving 44 miles to Roscoe Cross Country Ski cabin, in the middle of the Allegheny Forest, just south of Salamanca.  I had been there two years ago, went cross country skiing with a group when Evie was in Arizona.  It was such a beautiful day, clear skies, and in the 70's that we wanted to hike somewhere different.  At this center, four or five different trails begin, so we took the one to the Stone Tower, with a spectacular view of the valley.  It was not the most interesting walk, unfortunately, as most of it was on a dirt road, then on the asphalt highway that cuts through the forest.  It was about two and a half miles, took us about an hour and a half.  The last half mile was up hill in the sun, so we both worked up quite a sweat.  Next time, we will walk another one of the trails, hopefully walking about five of them in the next few months.  It's an amazing forest, still brown, leafless, with little color but we can just imagine it in the late spring, especially in the fall with all the colors.

Allegheny Public Library

We decided to drive to Olean, another 20 miles to the east, and drive around the campus of St. Bonaventure since we had never seen it before.  The older buildings with their slate brick roofs look like something in a hill town of Italy though the more modern dorms, built in the 1950's, take away from the initial charm of the old part of the campus.  The school is just on the western edge of Olean, so we did not really get to see the town proper.  We ending up eating at a Mexican restaurant in Allegheny, a town contiguous with the campus, with some charm, a number of restaurants, cafes, and bars, no doubt the closest hangout for the students.  We got home around 3:00 and Evie went off to the CI's bookstore to get Marlena and birthday present and I ended up painting the dock pieces, finishing up my job from yesterday.

Because of the heavy lunch, we had fried eggs, toast, and home fries for dinner, watched the movie The Way, before going to bed around 11:00.  A good day.