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| 6:48 - Easter Morning |
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| 6:57 |
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| 7:17 |
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| 7:18 |
I was up at 6:00, just as a tinge of orange began to rise on the Bemus skyline. It took a good hour and 15 minutes for the sun to rise, to an absolutely clear Easter morning sky, the sun rising on the east side, the moon hanging in the west. When I walked outside to get a better photo, I scared off two wood ducks, both sitting in the limbs of our tree. And the air was filled with sounds of ducks and geese, happy to be on a sunny lake so early in the morning.
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| Wood Duck Spotted |
Yesterday was one of those days that ending up surprising both of us. Neither of us felt that energetic but we knew we wanted to do something. We put off making a decision, so off I went to a difficult class, where every pose was difficult, mostly because I was not in the mood for class. When I got home, Evie had cleaned out the refrigerator and pantry, so I had lots of trash for the Transfer Station, my next task for the day. Around noon, the lake looked so inviting that we gathered up kayaking gear and paddled off to Booty Bay, passing two canoes and a kayak filled with our neighbors, the Johnston's and their kids. It was a windless day on the lake for the most part, so we paddled down to the Power Boat Club and back, enjoying the sun, the quiet lake.
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| Spring Kayaking |
For some reason, despite my ennui, I wanted to drive to the Allegheny State Park, 45 miles away, hike, then go to the Horseshoe Inn for dinner. I ran it past Evie and she agreed, so the rest of the day was set. We decided to push ourselves and do something we did not necessarily want to do. I then had lunch, read some, took a nap and around 3:30 we drove off to the Allegheny State Park. We decided to hike a fairly easy trail, Bear Paw, which is the same trail we snowshoed with a group at night. It's close to three miles, mostly wooded, with various stations for viewing. We were surprised how different the trail appeared in daylight, as we actually hiked fairly close to a road.
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| Stone Tower In Allegheny State Park |
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| This Way |
The half way point is the Stone Tower, our hike back, more uphill then we both remember. It was a fine afternoon for a hike, clear sky, a slowly setting sun, a forest still leafless, ground brown with fall's leaves. As always, it was nourishing to our mind/body/soul (whatever), to be walking in the woods. And we always seem to be the solitary hikers, as met nary a soul on our hike.
We then drove through Seneca country, stopped to get cheap gas, 35 cents cheaper a gallon then in Chautauqua County, and pulled into a crowded parking lot at the Horseshoe Inn, mostly filled with pick up trucks. We were lucky to find a seat at the bar, as a couple had just gotten up as their table was ready. The bar's walls seem dedicated to hunters, as various kinds of rifles, muskets, and pistols fill the many of the walls, a couple hundred of them I would estimate.
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| Wall Of Rifles |
We struck up a conversation with the couple next to us, from Frewsburg, a town ten miles away. They were fun to talk with and made various recommendations from the menu. Evie ordered the steak sandwich with mushrooms and homemade fries, and I got the Horseshoe burger, with fries, both great. It's a very welcoming place, filled with locals I would guess, and we will make this our go to place anytime we hike in the Allegheny.
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| Dusk In Farming Town Of Poland, NY |
The drive home seemed awfully long (37 miles) despite the beauty of the dusk sky, as we were tired from our busy day. We finally got home around 8:30, in time to watch some junk television before turning on the Kansas/Villanova basketball game, a tense, fun to watch thriller which Villanova finally won. Because the game was so late, we did not get to bed until 11:45, late for us. And as we walked upstairs, we were shocked by a huge, yellow moon hanging over Bemus Point.
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