It's a Wonderful Life...

The movie, starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed, is a Christmas classic.  The movie is based in the fictional town of Bedford Falls... even USA Today says that Seneca Falls, NY, is the model for the "It's a Wonderful Life" town.

We didn't leave the coach today until almost 1:00 - waiting out the rain.  The forecast may have been for "100%," but we could see on radar that there would be some breaks.  The destination for today: Seneca Falls... we have a special fondness for that town: it was our first lock and underway overnight when we cruised the Erie Canal.

On the way, we came across these...

We are both from Iowa; neither of us are farm kids... and neither of us have seen "cow houses."  Kinda like big dog houses, but there was a calf in each of these.  I looked them up: technically, "calf houses"... "Keep your cattle and calves safe from predators and protect them from the elements with one of our livestock and animal housing solutions."

A bit further down the road, we came to Lock 25 on the Erie Canal...

Picturesque.  No one around to enjoy the scenery.

We positioned ourselves in the RV park we are in because of the location: it puts us in easy day-trip drives to the Finger Lakes and central Erie Canal towns.  It wasn't long before we rolled into Seneca Falls.  Driving through town, it didn't seem like much had changed since we were last here in 2009.  The Women's Right National Historical Park is here and now sports a National Women's Hall of Fame next door.  There are a few empty store fronts, but the town looks good.

We drove down the canal here...

Plenty of available spaces on the town wall.  I visited with the folks in the rental canal boat (2 images above) and the Ranger Tug (immediately above)... for both, it was their first time on the canal.  The canal here is the Cayuga-Seneca Canal; it connects Seneca Lake and Cayuga Lake to the Erie Canal, and is part of the New York Canal System.  Because it is "off" the Erie Canal, it gets less traffic, but it is a delightful place to stay when boat cruising (one of our favorites during that Erie Canal trip).

Back in the car, Joan saw a Dollar Tree (seems that Dollar General is everywhere here, not so much with Dollar Tree), and we stopped to shop.  From there, it was supper at an Italian restaurant we enjoyed when we were here before... it was just as good, and the portions were HUGE!

I am not one to get photos of food... unless it is something unusual.  I know we both had our mouths hanging open when the waitress put the plates down: those are large dinner plates and they were heaping full.  Yes, we took a bunch home in to-go boxes... took home more than we ate.  And, it was delicious!

Some of the interesting homes (some over 200 years old)...
 

We debated heading to Geneva, the next town over, and where we launched at Seneca Lake State Park... but, decided to save that for another day and headed back to the coach.  No rain on the way back, and we enjoyed the back roads and verdant green fields...

Yes, there is a lot of standing water in the photo above... fields that have any low-lying areas are deep in water and muck.  Driving through several small towns, we enjoy the flags and Independence Day decorations...

Did I mention the green fields?

The above images have had no additional saturation added - the greens are vibrant.  And the roads are pleasant...

The weather weasels were writing this day off as a "wash out"... not so much.  And, fun memories and fine Italian dining.