Vacation Report #2: At Watkins Glen

On Wednesday morning, we headed west from the Binghamton area towards Elmira, then north to Watkins Glen at the southern end of Seneca Lake, one of the Finger Lakes. We wanted to take an hour or two to wander through Watkins Glen State Park.

Watkins Glen includes a deep canyon cut through layers of sedimentary rock by a stream that now drops down a series of waterfalls. Several trails wind along the stream and along the top of the canyon.

It's a lovely spot.

After a quick lunch, we drove north along the west shore of Seneca Lake through New York's wine country. We picked-up the New York State Throughway (I-80) at Geneva and headed west to Niagara Falls.

Vacation Report #1

We've returned from just under two weeks up north. We got back early yesterday afternoon. We hugged our cats, unpacked, started lots of laundry, mowed long grass, took the carrier off the roof of the car, and went off to see the new Hairspray movie (which was great).

We started our wanderings on Tuesday, July 10. We drove north, taking I-95 out of Delaware, I-76 past Philadelphia, and I-476 north through Pennsylvania to Scranton, where we picked-up I-81 to New Milford, PA, where there is a large truck stop and a small Holiday Inn Express.

The truck stop was a Flying J. We had an excellent dinner there and wandered around the store for a bit. The food was wonderful, plentiful and inexpensive, though it might be a challenge to eat healthy there on a daily basis. Clearly, the Flying J folks use their great and low-priced fare to attract business for the fuel and supply sales.

As we ate, we heard the public address system calling out reservation numbers for the showers. The truckers -- who came in all shapes, sizes, colors and genders -- entered tired, hungry and rumpled and left rested, sated, clean and ready to go.

Keep an eye out for Flying J's when you travel. They are pretty cool.

We're On The Road

Back in two weeks.....

One Approach to Collecting Really Large Things

I've started a new collection to add to my collection of collections of not-really collectible objects: benchmarks, cornerstones and water towers.

This time, I'm collecting images of the container ships, tankers, ferries and other large watercraft that steam about on the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay near my home in Lewes.

Sometimes I'm able to get clear, close-up shots. More often, I'm capturing images hazy with distance through thick, humid seaside air.

I like ships and boats. I like the sea. I like the work-a-day-ness of these ships. They bring cargo and cars and rust and people from all over. It's part of the joy of living where land and sea meet.

And I like the distance and mystery of these photographs. At first I was disappointed to not get sharper images. But after living with them a while, I realize that they have a ghostly quality that only deepens their attraction for me. Now, the farther out towards the horizon, the more interested I am in the ship.

Some Newspaper Editor Has My Sense of Humor

This headline from today's News Journal is simply wonderful:

Md. sex-ed plan includes sex education

The accompanying text explains that the Maryland Board of Education has ruled that the Sex-Ed curriculum in Montgomery County, Maryland, may indeed include educational information about sex.

Happy Fourth of July

Tom has posted the text of the Declaration of Independence over at TommyWonk. The Fourth is always a good time to re-read this document and reflect on why and how our nation came into being.

This year, it's more than ever true.

I thought about posting earlier this week on the commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence. It does, after all, symbolize the state of our nation today.

I couldn't do it. I'm too depressed about where we've come to. I'm exasperated. I'm angry.

And yet there is a small germ of hope. People do protest. People do speak up. We may yet return to the ideals expressed in memorable prose 231 years ago.

Happy Fourth.

Blog Tourism

If you have a moment, and you are in Delaware, click on over to visit The Deets. That's Ed Kohler's blog. He's out in Minnesota and he was upset that no one from Delaware had visited his blog. We can fix that.

Fifth Golf Game in 2007

I'm traveling this evening, staying in a Holiday Inn Express near North East, Maryland. Tomorrow I will run out to Westminster to pick Colleen up from Lacrosse Camp.

I thought it would be easier to drive north from Dover this afternoon and get half-way to Westminster. It's not a long drive, but I'd rather start from here tomorrow than make the trek from home out to Westminster and back again all in one day.

And it gave me an excuse to play Delcastle Golf Club again with my colleague Sandy Schenck. Sandy and I played there last June with several friends for the Quasi-Annual DGS Golf Tournament.

We had to start fairly late this afternoon; I don't leave work until 4:30. But we were able to squeeze-in the 13th hole as the light faded away at about 8:50 p.m.

Delcastle is about midway between Newark and Wilmington. It is a nice, affordable, and pretty course. It has hills and mature trees and rocks and other things to make golf interesting.

I hit more of those trees than I'm happy to report. My first three holes were eights. But then I started to make some headway. Sandy provided a fresh set of eyes for my swing and had a few helpful thoughts. I parred the fourth and felt good about parts of my game this evening.

I think I may have found a swing that works with the driver. Time will tell.

Yay!

At 10:35:20 p.m. today, Senate Bill 89 passed in the Delaware House of Representatives. It now goes to Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner for (I hope) her signature.

I have been working over the last two years to get this legislation, AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO GEOSPATIAL DATA, enacted. It formalizes the Delaware Geographic Data Committee, the community of geospatial data users I have worked with for many years. It adds a high-level Executive Committee and sets out some serious goals and objectives.

This brings Delaware closer to the standard for state GIS Coordination set in the NSGIC Fifty States Initiative. It will mean more work for me, but it is work I welcome.

So, You Want One of Them iPhone Thingies?

I don't know if you noticed, but there was a frenzy yesterday. A frenzy over a new product.

Folks from all around the nation lined up, camped out, waited sometimes patiently for a chance to spend a good deal of money on a shiny new tech-toy.

Was it worth it? Time will tell.

I do understand the desire for an iPhone. It's smaller. Faster. Shinier. Packs lots of other products into little space.

But do we really need it? We already have tools that serve the functions found in the iPhone. We just don't have them all in one small place.

The iPhone may be like the iPod. Eventually, we may all have one. But I think I will wait for a bit. I don't need to spend that much money for functionality that I already have. And I'm put off by the fact that the iPhone only works with ATT; their monthly plans for the use of the thing seem pretty steep.

I can wait.