CELEBRATING 49 YEARS

August 30th we celebrated our 49th wedding anniversary. @thebigsweed and farm-mom married young and kind of grew up together, forming a lifelong bond of friendship, mutual respect and love.

To celebrate the occasion, we took a trip to the finger lakes of New York about an hour and a half drive from our #homestead.

It was a perfect day to take a road trip, blue skies and sunshine with a mellow temp of 75 degrees. We opened the sunroof of the car and took off on our adventure.

My hubby did a little research, and found a nature preserve on Cayuga Lake, right up our alley, a drive through area with lots of birds, flowers and of course a gorgeous lake.

Montezuma here we come.

Everywhere we looked mother nature was showing off her beauty. The birds were impressive, in fact I probably should have posted in the #featheredfriends community, but I thought our 49 years together place us with the silver bloggers community for sure.

Cayuga Lake
With over 100 miles of shoreline, Cayuga Lake is the longest of the Finger Lakes and clocks in at about 435 feet deep. It is home to Frontenac Island, one of only two small islands in the Finger Lakes, and the Cayuga Lake Wine Trail.
https://www.fingerlakestravelny.com/about/the-finger-lakes/

We must have taken 100 photos that day, just so much see. Here is just a sampling of this awesome preserve.

Check out this bad boy...

These bird houses were sprinkled throughout the park.

Metal sculptures popped up here and there, pretty cool.

They even had one of me with this giant bald eagle.

But here's the real McCoy...I was somehow able to capture him as I stood up through the sunroof.

The herons were all over the place. Their wing spans are impressive.

The Montezuma wildlife refuge is a 10,000-acre park that sits on the northern tip of Cayuga Lake.

The marshes provide perfect habitats for many of the migratory birds.

Living together in harmony...

The wood ducks, swans, egrets and hundreds more species share the good earth.

This area of marshland was used by Native Americans for fishing and hunting, but in the early 1900's the marshes were drained to make way for canals and dam construction. The wildlife disappeared. But by 1938, thanks to the "Civilian Conservation Corps", dikes were built to hold water and the wildlife returned and today it continues to thrive.

Today, the bald eagle, which at one time struggled to thrive, now enjoys protection and numbers in the thousands in the Montezuma Preserve.

On the way home we stopped at "SWEET BASIL", a quaint little pub with great food, and impressive wine list.

Excellent ending to a wonderful day.

Great to be back #silverbloggers, missed y'all.

Much Love,
Jackie O.