Fall Festival at Liberty Ridge Farm

We celebrated harvest with some fun at Liberty Ridge Farm.


Scarecrow dressed in different outfit.


Oops... this one rode his bike into a hay stack!



The festival wouldn't be complete without the pumpkins. Although this maze looks ridiculously easier (even for kids), but it's actually named the Right Hand Only Maze, where only right turns are allowed.



Another must-have for the harvest would be the corn.


Fancy getting lost in a corn maze? This game is reserved for the night to bring up the scariness level.


Hop onto one of these to do the hamster walk.


Here's some pumpkin art for the Halloween.

Watkins Glen State Park

Watkins Glen State Park is located south of Seneca Lake in the Finger Lakes Region. This place was first opened to public as a private scenic attraction in 1863. Then in 1906, it was bought over by the state. Afterwhich, tunnels were dug and wooden staircases were replaced with concrete ones. However, most of these structures did not survive the flood of 1935. This was when the crew from Civilian Conservation Corps constructed beautiful stone stairs, bridges and walls to blend these artificially built structures into the natural scenery. Over many years, the walking trails have changed dramatically as the terrain continues to be deepen and widen by ice during winter. It is said that this park is charmingly decorated with 19 waterfalls.

I first saw a picture of this park in one of the Finger Lakes Region travel magazines. For a long time, I wanted to visit this place. After months of procrastination, I finally made my trip. Even though I had to drive four hours to get here, it's definitely worth the journey.

Autumn in Woodstock

It's autumn now and the Chinese Community Centre in Albany organized a trip to Woodstock (a small town in Vermont) to enjoy the beautiful fall foliage in the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park.


Cattle gazing in an enclosed field near the carpark.


Going towards the historical park, we can already see the autumn colours on the mountain.


The path leading into Mount Tom Forest.




Pretty red maple leaves are everywhere.


We reached the furthest point of our walk at The Pogue pond.

Staten Island Ferry

A way to see the Statue of Liberty for free is to take a ride on the Staten Island Ferry. The ferry takes us from the Whitehall Terminal Manhattan to St. George Terminal Staten Island (and back to Manhattan). Since there are numerous ferry departure times, there really isn't a need to check the timing beforehand.


Looking back at the Manhattan terminal docks as the ferry is departing.


View of the Brooklyn coastline from the ferry.



Another Staten Island Ferry traveling in our opposite direction back to Manhattan.


View of the statue with Jersey City in the background.


Statue of Liberty against the setting sun.

Boston Whale Watching

We're back in Boston for the second time this year! Our objective for this trip is whale-watching, which can only be done during summer because it'll be too cold to sail out to the open sea in the other seasons. We boarded Boston Harbor Cruise at Long Wharf and off we go to the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary.




As we depart from the wharf, most visitors are standing eagerly by the sides of the boat with their cameras on standby.





However, it takes some time to travel out into the open sea, where we can no longer see any land at all. The first whale is only sighted one hour after our departure.



The moment the guide announces that the whale is on the left of the boat, everyone rushes to the left, causing the boat to rock from side to side. Soon, we realize that we can just park ourselves at either sides, when other whales start emerging out of the water.






Whales are differentiated one from another by the marking on the underside of their tail. All of them in this marine sanctuary has a name. I was disappointed that we didn't see any whale jumping out of the water, like the photo on the poster at the ticket counter.



A seal came to say "hello" too!