The Story Behind the Travel Photo: The Peaceful Battle of the Lakes
Updated: Sep 7
Like most people, when I think of getting away to some place near the water, oceans and beaches always come to mind. But then I happen upon a lake: relatively more calmer than the ocean, inviting, usually surrounded by mountains forests, almost always peaceful.
Living in New York, I have access to both oceans and lakes. I know people do not consider most of the Northeast of the United States as a beach destination, but when we can't go far, we make do. And lakes are popular, too. Several of the local city and state parks feature lakes, some manmade, some as a result of nature. Some lakes are accessible for swimming, others are great for boating and kayaking, still others may allow fishing. All of them are beautiful.
I grew up near one of these parks. Like most children who had something all of their lives, I took for granted having a state park with a lake: there were trails around it, rowboats and possible ice-skating in the winter. People who visited us were fascinated and thought we lived in a rich area. In their mind, lakes were for resorts. I didn't think to tell them that there was another state park with a bigger lake in the next county. It was common to me.
Technically, manmade or not, lakes are large bodies of water that are usually completely surrounded by land. Lakes are supposed to be larger and deeper than ponds, but nomenclature is relative: if the park near my house wanted to call that body of water a lake, than a lake it shall be. And I grew up thinking that the lake in our community was the standard. Well, in my college years, I was about proven wrong.
One day, I was literally chasing fall foliage. I started from the New York City area, which had a few trees that had started to turn, but life was still mostly green. I had not yet learned to check the fall foliage maps yet. I figured, it was October, just get in the car and go. I decided to head north. Just about an hour away, a sign intrigued me: the name of a drive within a state park.
Since it was after Labor Day, I was able to enter the park without paying but I do have my state park pass. I started following the name of the road I had seen from the highway: 7 Lakes Drive. Well, well, well. Are there really 7 lakes within Harriman State Park (and running through Bear Mountain State Park, as well)? I decided to find out.
At the first lake, glanced up. And literally almost had an accident. A painter, a film colorist, even today's Ai software could not have done a better job. The classic autumn foliage picture complete with shimmering lake was begging to have its picture taken. Of course, I could not resist and 7 Lakes Drive was most accommodating: there was a pull off. Perfect. To this day, it's one of my favorite photos ever. And at that particular moment, no one else was there. The peacefulness was memorable. In fact, peaceful would start to be the adjective I would associate with lakes almost always, no matter how busy it might be.
I continued driving along and filled up my memory cards. At the end of this trip, I now had some lakes experience. I was ready for the next phase.
Enter the Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York. When you look at a map, the configuration of the lakes seem to form a set of interesting hands, with about 11 fingers rather than 10. One of the largest, Cayuga Lake, is in Ithaca. It has interesting stats: technically it's the second largest but it is also the longest, running through 3 counties.
Ithaca is home to Cornell University (my alma mater) and Ithaca College at the southern end of Cayuga Lake with Seneca Falls, at the northern end: a notable site for history but also possible the inspiration for the setting for one of my favorite movies, "It's A Wonderful Life."
It's tempting for us to take Route 96 and get from one small city to another, but we took another route: Route 89, which hugs the lake at times, given us the literal scenic route, no matter the season.
Cayuga is a great place to visit. Like most of the lakes, there are plenty of activities, especially in warm weather. But one day, I decided that winter was the season that I was going to experience seeing the lake.
Since the lake is one of the largest and deepest, it takes a very cold and long winter for it to freeze completely, but often there may be sections along its 38 miles that might have enough ice to make it scenic. It was freezing cold, but peaceful. Not even the sound of birds, who can be active in the winter.
Now, I had a real lake under my belt of experience with which to compare as I travel around the world. But just to be sure, I needed to see one more Finger Lake, so one summer I stayed in Watkins Glen, near Seneca Lake. Just like Cayuga Lake, Seneca lake caters to a lot of outdoor activities, including nature boat tours, as well as dinner cruises.
The view of Seneca from Watkins Glen can be deceiving: you know it continues upwards for almost 38 miles, too, (Cayuga is allegedly .2 miles longer) but from the dock in Watkins Glen, it looks like it's surrounded by forests, the bend of the lake is just out of sight. It was like a cozy scene, enveloping the lake with manicured trees, with just a few boats skimming the surface. And again, peaceful. It was dusk.
It's time to hit the road. One of the towns we stay in while traveling on I-95 is Santee, South Carolina. Since we don't fish, the significance of the area went right over our heads for several years. But one day, we weren't in a hurry. We had explored the town the day before since we had arrived mid-afternoon. The next morning, we decided to see the lake.
You can actually get a magnificent view of Lake Marion as you drive over the bridge on I-95, entering Santee. And what a view it is. Manmade, it turns out that Lake Marion and Santee are a well known fishing spot in these parts. And a quick, side trip to Santee State Park, showed us why. It's a very large lake with plenty of room for many boats.
Back in New York State, in the western part, we share two of the famous Great Lakes with several states and Canada. We were in Jamestown. We decided to take a drive and explore the area. Not to far is Lake Erie, in the town of Barcelona (New York, not Spain).
This was not my first time seeing Lake Erie. Since I had been to Niagara Falls, I was familiar with the fact that we lived in a state with two great lakes (the other is Lake Ontario). In fact, I had even crossed Lake Erie, on foot and by car, while visiting the Falls.
We were to experience another Great Lake. Part of Lake Ontario is near Oswego, which is where we were at the time.
I now had enough experiences in visiting lakes to be able to compare a lake overseas. Welcome to Milan, Italy. We headed up on a train out of Milan to Lake Como.
As many travelers know, Lake Como is an extremely a popular destination. We got off in Varenna. The Lake Como area is a true resort region: chic, sophisticated and expensive.
The hustle and bustle was almost overwhelming. Somehow, we made our way to the lake itself. And then it was there. It was at that point we decided to skip a tour on the boat and just walk around a little of the lake itself. And for that trip, that was enough. But this is one lake I would visit again and I would take the boat tour, and get out on the water.
So, obviously, we haven't finished our tour of beautiful lake. Subscribe to our blog and our YouTube Channel and come lake chasing with us.
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