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Good afternoon, everyone! I was blessed with having this beautiful Monday off from work, so I decided to once again venture "north of the border" for my third photo tour of Upstate New York. As a special favor for member "VegasPilgrim," I decided to head straight up I-81 for about two hours from Scranton, PA to Ithaca, NY. I've heard nothing but good things about Ithaca, and that "hearsay" was indeed substantiated today on my first ever visit to the city.
I entered town via East State Street and was immediately impressed by all of the very large shade trees forming a canopy of foliage that welcomed visitors into the city. The city was very clean, bicycle-friendly, and was a haven for all sorts of liberal wack jobs, anti-Bush activists, and an open GLBT community; I was truly in heaven today! Downtown Ithaca was like taking a step into utopian boehmia---wiry-looking hippies with tie-dye shirts, artists, and musicians were lounging around everywhere! There was a very large pedestrian mall there that was jam-packed with people, and motorists seemed to be much more vigilant and willing to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalks than they are here in Scranton, PA, where drivers will actually TRY to hit you, as if they were playing a game of Grand Theft Auto!
While in town I purchased the local newspaper, the Ithaca Journal, and I also picked up a free copy of the Ithaca Times, a more independent, community-focused newspaper. Calling Ithaca "progressive" is an understatement---it would be like calling President Bush only slightly underprepared to handle the Iraq war. I ate a wonderful lunch at a small mom-and-pop restaurant near the pedestrian mall. There was an irritating major construction project occurring in the downtown area, and an entire city block of roadway was torn up for some reason or other. It seems as if construction workers follow me on my downtown photo tours---first it was Bloomsburg, PA, then it was Bethlehem, PA, and now it's Ithaca, NY! LOL! Ithaca is home to both Cornell University and Ithaca College, which infuse a large intellectual vibe into the town (think political activism, hybrid vehicles and Mini Coopers everywhere, bicyclists, solar panels on homes, coffeehouses, etc.)
Please enjoy my photos of Ithaca as much as I enjoyed taking them! I do believe a "sequel" is in order at some point in the future, when I'll be returning to Ithaca to do a second photo tour to tie up the areas I missed (especially the campuses and the area where the major construction mess is right now in the downtown).
The morning started off very foggy and drizzly as I crossed the border from PA into NY. Thankfully, the fog lifted, and the sun made its appearance as soon as I departed Binghamton.
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I parked my car along Eddy Street and then snapped some images of the downtown area of Ithaca.
An image of the Ithaca skyline.
St. Paul's United Methodist Church and a passing mailman!
The rather ugly Tompkins County Courthouse blemishes an otherwise gorgeous downtown.
Another fine church near downtown.
GreenStar Oasis Cooperative Market
The Bookery
The founding site of the Ithaca Conservatory of Music
A pair of handsome rowhomes nearby.
An old bank building.
Quite possibly my favorite image of Downtown Ithaca. I can't fathom how you people could prefer sterile suburban cul-de-sacs with tract housing when you could live within walking distance of beautiful sites like this.
Shown here is a nice fountain, some bistro tables, and Benchwarmers Brewpub in the background.
COOL STRIPED PANTS!!!
Downtown Ithaca is very lushly-landscaped.
Now that's what I call an impressive ****!
The Finger Lakes Running Company and the Ithaca Clock Museum.
Downtown Ithaca truly is a thriving place, and I can see why it is often included on just about every "Best Places in America" list.
State Theatre
As you can see on that banner, I just missed the community's Sidewalk Sale Days. Also, I never once saw a BEETLE being utilized as a police car. Go Ithaca! Liberals unite!
Another view of the pedestrian mall with a massage tent in the right-foreground. I was soooo tempted to stop on in, as it's been far too long since my aching shoulders have received some much-needed attention.
The Colonial Building, which houses Little Tokyo and Ithaca Books. I'd love to rent one of those studios in the upper floors. Every downtown should have a neat used bookstore like this (cough...wake up Scranton...cough!)
Yes, that is a playground in the background in the middle of the downtown pedestrian mall!
Here you can see a portion of that frustrating construction project that was making it difficult for motorists and pedestrians to navigate the downtown area.
One of the torn-up streets downtown. I decided to stop for lunch near where those two women are walking, and I had a great mushroom bacon cheeseburger that was quite reasonably priced! The host/waiter was very, very nice (I think he might have been the owner), so I left him a nice tip.
I grew up around Ithaca-great pics!! I left there 21 years ago for Florida. I am moving back to CNY (Syracuse) next year-these pics make me wish I could come back sooner. fantastic I am sure many will enjoy
Probably the best Ithaca tour I've seen. You got around to quite a bit of the hilly neighborhoods. Glad you visited my old stomping grounds of Collegetown, and even got a picture of one of the apartmant buildings I lived in for a while (the big bright yellow rascal). Thanks for the great set of pics, and I look forward to your future tours.
oh my god, how funny...my wife, daughter and i were in the commons around that exact same time. I even remember seeing the yellow bug police car parked in that exact spot and making the same comment to my wife LOL. Ithaca and the surrounding area IS quite beautiful. such cool stores too, and great dining.
Wow, SWB went all the way to Ithaca, NY just for me! It looks like I'm the one pulling the strings-- I knew it all along! Looks like a beautiful town, and sorry to say this, SWB, but Ithaca blows away Scranton and Wilkes-Barre combined! The only big advantage I see to Scranton is that it is closer to NYC and Philadelphia, the big cities, whereas Ithaca's closest city is Syracuse, which isn't exactly on the national radar. Ithaca looks like a fabulous place to go to college and discover the world on your own. It blows Tempe, AZ (supposedly a "college town") out of the water so much it's almost a joke. The greenery there seems to be standard for the northeastern US, but it still looks impressive-- at least this time of year. Winter might be a different story. If you do go back to Ithaca, maybe you could take some pictures of the two college campuses there. Also, some of the "finger lakes" in the region would be interesting to see. Not sure how far Syracuse is from Scranton, probably too far of a drive for you I'm assuming, but maybe some day...
One really neat thing about you living in Scranton, PA, is just how many historic cities and towns you can drive to in just a couple of hours. When you live out here in the West, in Arizona, you can drive for hundreds of miles before you get to the next major town. Maybe you could start a tour guide company that takes people around on bus tours throughout your region??? What do call the part of the country you live in-- including northeast Pennsylvannia and Upstate NY? Is it just the northeast? Is is the "inland" East coast? Appalachians? or what?
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Downtown Ithaca was like taking a step into utopian boehmia---wiry-looking hippies with tie-dye shirts, artists, and musicians were lounging around everywhere! 
There was a very large pedestrian mall there that was jam-packed with people, and motorists seemed to be much more vigilant and willing to yield to pedestrians in the crosswalks than they are here in Scranton, PA, where drivers will actually TRY to hit you, as if they were playing a game of Grand Theft Auto! 
Ithaca is home to both Cornell University and Ithaca College, which infuse a large intellectual vibe into the town (think political activism, hybrid vehicles and Mini Coopers everywhere, bicyclists, solar panels on homes, coffeehouses, etc.)
Downtown Area
Residential Scenes
thanks!
