...ever drive to Syracuse along the Thruway and notice skaters along idyllic
willows and a lake with vistas of a downtown skyline on the far shore? Now
imagine something more popular than our canal path. Make it four times wider
and much smoother, include the original like our canal path alongside, set
it beside a scenic lakeshore, give it the urban accessibility of downtown
Syracuse and a big university, build a museum and stadium at one end, ban
motorized traffic, and voila... the Onondaga Lake Park Trail.
Because the Trail runs along a shore, it's flat, and one round-trip runs
about 5 miles, a nice skate for those still starting their season and
recovering from blisters. And for several spring Sunday mornings, the
Onondaga Lake Parkway, part of Route 370 extending another 2 miles southeast
beyond the Salt Museum, closes to motorized traffic. There hundreds walk, run,
bike, and skate.
See for yourself:
http://cartogra.com/home/viewownerdir.asp?owner_id=493615&owner=orlandof,
then click on Orlando's Syracuse album ...password "risc2000".

Then afterwards, Kathy, our host in Syracuse, suggests we picnic. She writes
"I can take care of charcoal, burgers, dogs, buns, condiments, chips and soda.
People can then bring healthy extras like cut up fruit, salad & dressing,
veggie trays or veggies to grill, etc. Those who bring goodies don't have
to chip in. Those that would prefer not to bring stuff can just chip in a
few dollars instead.
"If picnicking sounds like too big of a pain, we can all just eat lunch
at the pizza parlor or at [Spinnakers], which has hamburgers, chicken
sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches, ...ice cream for dessert." Répondez
s'il vous plâit.

To carpool or caravan, please meet 8:30a beyond the southern entrance to
Mid-Town Athletic on East Highland Drive: the fluorescent green asterisk on
the the following active map. Anyone arriving too late— or joining us in
Liverpool— please meet us 9:45a at a new location Kathy suggests, the Willow
Bay parking area off Longbranch Road. If you start elsewhere —please reply
to coordinate if you do— click "Edit Trip":

http://mapblast.com/myblast/dDir.mb?&GAD2_1=200+E+Highland+Dr&GAD3_1=Rochester%2\
c+
NY++14610-3008&CT_1=43.137943:-77.552111:20000&GAD1_2=Willow+Bay&GAD2_2=Onondaga\
+
Lake+Park+Trail&GAD3_2=Liverpool%2c+NY++13090&CT_2=43.115342:-76.238142:30000&
formnum=2&IC_1=43.139657%3A-77.551632%3A621%3AMid-Town%20Athletic&IC_2=43.
115349%3A-76.235663%3A620%3AWillow%20Bay&IC=43.139657%3A-77.551632%3A621%3AMid-T\
own%20Athletic%3A43.
115349%3A-76.235663%3A620%3AWillow%20Bay&LL=en:us&PCT=FAST&PDU=MI&PDT=ST&PMS=
&showman=0

If you drive your van, suburban assault vehicle, or just plain big car, you
may expect your riders to contribute their portion of the Thruway toll (E-Z
Passes ready!) and marginal cost of the trip, about 12 cent/mile. Our return
trip also passes the Lyons Thruway service area, with a Mobil, where fuel
tax reductions remain in effect.
This weekend brings drier mid/upper level air. Sunday morning brings
great skating in Syracuse!

John

To see if others plan to skate any given day, try Yahoo Messaging,
http://messenger.yahoo.com/intl/us/. Those logged in have an indicator by
their Yahoo ID: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/risc_roc-ny/members.