“I walk out into a nature such as the old prophets and poets, Menu, Moses, Homer, Chaucer, walked in. You may name it America, but it is not America; neither Americus Vespueius, nor Columbus, nor the rest were the discoverers of it. There is a truer amount of it in mythology than in any history of America, so called, that I have seen” (Thoreau, Walking).

There is an interesting fact about New York State.  Did you know that while driving along the Thruway and the myriad expressways ending in “90”, you will come across exits for places like Troy, Ithaca (ask my students about those two and the New York Odyssey project we do!), Liverpool, Greece, Rome, or even Mexico, just to name a few? It’s as if I need a passport at the thruway exits…and how fun it would be to get my passport stamped at each place. It’s like going around the world without crossing a state line. I do have to say, though, that Las Vegas has us beat with being able to ride a Venetian gondola, nibble on fromage by the Eiffel Tower, and check out the missing chunk on the Sphinx’s nose all along one strip, but that will be another trip!

Today, I went to Mexico. No, not the country, the town in New York. Ironically, there is a hamlet WITHIN the town called Texas! Fortunately, I had no trouble with border crossings.

No matter where we go nor what a place is called by those who inhabit it, the place is ultimately Earth. No black lines can be seen from a plane or form space that divies up this planet, yet much violence and hatred is spewed over these imaginary lines. As inhabitants of this planet, we should be more united in our experience here than we are. This makes me think of Man’s dominion referred to in “To a Mouse,” the Robert Burns poem that I use when beginning to read Of Mice and Men with my students:

I must say, this was a beautiful park. There was the ruins of what looked like an old church, but which turned out to be what once was an inn. Oddly, it’s called Casey’s Cottage…at least that is what the sign says.

Another interesting thing was the plethora of carved statues all around the perimeter of the park proper.

These are just a few of the many statues around the park. They depict famous people (like the Native American and the boxer, both of whose names I forgot to write down) or set the tone for a specific aspect of the park (hospitality, swimming, and fishing).

When I first came across this building, it looked like an old church because of the shape of the stained glass windows. According to the website, it’s an old inn. I loved the style of the door here…

and check out the ornamentation around the windows. It looks like draped valences! I also do not remember if it is Casey’s Cottage or Cabin, so I shall refer to both…I have a 50% chance that one of them is correct!

I saw this and immediately felt like I was in the presence of the powerful Woodland Basilisk, distant American immigrant cousin to Harry Potter’s foe in the Chamber of Secrets.

This lovely was growing out of the sand among a bunch of rocks… and the color stood out.

I shall have to do some research on Ancestry.com to find out whether or not Silas Towne is related to the Medina, NY Townes. If so, then I have a relative who was a Revolutionary War hero!

I hiked with MapMyWalk! Distance: 1.18mi, time: 56:03, pace: 47:25min/mi, speed: 1.27mi/h.
http://mapmywalk.com/workout/677102767

Mexico Point Park was just the first stop today….