During the first six months of 2009, I participated in an intensive and esteemed program called Leadership Cayuga (LC) with about 25 other people (Much has been previously documented and written about LC, so I won’t go into the details of its history or purpose – click here to learn more).

As part of our many activities, we were responsible for undertaking a county-wide scavenger hunt, on our own time and at our own pace over the course of 6 months. There were many items on the list and the goal was to get at least 200 points, with most items fetching 10 points apiece. One of the items on the list was “an art project”, which I decided to take on using online mapping and video. I documented my travels around Cayuga County with both a camera and a video camera, with special focus (groan) on the county’s many parks and natural areas and the trips I made to these places with my dog, Rory, in tow. Among the places I explored and filmed were Fillmore Glen, Fair Haven Beach, Bear Swamp, Howlands Island, and Long Point.

In some of the videos I’ve created a musical soundtrack, while in others I’m narrating about such things as nature sitings, comments about cute things Rory is doing, and other observations.

The video camera was on loan from BOCES, with whom I partnered to create the videos, as I had never previously used or even held a video camera prior to this project. I worked with instructor Terry Cuddy and his media and graphic design students to edit the resulting 5 or 6 videos which were then uploaded to the appropriate place on the Flikr map where each was filmed.

I chose to film these places because exploring natural areas with my dog (and husband) is one of my all-time favorite activities. Access to nature is one of the reasons I chose to move to central New York from New York City two years ago. The natural beauty of Cayuga County inspires me daily and greatly contributes to my quality of life.

Flikr map with photos and video of Cayuag County points of interest