49th Wedding Anniversary Trip Part 2

Next stop: Bedford Falls, oops, I mean Seneca Falls, NY. "It's A Wonderful Life" is my hand downs, forever and ever favorite movie. No matter how many times I watch it, I laugh, I cry and I just feel good. I wait for my favorite lines that I never tire of hearing, not just the classic ending lines. I am also a big Jimmy Stewart fan.

Frank Capra was known to have spent time in Seneca Falls, and many believe that this town was the inspiration for the movie. The movie was filmed on an 89-acre movie ranch where the entire town was created (75 buildings, 20 full grown oak trees were planted, a main street made and it was filmed there except for a few extra locations, like the school gymnasium which actually had and still has, a pool below the gym floor.

Capra never said that Seneca Falls was Bedford Falls, as he wanted many people to identify with it in their own hometowns, however, even Zuzu, Karolyn Grimes, believes that this was the inspiration, and she returns for the annual celebration every year. Other fellow actors who have attended are Carol Coombs (Janie Bailey), Jimmy Hawkins (Timmy Bailey), Janine Roose (young Violet Bick), Michael Chapin (young George's friend) and twins, Donald and Ronald Collins (little Pete Bailey). We have been so tempted to attend the It's a Wonderful Life festival which is held every year in December, but we know the weather is unpredictable, and we were concerned about the crowds. So, this year we decided to go "off season" and planned our vacation around this special stop.

The bridge, as George said, could be our own bridge in Pleasant Valley, they are similar. Unfortunately, that is the only commonality with Barkhamsted and Seneca Falls. Here's another view of the bridge taken from a gazebo. 

This is the outside of the "It's a Wonderful Life Museum". 

Inside you are invited to make a donation in the basket, just as George Bailey's friends did to save him.

You can make a wish on a cigar lighter, like George did. "Hot dog!"

The museum has a wealth of information about the different actors and photographs. Now, I'll be quiet and share some more photos of the exhibits, again, like the previous post, saving the only authentic artifact from the movie to the end. 

Here is a New York Emmy Award that was presented to the museum.

And here is the only authentic souvenir from the movie. The earrings worn by Violet Bick, actress Gloria Grahame. They say there were actually her own earrings.

And once again, in the gift shop next door, a photo op. This would (and may still) be my Christmas card picture, if I can only figure out how to crop out the right-side background. I wish the kind soul taking the picture, had centered it differently. But here's the proof, we were in Bedford Falls. 

A visit to Seneca Falls would not be complete without visiting the remembrances of the historic women's right movements. We ended our day seeing these Ripples of Change statues of these amazing women who came together to fight for their rights and future rights of all women.

Unfortunately, there is a bigger statue park but it was under renovations, so we could not see it. We did come across this little park.

We continued the next day learning about the women's movement, with a side trip first, which I will continue on part 3. 

49th Wedding Anniversary Trip Part 1

 

We decided to celebrate our 49th wedding anniversary with a little vacation to see some sites we'd been wanting to see, some re-visiting of sites and some new sites. It was an extremely diversified vacation. We have vacationed in New York state before, but this vacation in particular, I was reminded of how beautiful and diversified the state itself is, with mountains and fields and lakes and waterfalls and cities, we avoided the latter and found most of the driving off of major highways. 

Let me also add that I found this awesome ap, called Wanderlog. It was extremely helpful in planning this constantly on the move vacation unlike a one-destination vacation. 

The first stop was the world's smallest church! This was the Cross Island Chapel in Oneida, NY. We only saw it from shore, as you need a rowboat to reach it. Weddings have taken place here. 

These unique trees are near the chapel.

We had some awesome sandwiches at this place in Rome. I had the "Go home you're drunk" and it was delicious. I think George had the "Not your Mama's chicken parm sandwich. 

Not to freak you out, but I had to take a picture of this. There was a cool little square dot that you push to click on the mirror of the bathroom where we stayed. When it lit up the frame and I looked into it, it made my pupils look rectangular. Really kind of freaky. You may have to zoom in. Just a silly diversion.

Our first full day we started by seeing the Chittenango Falls, Very impressive.

You couldn't even see the bottom from where we were standing. Not great for those with a fear of heights! I didn't even try to look. 

On our way to our next stop, we were off to see the wizard in Chittenango.

The Everything Oz museum is small but mighty with everything they have related to the Wizard of Oz. It is chock full of information about the books and movie. Most of the items are replicas that were used in play productions. There is only one item from the original movie, which was pointed out to me when I asked. I will save that for the end here. In the meantime, here are a few pictures of some of the exhibits. 

 

What I found most interesting here, was that Baum was in a sense, self-published. The George M. Hill publishing company did not want to publish because of the expense of the colorful illustrations, so Baum and Denslow agreed to pay all printing costs--first for "Father Goose" and then the next year, "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." 

You might wonder if I took a picture of everything in the museum. I did not. There was so much more. If you love "The Wizard of Oz", I suggest you stop by. And now, as I promised, a picture of the one original item from the movie! Get out your magnifying glass.  In the lower righthand corner of this frame are little pieces of the actual straw hat the Ray Bolger wore in the movie. Talk about grasping at straws for something authentic. 

But it was a great little museum and a lot of fun. I only wondered why they didn't have the yellow brick road painted on the floor or even a yellow brick welcome mat in front. I asked and they said they had thought about it and that was all. Oh, well. At least they did have a good photo op for us.

Next blog post, our next stop, another favorite movie.