To continue our theme of a fun filled weekend last night, Earl and I decided last minute to make the drive to Ithaca to go to bear night at the Common Ground. We’ve never been out and about in Ithaca and we thought the experience would be a good one. It’s 100 miles in each direction but I wasn’t really concerned about the drive as I was in full night-owl mode and this would be an exciting adventure.
I’ve always found Ithaca to be an interesting city. Very much a college town, I’ve always visualized the city as a piece of granola sitting in the middle of a vat of baked beans. Ithaca is quite trendy (at least for Upstate New York) and there’s a bit of a free will/hippy vibe going on that I find to be quite appealing. Earl and I have gone to the co-op market from time to time, plus the surrounding state parks have some of the most beautiful waterfalls in the region. Once upon a time I considered Ithaca College to pursue a music education degree and I’d often drive through Ithaca on my way from Jamestown to my folks house back when I lived in the western part of the state.
I like it there.
I believe the Common Ground is the only gay bar in Ithaca. It’s on the outskirts of the city, high in the hills seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It’s location reminded me of that bar I used to go to on the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border back in the day. The crowd at the bar was quite interesting in that it was a mix of folks from all walks of gay life that seemed to mingle without incident. Earl and I recognised quite a few faces from Hillside and we spent much of the evening chatting with Dan and Mark; we often run into Dan in Albany and Buffalo- I guess he’s as much of a traveler as we are when it comes to weekend fun. The music was surprisingly good and the DJ earned the DJSuperCub stamp of approval with his blend of music from the 70s right up through the current stuff.
All in all it was a good time and we’d certainly go back for another adventure. I don’t know when we became such bear night bears though. I guess that happens once in a while.
