Since this thread is about mountain lions in NY I will repeat this post here---November 2011 I saw a large dead red cat on left shoulder of Southbound I-81 just after the Whitney pt exit. The face was rounded-a cross between a raccoon kind of face and a domestic cat.-sweet/round face very long rope like (thickish) tail w.straight fur-curved around towards the front- height of a St. Barnard but thin build like a Dane. The legs were long. The color was solid orange red. I was traveling at 65mph and by the time I had processed what I saw it was too late to easily pull over. I was very surprised. I posted a description of what I had seen on Topix in the hope someone else had seen it and could let me know what it was. All I got was a few snide comments. Then I found this: "05-05-2011, 06:48 PM #1 Crokit crokit Join Date: Dec 2010 Posts: 158 Mountain lion sighting First, let me state that I have all my faculties, excellent eye sight, and am not given to exaggerations. Today, while traveling south on Interstate 81, between Syracuse and Binghamton, I saw a Mountain Lion / Cougar/Panther, pick your noun.!! 100% positive, absolutely no doubt. There is ZERO chance that it was anything else. The only other thing it could have possibly been ( other than a live mountain lion/cougar/panther ) is a full body mount of a mountain lion/cougar/panther and someone pulling a prank. It was less than 100yds off the West side of the road, sitting on top of a section of rock/cliff that the highway had been cut through. It was sitting on it's haunches, leaning forward, ears forward, looking down onto/across the highway. It was about 30-40 feet above the highway. Just before the " Castle creek 1 mile " highway sign. When I screamed " holy F%^K, a mountain lion, scaring the S#$T out my buddy who was driving almost lost control at 75 mph. An absolutely beautiful animal, well muscled, excellent specimen. Up until now, when ever I've seen reports of sightings, I've taken them with a grain of salt. No more! Anyone know of any other recent reported sightings in that area? Wldnerness: Can you put me in touch with any of the state Dec/Rangers/etc from that area?" And my post on Topix was as follows: Justwondering East Syracuse, NY 1 huge red fox, moutain lion or lynx on I-81 (S) near Castle Creek Nov 9, 2011 Did any see a dead huge cat like animal on the southbound side of I-81 about a mile closer to Syracuse then the exit for Castle Creek. It was on the left lying an its side, obviously dead and huge. If you did see it, or heard someone else talking about it, what was it? It looked like it had a body like a mountain lion, a long tail with long fur-not bushy and a face that was rounder like a lynx.Its color was pretty uniformly red-not mixed or strips or anything like that. I was moving too fast and, once I had processed what I saw, I had gone too far to see it. Apparently someone picked it up, probably for its fur, because it was gone soon thereafter. I saw it at around 10:40am Tuesday morning. If you did not see it but are familiar with the wild life around there, any ideas? Any information would be appreciated. Hunters and Wild life experts,(to those needing to be sarcastic, save it), what do you think? These two sightings are at identical places. I do not believe that they are both mirages. Also, if the one I saw was young--it would not have been as visible to a driver on I-81 6 months earlier. The one I saw was not so big that it would have been very visible to drivers if it were on the top of a hill. That means that the one I saw could have been the adolescent offspring of the one seen by the earlier poster. If so, maybe there is a den nearby. I know exactly where I saw the dead animal so a wildlife person or ranger could easily investigate. If the other poster saw the parent in May and I saw a dead adolescent one in November I bet that there is one that has set up a residence in the area.

MetroNorth goes from Grand Central, not Penn Station. Amtrak goes from Penn. MetroNorth stops at all the local stops in parts of Ct and Westchester Co, (but not all trains hit all the stops--often, Stamford is the first stop for trains going to New Haven). Amtrak is not local and hits only the main stations on the Northeast corridor. There is peak and there is non peak. Peak trains are during am and pm rush hours and cost more. It is about an hour ride to stamford during peak, a little more off peak. Weekends are off peak and should not be crowded. On weekends, the trains run less frequently, but still often. To get from LGA, to midtown, (times square area) you can take a shuttle, then train that takes you to Penn. Or you can take a cab. Try to grab someone else in line to share a cab. I think the cab is about $35. The train is about $8. Hope this helps, Jo

Hello -- here's my list too For plays I would see a Musical -- go for the big bang. For all time favorites I loved Les Mis. For more recent choices Wicked is excellent and if you love Abba Mama Mia is a lot of fun. Of all the Disney ones Lion King stands out well above the rest (haven't seen Little Mermaid - going in May with kids) For the park - it's a whole day. Go to H&H or Zabar's have a picnic on one of the lawns or by the boathouse and people watch. Bike or rollerblade the Big loop -- I have biked in the city a fair amount. You have to have the "I'm a bike messenger attitude and just go for it" but don't expect cars to yield to you or behave remotely like drivers in other cities. I wouldn't suggest it - I'd stick to the park for biking -- then again I have been hit on my bike in the city so . . . Also in the park - Tavern on the Green is sooo pretty at night. Yes, it is touristy but I still like taking people there. I also like taking them on the carriage rides. On the upper east side Serendipity for dessert. We always used to go there for the frozen hot chocolate -- have you seen the movie? It's very crowded but fun -- I've eaten lunch there too but I think dessert is best. For museums the Met is so amazing but choose what you want to see. I also like going down to SoHo and just wandering in and out of all the galleries that catch my eye. ABC carpet was a huge favorite when I lived downtown in the early 90's but it is much more commerical now and not as much of something you discover if that makes sense. Greenwich village is also a great place to just wander around and people watch on a nice night. There is a place called the Back Fence on Bleeker Street that we always used to go to and listen to covers by James Taylor, Van Moorison type guys - although I think they have a variety. Sawdust on the floor, people get a table early and hang out all night. A pedicab in Times Square at night is pretty cool to do once.(even for someone who has lived in the city for years) I've never gone to the Statue of Liberty or taken a Circle Line Cruise but I mean to at some point. Also just from a safey issue wear you purse across your body or keep a hand on the strap - tourists tend to walk slowly and spend a lot of time looking up in the city and can become a mark. There are 1000 other things to do but it is the kind of city you only really discover by living there for a long time.

Thanks for the support everyone. I truly appreciate it. If I provide a bit more backround perhaps it will answer some of the questions that have been raised. My parents built their retirement home on a lake in central Ohio 23 yrs ago. They still enjoy the home, but my Dad feels the maintenance has become too much for him and periodically tells my mother (not me) they should sell. The last couple of years she told him she wasn't ready yet - she likes being near family. For the past 12 years they have been spending 6 mos. out of the year in a mobile home in FL. They have a lot of good friends there and it's particularly good for my Dad because he has buddies he hangs out with. Buddies who will ask him to come along if they run errands. In Ohio he has friends, but not the kind who want to hang out, so he's mostly in front of the tv during his waking hours. Going into town to run errands every day was his break, his entertainment so to speak, and now he can't do that. My mother's sister lives on the opposite coast of FL from where my parents winter. She has friends in a retirement community in central FL and has wanted to move there for a few years now. Her husband passed last July, and since she has been more avid to move. Since neither of my parents want to spend winters in Ohio, they are thinking of selling the lake house and buying into the development where Mom's sister wants to live. My mom's sister is 79 and has been undergoing cancer treatments for a number of years. One thing gets cleared, then something else pops up. She is doing okay - as in she's not feeling terrible - but from what I get from my mom the treatments continue. My fear is that if my parents sell the lake house, put all the proceeds into buying new home in the FL retirement community it could be only a matter of a few years until my mom is there by herself. I HATE thinking like that, but given my father's and my aunt's health issues it is a real possibility. I don't believe my mother would want to live there without any family around, so I would probably end up moving her back to Ohio to live with me. A better plan- to me -is for them to sell the lake house, buy an Ohio home closer to town for the 6 months they spend here and keep the trailer for winters since that is where Dad is happy. I've suggested this to Mom and that's when she told me she would never buy another house in Ohio. I'm not sure why she is so adamant. Last summer during our 30 min commutes back and forth to town I would point out areas on the outskirts and say "It's pretty out here and not too far from town." Once she shot back: "Why would I want to live where there wasn't a lake?" I replied, "Um...because you'd have something nicer to look at than your neighbor's windows? Which is what you would have with a house in FL." Maybe she sees buying a house in OH without a lake as "coming down in the world"? Or she feels buying another house here means eventually having to live here during the winter? Maybe she wants to be nearer her sister while she has her? I don't know. I agree the track I need to build for myself is a way to support myself in my own small place. Let mom and dad do what they want to do and cross the bridge of taking care of one or both of them when the time comes. I suppose I'm just trying to prepare myself psychologically for that future. Thanks again Lavender and all, for letting me explore that here.