AMISH PASTRY VENDORS IN PEN YAN, NY

 

MAHARAJA GLASS AT THE CORNING MUSEUM

 

FINGER LAKES, NEW YORK

Finger Lakes are a fascinating series of eleven lakes, large and small, formed after glaciers retreated. The largest one, Seneca Lake, is over 650 feet deep. We were in the area for ten days and still weren’t able to see everything.

The first day we went to Seneca Falls that no longer has falls but does have the National Women’s Rights Park. The historical documents were a good reminder of where we’ve come from and where we still have to go. A trip below Penn Yan (the pioneers could decide whether to call the town Pennsylvania or Yankee) took us to the Willow Farms Produce and Craft Market. The market has up to 200 vendors and the Amish run most of the food stalls. Of course we had to sample some of their pastry.

We did our usual boat cruise on Lake Canandaiga. It was unique in that it had actual paddle wheels propelling the boat. We got a good sampling of Finger Lake wines at a Food and Wine dinner at the hotel Geneva-On-The-Lake. We liked some of the white wines but the reds seemed to lack tannin. We liked the hotel so much that we took my brother Art and his wife Jo plus my nephew Tom and his wife Leah to dinner there.

Feeling energetic, we decided to hike the Watkins Glen gorge. We weren’t feeling so energetic that we wanted to hike UP the 800+ steps so took the bus to the top and hiked down the mile and a half. Don’t know if that was a wise decision or not as our muscles were so sore the next day but it was worth seeing the nineteen waterfalls and the spectacular gorge. We stiffly went on to the exhibition at the Corning Glass Museum. They had a fascinating special show of the glass works made for the Maharajah.

There are still things we want to see in the area so may come back sometime. Now we head to the Niagara region to fly out of Buffalo for Zoe’s grandson’s wedding in San Luis Obispo. It will be quite a journey going from Buffalo to Philadelphia then to Phoenix before finally getting to San Luis Obispo. The joys of air travel. They are supposed to have some good red wines in the Niagara region so we will of course try them.

WATKINS GLEN GORGE, FINGER LAKES

 

THE VIEW OF LAKE ONTARIO IN FRONT OF OUR RV

 

OUR CUTE PO AT HENDERSON HARBOR, LAKE ONTARIO

GORGEOUS LITTLE ISLAND RV PARK ON LAKE ONTARIO

A short drive (less than 100 miles) from Tom’s house brought us to Tanglewood on the border of Mass. and New York states. We had reservations to attend an open rehearsal of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.. Zoe loves open rehearsals because she likes to hear the corrections the conductor makes to the orchestra. At first we were disappointed because the named conductor, Seiiji Osakawa, was not conducting as printed but the Austrian conductor, Hans Graf, did an excellent job. The program was Richard Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Mendekssohn’s Symphony No. 4 in A, Opus 90, Italian, and Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, Opus 26. Midori was the violin solo on the Bruch. The Bruch is one of our favorite pieces and so we have heard it played by many different artists but Midori brought a new, sensitive approach to it. It was a wonderful concert in a beautiful setting. A delicious lunch in town topped off the afternoon.

We continued on then to the shores of Lake Ontario at Henderson Harbor, an island reached by a causeway. The lake is so huge that it is like the ocean. After a storm the waves hurl against the rocks just like the seashore. There are beautiful sunsets here and one night we even saw a schooner in full sail on the horizon.

Nearby Henderson Harbor is the village of Sackett’s Harbor. This is a sweet little town that was the site of a historic battle in the War of 1812. At the start of the war, five British ships were stationed off the coast of Sackett’s Harbor against only one American ship. Farmers on the shore grouped together with a cannon and destroyed most of the British ships. The only British cannon ball to make it to the shore was promptly picked up by the farmers and loaded into their cannon. The shot broke the mast of one of the British ships. A lovely park with a monument is now on the site that also was the location of further fighting during the War of 1812.

We had the additional surprise at the RV park of four RVs of women who belonged to RVW and just happened to come to this park. Small world.