Watkins Glen

The weather is still not great. The manager of this rv park actually apologized to me this morning. But - it is what it is and we are still having a good time, just a different time than we had imagined. Both last night and the night before it was down to 32 degrees. There was no moisture so there was no snow, but there would have been. It is supposed to rain for the next few days and then it may (MAY) turn nice. I hope.

Yesterday it was windy and chilly, but the sky was clear and the sun was out. We decided to drive around the lake and stop at a few wineries. There are about 50 wineries just around this one Finger Lake (Seneca Lake). They are all fairly new. Some are huge with restaurants and even hotels. Others are so small that the tasting room is right off the family's living room. The picture above is from the first one we went to which had a small tasting room and beautiful landscaping. The owner was very knowledgeable and informative. We learned a lot about wine making in the finger lakes. Apparently there are a number of new grapes that have been created by the Cornell University test farms. They add a few new flavors. Most of the wineries here specialize in white wines. I am not a big fan of white wines and could not tell from the brochure which ones had the best red wines. So I went to the liquor store (this is another state that does not allow the sale of wine in the grocery store). I bought a few bottles of wine (we drink enough so that I had no qualms about doing that) and asked the manager which of the wineries would be best for red wines. She gave me a list of five - so that is where we went. We had a great drive around the lake and bought a few bottles in each of the wineries we visited and learned a little more about wine making at each stop. We wound up with a case of wine and had to get pretty creative to find a place to keep it. But we were successful.

The communities around the lake range from towns that are absolutely dead (not just dying but already dead with streets full of empty storefronts) to very prosperous beautiful towns. It makes me wonder what it takes for a town to be so prosperous. It is more than just jobs because the towns were close enough together that there would have been work from one town to the next. No idea.

When we returned last night I had the same problem with my computer that I had had several weeks ago. I tried to fix it myself and wound up calling HP. Three hours later I had finally downloaded all the fixes that they said that I needed. (I had a discussion with Ruffie from India about how I appreciated his help and he was very nice, but this was not how I wanted to spend my vacation.) It is amazing that there were so many fixes necessary since I have only had this computer for 6 months. But it is wonderful that HP is so helpful in getting these things fixed.

This morning we got an early start because rain is predicted by early afternoon. We packed lunches and went to the Watkins Glen state park. The park contains a mile and a half walk along a beautiful gorge carved out of the slate by years of a fast moving river. The natural part was amazing. It was also fascinating about the man made part. I stood looking at that bridge, in the picture above, for quite some time trying to figure out how they got it built. The walk along the river and the falls is pretty steep and someone actually counted the number of stairs it took to get to the top. It is over 300. Bob and I thought we would walk for half an hour and then come back. But in half an hour we had not even walked one fourth of the walk. So we kept going. The steps were hard for Bob, but the scenery was well worth it. (At least that is what he said. It is different for me because the walk is not so hard. I just loved the scenery.) We just had to rest a lot. There were many many waterfalls. We even walked under two of them. (Reminded me a little of Silver Falls State Park in Oregon, but without the gorge.) Some of the views were spectacular. It took us one and one half hours to get to the One Mile Bridge. Bob was tired and hungry. We climbed to the trail at the top of the ridge which is straighter and more gradual. It took only one half hour to get back. I took so many pictures. It was hard to decide which ones to include. Maybe I will add some more in my next blog.

The walk was strenuous enough that Bob is done for the day. We are back in Honey. Glad to have Honey and the room to rest and relax. Leaving Watkins Glen tomorrow morning to go further east.