August 5-12, 2017
This year “enroute” to the Waldheim we spent a week in the Finger Lakes of New York State.
We first spent a day in Corning, where we spent many hours at the Corning Museum of Glass. We watched several fascinating demonstrations of glass blowing and enjoyed the extensive exhibits about the history of glass.
Then we went on to Hammondsport at the south end of Keuka Lake. Here we spent a day visiting just a few of the many wineries.
The wineries are on both sides of the lake and in some regards the region reminded us of the Rhine in Germany. Both areas specialize in Riesling wines, although many of the NY wineries also make grow and make excellent wine from other grape varieties. We visited Bully Hill and Konstantin Frank, which are two of the oldest wineries in NY, and also Keuka Lake and Heron Hill. At Bully Hill we had a tour and lunch in there cafe. Our server, Jan, at Konstantin Frank had a heavy hand and we got to taste 14 wines.
Then on to two days in Watkins Glen at the south end of Seneca Lake. Watkins Glen is better known for a race track, which is not our thing. Fortunately there weren’t any races that week. We spent much of the day at the Watkins Glen State Park, one end of which is just a few blocks south of the center of town. The gorge was created by the actions of Glen Creek since the last ice age 12,000 years ago. At that time the gorge did not exist and was full of solid rock. Since then the creek has gradually eroded the canyon. The CCC in the 1930s did much of the work to build the trails that we followed on both sides of the gorge. We followed the Gorge Trail west 1 1/4 miles, up 520 feet (800+ steps), and past 19 waterfalls and returned on the higher Indian Trail.
Then and the next day we visited several of the wineries around Seneca Lake including Hector, Red Newt, Wiemer, Fulkerson, Fruityard, and Ch. LaFayette Reneau.
We also noted several streams and waterfalls flowing into the lake.
Then on to Ithaca, the home of Cornell University, for two days. Ithaca is at the south end of Catuga Lake where there are more wineries but we didn’t have time to visit any of them. We first had a tour of the Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity, the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, where some 250-300 people study and work. The lab is set in the Sapsucker Woods, a large preserved tract with lots of trails and wetlands. From the lobby, one can see out over a garden with many bird feeders and birds and the adjacent wetlands.
A Green Heron:
A pair of American Goldfinchs:
After the tour we wandered on some of the trails
and enjoyed the many wildflowers:
We also drove around a bit in the Cornell campus.
The next day we explored the Robert H. Treman State Park, just a few miles southwest of Ithaca, which has a gorge created by the Enfield Creek and we hiked an about 4 1/2 mile loop. We started on the Gorge Trail which at first followed the ridge above the lower part of the gorge. The way was rather rooty and had many steps.
The upper gorge had lots of waterfalls and strange rock formations.
At the far end was an old water-powered gristmill:
The return hike on the other side of the gorge had different views:
As we returned to the beginning we had views down on the Lower Falls and the recreation area:
We had a very short swim here as the water temperature was only 62 degrees:
Then we briefly visited the Cornell Botanic Garden and Arboreteum.
Lastly, we visited the Hopshire Farm and Brewery, a few miles east of Ithaca. They grow hops here:
But their main business is brewing beer. So we enjoyed a flight of samples of their beer:
Meanwhile we were entertained by a local band: