Watkins Glen, New York

"You miss 100% of the shots you never take."
– Wayne Gretsky 

HOLA from New York.  At present, we are stationed in a KOA on a small island on Lake Ontario.  We finished out our week at Watkins Glen with a most exciting finish to the race on Sunday.  We had Marcos Ambrose in the NASCAR pool so we were very happy that he took every chance he had to take the lead on that last lap.  The above quote is in honor of him and the 15 points he brought us!!!!

Alright, so let me tell you about the Finger Lakes area of New York.  It's about a 10 hour drive from the Detroit area and I highly recommend you making the trip.  This area is absolutely gorgeous.  There are lakes and mountains everywhere which makes for an overflow of scenery options.  The area is also famous for its wineries which all offer tastings and tours.  Lake Seneca has quite a few that are on its shores and there is even a wine trail that follows the perimeter of the lake leading back to Watkins Glen.  The town also has numerous marinas that rent boats and jet skis.  There are also a number of beaches too.  Steve and I had such a wonderful time in this area.  Please do consider this as a vacation option.  You won't be sorry.    

Alright, on to our activities.  Our first trip was to Watkins Glen State Park.  WOW.  Talk about beautiful.  There is quite an impressive gorge in this park and the state's parks department did a nice job paving a trail from one end of the gorge to the other.  There were a number of steps involved (820 to be exact), but it was not excessively strenuous as these steps are spread throughout the 1 1/2 mile hike through the park.  As we walked along, we were also treated to a number of rainbows that were produced from the waterfalls.  Steve tried to capture these, and he did a nice job, but rainbows are truly something you have to see in "real life" to appreciate them fully.  Nature is so cool, don't you think?

Steve and I enjoyed a really nice boat ride around Seneca Lake one evening.  It was a dinner cruise that offered a great blues band for entertainment.  It was very informal (they offered a hamburger buffet as the dinner fare) and we really just cruised along, listening to some good music, and relaxing.  There are a number of beautiful homes on the lake that were fun to see as well as very nice sail boats.  The sunset was also quite spectacular.  Nice evening.

One of the coolest things we did this week was visit the Corning Museum of Glass.  As some of you know, I am a huge fan of glass art, so for me this was a special time.  I took a number of pics of some of the cooler things on display at the museum, along with the explanation of what they are, so that you can appreciate them too.  In addition to glass in art, the museum also has a technical side to it as well.  We learned about the development of safety glass and other types of glass used in automotive applications.  We also learned about fiber optics and the benefits of these glass fibers over old copper wiring.  Very interesting.  My favorite part of the day was watching the master glasssmith of the museum take a lump of very hot glass and make a vase out of it.  The whole thing took her 20 minutes, start to finish, but the vase sells for $200 in the gift shop.  WOW.  That's not a bad hourly rate!  She is really quite talented and travels on cruise ships for four months of the year and does glass classes for the passengers.  She is headed to the Mediterranean for four months this winter.  Nice work if you can get it - - no?

Since we are nature lovers, Steve and I drove about an hour west to Letchworth State Park, which is the "Grand Canyon of the East".  This canyon is some 600 feet deep and is quite lovely.  The Genesee River flows through it and produces three very lovely waterfalls within the park.  The Middle Falls is the highest of the three (107 feet) and gave us a double rainbow when we were there.  Steve tried to capture on film but was unsuccessful.  So too bad - - we saw it and if you want to see it you will have to visit the place yourself.  :)

Ok, the rest of our time was spent at the track watching both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races.  This is a road course track and not the standard oval so we had a very limited vantage point in terms of what was happening during most of the race.  There was a nice jumbotron across from our seats so we watched it on the TV, which we could have done from home and saved the $300 we spent on tickets and radios.  Oh well, we had fun and that's what matters, but if you are a Nascar fan that likes to watch all the action live and are thinking about this track, think twice before you commit.  You may be very disappointed.

Alright, that's it for this week's update.  Steve and I are chilling up here on Lake Ontario and have no real plans for the week.  Sometimes not having plans and letting life take you where it may produces the nicest surprises.  We are hoping that all of you are well and doing fine.  We love and miss you very much.  Take care guys.