... The Empire State It Is

 

A beautiful baby boy was born to the Jones’, and they named him Johnny. Unfortunately, Johnny was born with only one arm. As Johnny grew up, he did not let his disability stop him from his desires. One day Johnny decided he wanted to climb a tree.

He climbed about 15 feet up when he chose to climb back down. Looking down, he got scared and hugged the tree for his dear life. His mother eventually started looking for him, then she saw he was stuck up a tree, and wouldn’t come down.

Panicking, Johnny’s mother called a friend for help. Bill told her that he was on his way over. When Bill arrived, Johnny’s mom told Bill she was going to get a ladder. When mom arrived back at the tree, she found Johnny on the ground, laughing and rubbing his butt. Johnny’s mom asked Bill how he got Johnny out of the tree. 

Bill simply explained to her… I waved at him.

Yes, this leg was uneventful; we only beat the rain to our next stop, then it beat us. Its a good thing this is a two-day layover.

SITE #1          SITE #2

We started setting up on the site that was in our reservation, but that didn't look good from my perspective. Site #1 was actually running uphill to the trees. It then began to rain a bit with some thunder. We couldn't get a hold of anyone to discuss a move... so we made a command decision to move to site #2. This was why it was easy to make a command decision:

There are about five other rigs here, and they look like permanent residents, and nothing else.

I did step out for a walk, all the way to the Dollar General store across the highway. Spent some big money there, a soda, and 12 piece silverware set. 

We moved on to our next New York stop in Waterloo, NY, and this will be a week stay.

HOME IN SITE #40

The back of the campground is against the Seneca River.

This is another "no-frills" campground, but they do have washers and dryers. It is strange that they have a washer/dryer set in the women's room, and a set in the men's room; reasonably priced at $1.00 to wash, and $1.50 to dry.

There are three pre-fab cabins here, they are pretty nice looking, probably because they are new.

After lunch we headed to a Welcome Center we passed coming in, and it wasn't the typical welcome center. It has a food bar, coffee, and wine tasting, so visitors can samples some of the spirits as well.

We came home with "Bourbon Cream", and " Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie Bourbon Cream"; they had a "Maple Bacon" Bourbon too, not this trip though. We were really surprised at how many wineries are in this area, and I think we are up to the challenge.

We weren't expecting snow this time of year, but it happened...

... the cottonwood trees had burst forth and rained down their little seed pods, one of the few allergies we have. The snow slows down when it rains, and comes back when it dries up a bit.

Fortunately it is was not as bad as the pollen dustings elsewhere, which leave everything covered in yellow.

SUNDAY MORNING VISITOR

GROUNDHOG

I only saw this guy once, I guess he didn't like the weather forecast for the day, possible change of rain. Most of the day was cloudy... until it was time to start cooking on the grill. I did not let the few sprinkles stop me from cooking some fantastic ribeyes on the grill. Over all, the rain wasn't that scary, mostly sprinkles.

We decided to take a drive around Seneca Lake which meant a few pitstops along the way. By now you should know our pattern when I say pitstops... no silly, not museums... wineries and breweries. This day we only stopped at one winery, and one brewery. 

The first stop was the winery, it was told that they are the only one that makes port wine in this region; I later found out that wasn't true. Coming through the gates was spectacular...

... Hence the name Fox Run Winery. After we tasted wines, and bought some of course, we had lunch there too.

As we continued our drive around the lake, our next stop was the Seneca Stag Brewery.

This brewery is a renovated barn, they did a nice job inside. Carol had her flight of beers, and I had a root beer, and we consumed a steak quesadilla. After here we just drove the rest of the loop around the lake. There are close to 70 wineries, breweries, and distilleries on this drive. We have homework to do. For a drive around the lake, you don't see much of the lake, but it was a nice drive.

Instead of just sitting in the trailer, we headed out to another winery/brewery called "Three Brothers". This place was phenomenal, it had three wine tasting rooms, beer tasting bar, and a café.  (Photo courtesy of Three Brothers)

Walking up to the first building, which happens to be the store as well as the place to purchase your tasting experience passport, we saw a dove and babies just enjoying the afternoon. (Photo courtesy of Three Brothers)

We were within three feet of them, and they did not move, but by the time we came out, they were gone.

First stop: 

STONEY LONESOME ESTATE

(Photo courtesy of Three Brothers)

We figured we would get the climbing out of the way first. This was probably my favorite tasting experience at the estates because they had a port wine that was excitingly delicious... oh yeah... truffles too. Carol found a couple of wines she enjoyed as well.

This was the view from the patio:

(Courtesy of Three Brothers)

After our break here, we headed to "Bagg Dare" for more wine tasting.

This is just the beginning of the journey to the tasting room. It passes by a pond before getting to the entrance.

This tasting room has a bit of a story. Back a few years ago it burned down, and they rebuilt it, a bit larger. We found a couple of wines we enjoyed here too. We decided to go to lunch before we continued on with the next two tastings.

On the way out, back up the walk we came down, what to my surprise...

... A beaver was doing some renovations of his own.

On to "Iron Heart Café". 

If you look closely, you will see that the motor is a heart. Anyway, we went in and they were closed, but not to fear, we found food.

It was only sandwiches and chips, but food is food. Carol got her flight of beer, and I got my flight of sodas.

This brewery makes some fantastic stout beers. Carol tried three of them: "Breakfast with Churchill", "Smores with Churchill", and a classic stout. I was surprised at some of the flavors of my sodas. There was lemon/lime, black cherry, root beer, orange cream, and hop water. The hop water was the big surprise, it had the light flavoring of a grapefruit rind, very refreshing actually. The best drink I could compare it to would be cucumber water. The root beer had that sarsaparilla twang to it, a small bite of black licorice.

We declined to do any tasting in the last wine room... so we went shopping. We bought the beers, wines, and soda we liked, and headed back to Stoney Lonesome for truffles... that after lunch dessert, ya know.

We headed home, me with a sugar buzz, and Carol happy with the day. Dinner was not part of our evening plans this day.

New day, chores can wait. Today was a short drive to a brewery we passed on the way to Three Brothers the day before. 

Smaller brewery, less options, but we still walked away with something from there. 

I think I am convincing Carol to come over to the dark side, she has been walking away with dark beers, as opposed to blondes.

Our last few days will be preps for moving on to our next NY stop in Central Bridge for a couple of nights, before heading to Vermont. We will see you a little farther down the road.

As we depart: A little boy was escorted home by the police. The father asked the officer what he did, and the officer told the father to ask his son.

The son explained that he was trying to help any old woman at the bank ATM. His dad was proud of his son, but didn't understand why the police brought him home.

The son continued to explain, telling his dad that the old woman could hardly see, and asked him to check her balance... he pushed her.

While driving we notice that tree trimming is an art around these parts:

The power company trims trees to protect the power lines. Another instance, the lines ran through several trees and an opening was cut through them; imagine one tree limbless on its, right side, and the other tree limbless on its left side. It was an interesting sight.

We have finally hit our last stop in New York. The campground meets its name "Hide Away Campsite", cuz it is out in the countryside. 

Apparently a lot of people like this campground, there are quite a few long-term/seasonal RVs here.

There are a few sights to see around here, but it will be on another journey up this way. For now we settled for a beer tasting at one of the nearby breweries. Come to find out they had more than just

beer; then off to catch some BBQ down the road. 

There are caverns and museums to see in this area too. Once we got back home it was time to prep for our drive to Vermont. On the road again.