Local Flavor

One of the neat things about traveling around this great country of ours is the chance to see and taste foods that are from that area.  While at the Tractor Pull outside of Corning, NY yesterday we ran across a new food to us.  A Spiedie Sandwich.  Not having a clue we asked about it and Nancy Wolfe had one, sans the bun.  It is basically a cubed meat, Chicken, Beef, Pork or Lamb that is marinated in this special Spiedie marinade.  It was good.  So when in Wegman's, an area grocery store, I found that the marinade comes already prepared in bottles.  Bought one to try on one of our cook-outs.  We shall see.

Adventures In and Around The Finger Lakes

The Grand Canyon of The East

We drove down into northern Pennsylvania to visit The Grand Canyon of The East because it is listed as a place to see in most of the tour books.  It is a gorge near Wellsboro, PA, which has acquired the nickname which, in my opinion, does an injustice to the real Grand Canyon.  It is rather a "Deep Valley" rather than a canyon, but it was picturesque.  I can imagine that in the Fall it is even more impressive since all the sides of the gorge are tree covered.

 

 

As we walked along the trail above the west rim of the gorge, there were lots of ground covers, ferns, moss, and plants of all sorts.  The area is obviously part of the eastern forests and the forest floor stays moist and damp because of the high crown of tree foliage.  Here is a couple of pics from our walk along the trail:

 

 

Montour Falls

We have traveled in lots of sunshine--it has been very dry throughout the upper East Coast:  some places haven't had any real rainfall in 30 days or more.  The locals are becrying the drought.  This was very evident by the low flow of water over the falls in the area.  We stopped to see Montour Falls near Watkins Glen and saw merely a trickle, which was a disappointment.

 

This is the plaque at Montour Falls--but it isn't named Montour!

Without any rain for a good number of days, the falls just weren't very spectacular!

 

What do you suppose our Odyssey Group is staring at???

 

 

 A couple of small turtles enjoying the quiet pool below the waterfalls, of course!!



 

The Gorge at Watkins Glen

We did take a walk up the gorge at The Glen, but like Montour Falls, there wasn't much water flow.  We climbed up about half-way--lots of steps going up the gorge!  Naturally, we learned that we could have taken the shuttle to the top of the gorge and then walked down--would have been much easier on our old bodies!

 

As you can see, the gorge is finely chiseled and deep--it is a long climb to the top!

The walkway from the parking lot is visible as folks stroll up into the gorge.

 

About halfway up the climb to the top, one comes to a falls you can walk behind (the formal name escapes me now, but safe to say, with the low water flow, it was a lot drier walking behind it this day!) 



 

And there's Jack posing beside the waterfall--the rest of the Odyssey elected not to traipse that far! 

 

 



Watkins Glen

Touring Watkins Glen

Rockin' Around the Track

One of the "places to visit" in the Finger Lakes area is the historic raceway up in the hills southwest of Watkins Glen.  Sports car enthusiasts, Formula I race fans, and NASCAR fans have flooded into the International Raceway for events dating back to the inaugural professional race--a NASCAR event!!--in 1957.  What began in 1948 as a sports car race through the streets and back roads of the village of Watkins Glen became the International Raceway with the opening of the 2.3 mile circuit.  Soon Formula 1 racing came to what is known throughout racing circles as The Glen.  The last Formula 1 race occurred in 1980, and in 1981 the track closed in bankruptcy.  In 1983, a subsidiary of hometown giant Corning Glass partnered with International Speedway Corp. to purchase the race course and the sound of racing engines soon filled the air in south central New York.
So, we ventured out to The Glen.

The main entrance to the raceway.

 When we arrived, there was a practice session underway for sports cars.

 



Next came a collection of stock cars.



A diagram of the track and the grounds.

 

 For $25, we discovered that we could drive around the track for three laps behind a pace car.  It was explained to us that we would go two laps and then stop on the front stretch for pictures and a change of drivers, if someone else in the car wanted to drive.  Jack, Betty, JJ, and Rich all signed the waivers and we lined up with 13 other cars/pickups who were going to "do" The Glen. 





 



  Jack led off--after all, we were in his car!--and we romped around the track at 55 to 60 mph.  After stopping on the front stretch for pictures, Rich took the wheel for the last of the three laps.  As we exited the track just past Turn 1, we saw Ray and Tam in the grandstand bleachers.  They arrived in time to see the "parade" of novices tagging along behind the pace truck.

Jack says, "Boy, that was fun!  But it wasn't all that fast!"

 

 

Corning NY -- The Glass Museum

Traipsing around Corning, New York, and The Finger Lakes

From Rhode Island to NY Across The Tappan Zee Bridge

We packed up our coaches after a lengthy stay in Rhode Island--which featured more than one lobster meal!--and headed for a rendezvous with the Ehlenbergs at Mohegan Casino in Wilkes-Barre, PA.  We crossed over the Hudson River at the Tappan Zee Bridge where we were surprised by a huge construction project:  a multi-year effort to build a new bridge!  It is the largest bridge construction project ever in North America and it won't be completed for opening until 2018!

Bridge approach from the east--note the dark boxes on the tops of the new towers!

This is the existing bridge roadway west bound--getting pretty rough!

 

The river below the new towers is crammed full of barges and tugs moving them back and forth from shore.  The concrete is mixed right on the barges and hoisted up by big cranes to the "forms boxes" on the top of the towers where the workmen maneuver the big buckets into place to add the concrete to the ever-growing towers.  We really wanted to stop to watch this engineering feat, but of course, that would have tied up a lot of traffic!  The project will cost $3.8 BILLION, so more likely than not, tolls will now be charged both ways instead of just east bound.  Check out this website for more information:  http://www.newnybridge.com/

We drove down through NJ and then west towards PA.  Rather than connect to the PA Thruway Extension to get to Wilkes-Barre, we opted for the free route up PA Highway 115:  oopps!  That took us off through a detour across the backwoods PA country side on roads not all that friendly to big RV rigs!  JJ led the way after we came to an abrupt halt at a junction which had signs in both possible directions which read "Load limit 10 tons"!  It was marked as a truck route but the 10 ton limit stumped us for a moment.  Some nice gentleman, seeing our predicament, came out of his house to give both the Murleys coach and our coach some much needed local knowledge and assistance.  We were soon back on PA 115 and successfully into the Mohegan Casino where Jack and Betty were waiting for us!

A "fun" wander through the remote PA countryside!

Corning, New York

After one night in Wilkes-Barre reuniting with Jack and Betty, we put the three coach caravan on the road to New York's Finger Lakes area.  Our first stop would be the Ferenbaugh Campground about 5 miles northeast of Corning.  We had reservations for a few days and had planned to go to another destination in the Finger Lakes area.  However, our efforts to locate available sites in other campgrounds proved futile, so we worked out arrangements to stay put at Ferenbaugh until July 19 when we are due to be in Syracuse for Monaco Travelers and Monaco International rallies.

 

Tucked into a lovely valley between Corning and Watkins Glen!

 

The view across from our campsites--note the late afternoon sun and the cornfield where the corn was definitely knee high on the 4th of July! 

 

Market Street--the main downtown avenue--in Corning, NY

The headquarters of Corning Glass in downtown Corning--lots of glass in this building!

The main square in Corning.

Another view of Market Street--note the banner for the wine festival which we will take part in!

 



 The Museum

We spent two days touring the Corning Glass Museum and probably could have spent more to see and digest it all--what an interesting place!  Those of you who have been there know the experience!

 

 

Rich didn't want to block out the sign, so he tried to duck down!

Here is a photo of the original glass works factory from the early 1900s.

 

 The museum is full of lots and lots of glass--what one would expect, of course!  In addition, there are now several interactive sessions throughout the day which feature glass blowing, "Make Your Own Glass" teaching sessions, and informative seminars on various aspects of the glass industry.

A beautiful chess set from blown glass.

Early glass pieces from the first days of "industrial" production.

Check out this huge candle labra--maybe 7 foot tall!

An outstanding example of early cut glass!

This was a demonstration of glass blowing:  she made a lovely vase which featured two handles which she molded onto the vase with deft and practiced moves!  The piece had to be put into the furnace quite often to keep the glass as a working temperature.

Betty and JJ getting ready to make their own pendants.

Here's Betty with help from one of the young folks as she works her glob of glass into a pendant!

Now it's JJ's turn to fashion her piece...she wasn't happy with it initially, but decided in retrospect that it wasn't all that bad!

 



JJ and Betty collect their glass projects after a day to cool and anneal in Corning's ovens!

With marked anticipation of what's to come out of the package, JJ is prepared to be unhappy with the result of her efforts--however, once reviewed by all of us, she decided it was just fine!!





 

More to come, for sure!
Rich H.