Finger Lakes Fall

Finger Lakes Fall

September-October 2013

            After nearly 40 years in Albany, we’re finally getting around to a fall jaunt into the Finger Lakes wine country for some serious leaf-peeping. After classes on Thursday (10/10) we head to Webster (outside Rochester) to visit my college friends Alice & Rick, plus their adorable friendly Morkie dog Scooter. Arrival on a very pretty evening. Convivial relaxation on their porch w/ wine (starting our weekend wine tasting), popcorn, deer in the backyard. Out for a tasty “Asian Fusion” dinner. We invite them to join us tomorrow, but things too busy here w/ a project to redo facing around their fireplace.

            Off after breakfast on Friday. Overcast & some light rain, but pretty fall colors in subdued light, atmospheric low clouds among the hills as we drive south. We see “It can wait. Text stop ahead.” signs that have popped up recently along the interstates. About 1½ hours to Bath and Hammondsport. [My Nana was a Hammond, but I’m not able to score any “Hammond discounts.”] Pretty towns, lovely old houses here and thruout our travels.

          First winery stop: Pleasant Valley Wine Co., 1^st in the region and 1^st “U.S. Bonded Winery.” Quite a large complex, visitor center w/ exhibits, dioramas, etc., but not as interesting as we’d hoped. Leaving, we pass interesting old buildings  ̶  covered in colorful ivy, beautiful old doors, pretty interiors visible thru the windows  ̶  and go back to ask about them. Turns out there will be a tour in a few minutes (Marjorie gets credit for discovering this!). 

Joined by another friendly couple, a wonderful tour w/ details about winemaking, beautiful redwood and other old casks, storage caves, historical tidbits about the company (home to Great Western & Taylor). 

 We enjoy this tour so much we don’t bother with other tours. The guide keeps responding to Marjorie’s queries w/ “That’s a great question!,” giving me a bit of an inferiority complex. But I feel better after some generous wine tasting, from riesling & sherry to more exotic blackberry merlot & “chocolate lab” dessert wine.

We buy a couple of varieties to our taste. [The valley here was also the site of Glenn Curtis’ 1^st “publicly announced” powered flight in 1908; a museum is nearby.] Lunch at “3 Wishes Café,” family-run eatery begun as a 1950s drive-in. Good food and local atmosphere: mostly trucks in the lot as we arrive, then dominated by what seems a “senior lunch program” by the time we leave.

We follow the road to higher elevations overlooking Keuka Lake, panoramas of fall colors and more wineries & vineyards, some still loaded w/ beautiful fat grapes. 

Back down to Hammondsport, billing itself as “The Coolest Small Town in America,” to wander a bit on foot. Then up the east side of the lake, a few winery stops along the Keuka Lake Wine Trail, mostly for photos, to Penn Yan [Named for Pennsylvania Yankees, the original settlers.] and our Wagener Estate B & B.

A 1700s home on 5 spacious “pastoral acres” w/ beautiful trees up a hill off the road, lovely interior, our bedroom w/ a 4-poster bed so high there are stepstools on each side! Here and elsewhere a lot of grape-themed decorations. A pretty cemetery next door.

After a bit of wine from our earlier stops, it’s a beautiful afternoon and evening for a stroll into town. We happen upon a reception at the Art Center, where artist Marjorie feels right at home.

Other local color: scarecrows around the downtown for a contest, the side of one building sports the huge original griddle used for “The World Record Pancake,” the clip-clop of a Mennonite horse-and-buggy. Dinner at a nice Mexican restaurant.

            Saturday AM: We’re pleased that nobody fell out of the high bed! I’m up early, out to explore along the lake. Rifle shots not far off! Our hostess suggests they were hunting waterfowl. [And there are lots of anti-gun control signs around here.] 

A tasty breakfast of French toast & “nest eggs” (scrambled eggs in a hash-browns framework). 

 Off to “The Windmill,” a mega-shopping site w/ some 200 shops open only on Saturdays, plus today a classic car show that makes things quite mobbed. I drop off M and go looking for early AM photo ops. Lots of horse-drawn buggies, cyclists, and walkers, everyone dressed in black and heading to maybe a funeral or some other Mennonite communal gathering. Pretty farms w/ corn & cabbage, lovely views of the lake, vineyards laden w/ big purple grapes, gaggles of geese overhead. Classic fall tableaus!

 

Back to The Windmill to wander thru the colorful classic cars and shops in buildings and open-air markets; produce and bakery, including grape pies, a staple around here (doesn’t appeal to us), offered by Mennonite farmers (tho only women & girls seem to work in the shops, wearing their pretty long dresses). M has made a few purchases, including “salt rising bread.” [Another of my childhood memories of tasty toast at Nana’s.] 

            It’s such a bright sunny day we decide to postpone Watkins Glen until tomorrow, heading now to the Seneca Lake Wine Trail. [Seneca L. is “Grandma’s Lake” to me: my Mom’s family roots were in Geneva.] 

A stop at Fox Run Winery, where I suffer brain freeze, referring to a “dog” statue that M points out is surely a fox! She finds this amusing.

 We pass by many other wineries, including Pompous Ass Winery, plus a “Finger Lakes Wienery.”  Thru lots of traffic in Watkins Glen village, a stop at the State Park gift shop where I find a nice magnet for my travel collection (oddly, the wineries are quite magnet-impaired). [Cell service is patchy around here, but M finally can check messages, including someone who wants to buy one of her pieces on display at Schenectady County CC.] On to Castel Grisch Estate, “A Little Touch of Europe in the Finger Lakes.” We’re able to get in for lunch just before they will close for a wedding. Beautiful panoramic views of the vineyards and lake, tasty sandwiches, and a switch to beer: Saranac Pale Ale in honor of our friend Sarah from the Matt brewery family.

            On to a nice farm market, colorful and unusual pumpkins, squash, and gourds. Past our inn and Big Doug’s Meaner Wiener to yummy Seneca Farms ice cream recommended by our hostess.

Back to the inn, I “relax” while M goes back to explore a good “bulk food” place; then she relaxes while I explore the large cemetery next to the inn.

 Into town for more wandering, we spot tiny Penn Yan Diner off the main drag. Good basic food, chatty owner/manager (not sure which) stops by and gives orientation on local Mennonite groups, agriculture, etc.

            Sunday breakfast of cinnamon-swirled pancakes & egg roulade w/ friendly other guests from PA & NJ. Mix of clouds & sun, softer lighting today. We head south again, past The Windmill now empty and forlorn, about 25 miles to Watkins Glen. A shuttle to the top, then 1½ miles hiking down thru the glen: beautiful fall colors, many waterfalls

[After returning home we locate a photo of little 4-year-old Matt under one of the waterfalls in 1980.], different “microclimates”  ̶  some very narrow & drippy areas w/ ferns & mosses along wet cliffs, other areas wider & drier. Many photographers lined up w/ fancy cameras and tripods at key spots. M has her usual many questions, like “How many steps are there?” (answer: more than 800, which accounts for our sore calves!).

 

We continue a little further to pretty Montour Falls. A (former) Episcopal church w/ sign in front: “Private residence. Tithes still accepted.” A mansion next door that’s now a B & B. Back to Watkins Glen for a stop at the pretty waterfront, then east toward Ithaca.

            Into Ithaca to wander around the funky college-town downtown. Interesting sculptures along the streets and on buildings.

The pedestrian “Commons” area is all dug up, colorful painted construction barriers decorated by various local organizations. 

Lunch at popular “Waffle Frolic.” 

Then 1 more winery: Six Mile Creek w/ nice views. Up the east side of Cayuga Lake to cousin Marcia’s pretty house, quickly making friends w/ her dogs Sam and even the usually suspicious Tara (but her 5 cats show little interest in us). Back to downtown, into beautiful “15 Steps” store owned by a friend of Marcia’s; Marjorie gets colorful “mismatched” socks. Cousin Bob joins us for dinner at iconic Moosewood.

            Rain during the night and a drizzly AM. After Marcia takes care of breakfast for her hungry animals and guests, we wend our way back home. Some sun and nice colors toward the end.