Corning, New York and the Museum of Glass

We greatly enjoyed camping in our new travel trailer last night. It was our first real night of camping (other than in Ross and Lorna's driveway or the dealership parking lot!). Everything worked beautifully. It felt so much more spacious and luxurious than the pop up.

We had a wonderful rain in the night and we woke to many yellow leaves blowing around. With that and the cool, moist air, it felt like autumn for the first time. We hung out in the camper and enjoyed a late breakfast, leisurely cups of tea, and listened to Eva Cassidy on CD, one of our favorite vocalists. 

Then off to the "big city" of Corning to see the well-known glass museum. It was fabulous! The entry's was pretty impressive:

And the modern shiny look of it was a terrific contrast to the beautiful grasses just outside. The way they moved in the wind was simply mesmerizing to me.

Inside the museum it was fascinating. There were rooms and rooms that had everything to do with glass...its history, industiial uses, displays of art glass (ancient through contemporary), glassware from around the world, demonstrations on glassmaking (and breaking!)... We were there for four hours and we didn't see nearly all of it! Here are a few shots to show you some of the variety.

Some fun contemporary displays:

Chess, anyone?

Some beautiful Tiffany glass windows:

I love these glass vases and the lamps all lit up:

And this beautiful collection of jars:

OK, so do you own the classic Corning round casserole dish that comes in a variety of colors? Here's a sculpture displaying 680 of them!

Just so you know the size of these glass pumpkins, here's a scale reference. The green truck isn't a model; it's a genuine full-size old farm truck that's been restored. 

The admission ticket to the museum is good for two days. Tomorrow we want to go to the auto racing museum in Watkins Glen, but if there's time after that, I'd love to take our tickets back for another shot at the Corning Glass Museum.

We took a short jaunt via the shuttle bus into historic downtown Corning. It's a lovely town. We didn't stay long, though... Our feet were pretty worn out from the Glass Museum.

After dinner this evening we headed for the campground pool and hot tub. What a delicious way to relax at the end of the day! We visited for more than an hour with Ron and Marilyn, a delightful couple from Calgary, Alberta. It's always amazing to us how much we have in common with the people we meet in our travels. To us, the people are really the highlights of our experience!

Gotta rest up...the auto racing museum is waiting for us tomorrow!