Watkins Glen, New York

This morning as we ate our breakfast outdoors in the cool, breezy autumn air, we heard the first of what would turn out to be the background noise for much of our day today: the rise and fall of whining race car engines as they sped around the Watkins Glen Raceway. We hadn't realized it, but it turns out that the raceway is only about one mile from our campsite. No worries...it didn't diminish our camping experience at all, we hurried to finish breakfast so we could go and find them!

We drove into the pretty little town of Watkins Glen, at the southern end of Seneca Lake.

Throughout the day we learned an enormous amount about auto racing and what it has meant to this formerly sleepy little town. Our first clue was when we drove into the town. On every street corner, and at several spots between each corner there flies an American flag. And just under almost every American flag there flies a black-and-white checkered flag. Even the local quilt shop carries out the town theme:

And then there's the main intersection of town. For many years, that was the starting point and finish line for the first sanctioned sports car race in America, which wound for 6.2 miles through the city streets and nearby roads...an extremely difficult track including pavement, dirt roads, a narrow bridge, twisting curves and steep hills. 

Almost everywhere you look in this pretty little town, you see something referring to sports car racing.

Here's the main feature in the Visitor Information Center:

And the beautiful classic Ferrari in the International Motor Racing Research Center, where we spent lots of time today (in the Research Center, that is, not in the Ferrari!, unfortunately!).

The Research Center houses memorabilia, archives, a vast library of all things relating to auto racing, and shows a great video on the history of auto racing in Watkins Glen. 

After visiting the Research Center, we headed out to the racetrack. 

No race was scheduled for today, but many of the contestants for tomorrow's Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) race were taking their practice laps to set their shifting and braking patterns for tomorrow. Even just watching them practice was enough to get our adrenaline up. Curt and I both used to race in SCCA Autocross races in the 1990's, driving a Ford Probe. Curt took it much farther than I did, even winning the SCCA Northwest Region championship (H Stock) in Wendover, Nevada one year. So it was great fun watching today. We both wished we were in the cars, not sitting up in the grandstands watching!

Here they come . . .

. . . And there they go!

I had to laugh when at one point I saw Curt, ever the gregarious one, deeply involved in a conversation about traveling, while the race cars we had come to watch zoomed by again and again. 

The only thing that makes a wonderful day even better (for me, at least....Curt is of a different opinion, I must admit) is to find a wonderful yarn / fiber shop. And eureka! Today was even better than wonderful in that respect!

Right there on the Main Street!

With beautiful window displays . . .

. . . A great selections of all things fiber related. . . 

. . .and even a "man corner" with magazines and hot coffee for the DPH's (Dear Patient Husbands).

I had a nice visit with Sue, who is one of 19 (yep, nineteen!) owners of the shop.

Here are some of the other owners in this photo. They look like a wonderful bunch of women!

So all in all, though it was cool and cloudy and a little drizzly at times, we had a wonderful day. A little something for everyone!

Now, if I suddenly start blogging from Italy, you'll know we won the raffle out in front of the Motor Racing Research Center!

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!

Massachusetts to New York State

Now that I've introduced you to Lucy, I'll briefly touch on the past few days...then I think I'll be caught up and can resume writing about events and experiences as we go along. 

Saturday we returned to Ross and Lorna's house in Massachusetts after picking up our new Travel trailer and visiting my cousin Kim and her husband Brad in New Hampshire for a couple of days. We're so grateful to Ross and Lorna for letting us unload our pop-up at their place and use their driveway as a staging area for moving into Lucy. Their generosity made it infinitely easier for us to make the switch, being able to take several days to sort through our belongings and decide what to keep, what to give away and what to discard, and then where to place everything in the new trailer. I can't imagine how difficult that whole process would have been if we'd had to do it at the dealership or at a campground. Thank you, Ross and Lorna, for your generosity and helpfulness....you're the BEST!

Sunday we wanted to attend church in the area. On our earlier trip,tp R&L's house, you met their daughter Kirsten and her Husband, Allan Taylor. Well, Allan is the Ministrr of Music at the First Congregational Church of Westfield,,so that's where we decided to go.

1679? Can you imagine that a congregation has been meeting together to worship God for that long? That's over 400 years!!

I caught this shot of the beautiful nave as the choir was coming in and getting organized. That's Allan near the center, just before he sat down at the organ.

The service was wonderful and the music was beautiful. Afterward we went up to say hello to Allan, and he showed us the inside of the tracker organ. I'd never seen one inside before! The tracker organ is an old design, not often seen. The keys and pedals are connected to the pipes by mechanical means rather than electric.

Monday morning eldest brother Ross and baby brother Curt drove to Connecticut to visit middle brother Kim, who lives in the same town, Manchester, where they all grew up. Here they are starting out:

The three of them had a wonderful time. Thy all went out for lunch together to a cafe that Curt remembers from his childhood. He said it was just the same as it used to be. The waitresses still dress in the diner uniforms that were popular in the 50's, the decor is the same, and the menu selections were right out of that era. It's Kim's favorite place to go, and I imagine they all felt like kids again there.

While they were gone, I worked on placing lots of my things in the new trailer, and Lorna took,care of some of the things she needed to do in the house. It was a very productive day!

Tuesday Lorna and I did a little,shopping, picking up a few things needed for the new trailer. Now that I have an oven, I need some baking pans! Curt got new tires on the truck. Ross's neighbor Ray recommended a place that offered terrific deals. Here's Ray, who can do anything, receiving Curt's suggestions in preparation to weld our bike rack onto an attachment for the back bumper of our new trailer. It works great!

Since Ross and Lorna have fed us so many terrific meals . . .

. . .last night we took them to a favorite dinner place...the Tavern on the Hill. We had such a wonderful, delicious, relaxing last evening together, watching the sun set behind the mountains as we dined. I didn't want to interrupt the ambience of the evening to dash out and photograph the sunset, so a couple shots of the beautiful flowers growing outside will have to do.

This morning, Wednesday, we packed up Lucy to set out on our first REAL camping trip with her. We couldn't believe how easy it was and how quickly everything came together, compared to the pop-up. We're really going to enjoy this last half of our trip...even more than the first!

You may remember that when we left Ross and Lorna's house in July, Ross sent us off with a nose flute (nasenpflagel) concert. He spared us that today. Instead, he appeared on the porch with a bagpipe chanter and sent us off with a rousing rendition of Amazing Grace, and a few Scottish tunes. There's never a dull moment around these Shirer guys!

It was a long day driving today. We headed westward into New York State. The sky has opened up a bit. There are broader vistas here than in the New England states. 

And, when towing a new trailer, there's always a bit of a learning curve. In our case, we're learning what will stay where we put it and what needs to be secured a little more carefully. When we stopped for lunch, we saw that we had had a slight mishap in the trailer. It involved a  plastic box placed in an overhead cupboard containing a brand-new glass bottle of pure maple syrup (bummer!), sesame oil, extra virgin olive oil, and soy sauce. It would probably be a tasty blend in a saucepan, but it wasn't so appetizing on our pretty floor mat. We'll see tomorrow if we can get it out of the mat (unlikely, we think). Another shopping trip to a housewares department might be in order. Ah, well, if that's the worst that happens, we're doing well. And only one small cut (so far) from the maple syrup bottle. 

Tonight we're camped in a KOA campground near beautiful Watkins Glen, New York. We're in the Finger Lakes area, surrounded by vineyards, beautiful waterfalls and gorges, and near the renowned city of Corning, with its famous glass museum. We're planning to spend a few days here, and then we're not sure where we'll travel next. But we'll fill you in as soon as we know!