Our autumn was pretty disappointing this year. Too much rain I guess. The colors were not brilliant. Most the of the trees went right into ochres, burnt siennas, and umber colors. Very dull and muted. A lot of the leaves fell off before achieving full color. A few days ago the sun came out and I took a drive down by Monksville Reservoir to see if any color had survived the wind and rain of last weekend. I found some at Long Pond Ironworks that I’d like to share, especially since it’s foggy and drizzly here this morning.

One of the things to truly shine this year were the burning bushes. They waited until the trees had lost most of their leaves so they could steal the whole show.

I give you Magenta Pink. (with a little reddish orange mixed in)

 

 

 

Orange.

 

 

Red.

 

 

 

Panoramic view from Bully Hill Winery

Warning! Wine Overload Ahead!

Keuka (pronounced Kook-a) Lake was definitely our favorite of the lakes we visited. It had a cozy, homey feel to it, mostly due to its narrowness and thickly wooded hillsides. Keuka is shaped like a slightly crooked Y with long narrow fingers. To the Seneca natives that lived in the region long before the white man arrived on the scene, Keuka meant “canoe landing.” The early settlers tried to change the name to Crooked Lake but it didn’t stick. Many places around the lake still reference “Crooked Lake” in their names. Whatever you call it, it’s just plain beautiful.  We started on the west side of the lake and worked our way south.

Small vacation (and permanent) homes lined the lake’s shore. Most had boat docks, and some had decks that literally hung out over the water.

We left the highway that hugged the shore and headed straight up (literally) the hill toward the wineries. The thick woods gave way to bits of meadow and rows of vines.

 

A few clusters of grapes were still clinging to the vines.

Some land did double duty and a few hay bales shared space with the vines.

Our first stop was Dr. Konstantin Frank, known for their award winning wines and champagne. Their tasting room overlooks the lake. Too bad it doesn’t have a better view.

 

 

 

The person pouring the various wines at our tasting was very knowledgeable. I don’t know exactly what you would call such a person. Certainly not a “pourer”; perhaps as husband Rick suggested “a tasting consultant”? The tasting varied from winery to winery too. Some charged a fee of $2.00 per person or $5.00 per person. Some were complimentary. Usually you could taste up to five wines, but if they saw you were serious about wine and not just there for the buzz, they generally tended to pour you a few extras. Dr. Frank’s happened to be one of those places where the tasting was complimentary. I think they had the best wines. Glenora’s were good too (we think their reds were overall the best of those we tasted), but Dr. Frank’s wines were more complex. There are also one of only two wineries to grow the Rkatsiteli grape variety, one of the oldest varieties known to man, from Russia and Georgia. Very intriguing taste.

We asked our “tasting consultant” about places for lunch and mentioned that we were heading down to Bully Hill Winery next for a tasting. She wrinkled up her nose and gave a shake of her head regarding their wines, but told us that their restaurant was excellent. She turned out to be right on both counts.

After Dr. Frank’s we continued on top of the hillside to this view of the lake.

Bully Hill’s location and view of the lake is nothing short of stupendous! Lunch was delightful and the best meal we had. A Maryland Blue Crab cake nestled on top of a grilled portabello mushroom with a side cucumber salad. Yum! We did the tasting and found the contrast between upscale, classy Dr. Frank’s wine discussion and the comedic, canned spiel of the man behind the tasting counter at Bully Hill (I refuse to call him a tasting consultant!) about as black and white as you could get. Okay, he was funny, I’ll give him that. Well, funny almost to the point of being crass. Especially when he pulled out the souvenir underwear for sale in their gift shops and told a few borderline jokes about them. And, oh yes, they glow in the dark ladies and gents! They charged us $5.00 for this “show.” The wines, you ask? How can I put this kindly. Don’t bother. When he poured a sample of their Banty Red and we checked out its “nose” I just looked at Rick and tried not to laugh. When it hit my mouth all I tasted was grape juice. Pure and simple; not even fermented. What was left in my glass went not-so-discretely into the not-worth-finishing-bucket. ugh. They do have a sense of humor about it all and their labels are artistic and very creative. Needless to say, we walked out without buying any wine. No underwear either. I did, however, buy my sister a Christmas gift there and now I bet she can’t wait! (hehehe)

On to Pleasant Valley Wine Company where we just missed the tour. This is the oldest winery in the Finger Lakes region. Established in 1860, the winery proudly displays the designation U.S. Bonded Winery No. 1 and has eight remarkable stone buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. But having missed the tour we didn’t see all the stone buildings but we had a “private” tasting since no one else was around. The tasting room is located in a old stone building (naturally) with a small wine museum. It was dark and castle-y feeling. When we walked up to the large bar for some reason I was reminded of the scene in the movie The Shining where Jack Nicholas walks up to the bar and the “ghost” bartender grins. I don’t know why. Maybe it was the lighting because the “tasting consultant” was certainly not scary. He was very nice and we learned (through the course of asking what the winters were like) that he had grown up in Hammondsport, moved to Dallas, TX and only recently moved “back home” and was hoping to “nurture his inner chef” by opening up a restaurant.

Pleasant Valley is known for their champagnes under the Great Western label. One we tasted we didn’t like very well, but the other was very good. We didn’t taste any wines (no charge for the tasting) except for dessert wine. Now, mind you, neither one of us is a sweet wine drinker but he thought we might like his suggestions of Keuka Blue and Chocolate Lab. All I can say is wow. Keuka Blue is port based, but with a slight blueberry flavor. Oh my. Then came Chocolate Lab (with a cute chocolate lab puppy face on the label), which is a concord grape wine with natural chocolate flavor. Oh. My. Goodness times three. I know it sounds strange having concord grape wine (all I can think of is the Mogan David wines—yuck) combined with chocolate, but you just have to taste it!  Then he went on to pour a splash of their late harvest Strawberry Zinfandel wine in Rick’s Chocolate Lab, and a splash of their late harvest Blackberry Merlot wine into mine. Swoon. Like I said, we are not sweet wine drinkers but this was a delicious combination!! Suffice it to say that we fell for it. Yes, we did purchase a few bottles at this establishment. From here we headed up the eastern shore of Keuka Lake.

Our last stop on our list was the McGregor Vineyard and Winery. We had read about their Black Russian Red wine made from two grape varieties (Saperavi and Sereksiya Charni) that are typically grown in Eastern Europe. McGregor’s is the only winery in North America to produce this wine, so we had to try it. Tastings are done seated at rustic tables and cost $5.00 per person. They do bring you a little plate of “goodies” to pair with your wine. They say it’s to bring out the flavors in the wine but frankly I think it’s because they want you to buy those very same goodies for sale in their gift shop. Anyway, I’m getting off the point. Once seated the winery dogs came to pay a visit. Chester, the Portuguese Water Dog, was quite the beggar. Little Max of the Heinz 57 variety liked to lay under the tables and snooze. We tasted a few whites that simply did not have the complexity or body to them that Dr. Frank’s had. McGregor’s also grows the same Rkatsiteli grape that Dr. Frank’s does only they blend it. We didn’t think it was as good either. Ditto on their Pinot Noirs. Just not enough there. The Black Russian Red was the last to be tasted and finally, something that did not disappoint. Very impressive. We only bought one bottle (the Black Russian Red) and it was the most expensive bottle we purchased on the whole trip.

On our way back I snapped these two photos from the car. I had been seeing this particular architecture in several towns and was curious about the style. Victorian? but not classically so. The squareness of the houses coupled with the cupolas on top are curious to me. (Oh boy. Coupled with cupolas? I must be punch drunk from all this writing.) What were the cupolas intended to be? I think these were in Seneca Falls, but it wasn’t the only town that featured them.

And that, dear readers, concludes our trip to the Finger Lakes. I hope you enjoyed the ride! Sorry for such a long post about nothing much but wine, but I wanted to get it all done in one blog post. As it is it took me most of the day in fits and starts! I’m so cross-eyed now I can’t see, so if you find any spelling errors please forgive me. I’m hitting the “publish” button.

Next I’ll be sharing the last of New Jersey’s fall colors (well, one main color really—magenta pink) with you.

Actually, the name of the park is Watkins Glen State Park and Gorge. I added the the gorgeous part because it is. Truly Gorge-ous. If you are ever in the area, this is not to be missed! I can imagine in high tourist season the trail is very crowded and probably impossible to take photos without throngs of people. We had a lovely leisurely “stroll” (or should I say climb?) on this cloudy autumn day. Let me show you what it was like.

You entered the trail through a hole in the cliff. A sign at the beginning warned of over 800 steps ahead and promised 19 waterfalls. It didn’t lie.

The first bridge, Sentry Bridge, at the beginning of the trail after going through the hole in the cliff and up the first set of stairs.

 

The weather, although cloudy, was not cold. I was glad it wasn’t raining as the path was wet and slippery enough, especially where leaves had fallen. The trail immediately headed up and didn’t stop for one mile.

 

Little spills of water filled up pools with walls carved smooth by centuries.

 

The first big waterfall was Cavern Cascade.

Here is Rick to give you some perspective of scale.

 

 

This photo is taken standing at the side of the waterfall looking back down the canyon.

 

The canyon was narrow as it twisted its way up and up. The rock walls towered above our heads, cutting out whatever feeble sunlight was available.  Water seeped from the rock surface above and sprinkled down upon us as we walked underneath, making the trail slippery in spots. I found myself sheltering the camera lens from the watery drips from above fairly often. Onward up the seemingly endless stairs we went.

 

 

Around every turn in the trail were scenes to delight the senses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best waterfall was saved for last: Rainbow Falls and its Glen of Pools. Shangri-La immediately came to my mind.

Water just poured off the face of the cliff in a delicate shower. Imagine had it been raining!

 

These were taken behind it.

 

At the top!

Instead of making our way back down all those 800 or so slippery stairs, we decided to take the rim trail back along the top of the gorge.

The woods were beautiful!

 

 

And last, I leave you with the view looking down from the suspension bridge over the gorge. See the trail to the left? It’s a long way down! Hope you’re not afraid of heights!

 

After making our way back down to the car, we drove up the west side of Seneca Lake to stop for wine tasting and a late lunch at Glenora Vineyards. Their wines were very good, both the reds and the whites. Unfortunately the lunch in their restaurant was not very good. Very disappointing, but we did order their cheese sampler of local farmstead cheeses to take back to our room with us for our dinner which turned out to be good, but I still think Rick can make better cheeses than some of them! The goat cheese which came from Lively Run Goat Dairy (which we had passed near Trumansburg) was the best of all. Had I known when we passed the sign pointing down a side road that they were open to visits we would have stopped!

Another wine tasting (a disappointing one), then we headed back to our room at the Arbor House, thereby concluding your tour of Day 1. Did you have fun? Do your legs ache?

Sorry for being remiss and not really taking you on vacation with me. We were on the go all day long and not much time was spent on the computer. What time I did spend was spent downloading photos!

We had a great time and certainly won’t be crossing the Finger Lakes off our list of potential places to retire. We both were extremely impressed with the area—beautiful hillsides rolling down to pristine lakes. Vineyards. Farm land. Waterfalls. Gorges. We managed to see all the lakes except for Owasco, Canadaigua (the furthest West) and tiny Otisco (furthest East). We were staying in a Bed and Breakfast in Skaneateles (pronounced Scan-ee-AT-les) on Skaneateles Lake called the Arbor House Inn.

Our room was not in the main house (pictured above), but in the renovated teasel barn behind the main house. Actually, it was a suite of rooms (full kitchen, living area and bedroom) with its own private deck. Since the room I had originally asked for was already reserved by someone else for the last night we were there, the owner drastically reduced to price of the suite, making it affordable for us. Here is the view off the deck. We used the deck the first night we were there, sitting outside and sipping a glass of wine, but the rest of the time it was raining.

Just a side note: Teasels were cultivated for more than one hundred years in the Skaneateles area. The stiff natural hooks on the burr head were used a tool for raising the nap of woolen cloth.

We were convinced our suite had a ghost because we would wake up in the middle of the night to knocking/banging noises that moved around in the wall or under the floor boards. We never did figure it out.

Here is part of the main street of Skaneateles reflected in the lake as seen from the pier.

On our first day (Thursday) we drove down the east shore of Cayuga Lake. Each lake really does have its own “feel” to it. They are each different. The town of Aurora is a beautiful little place. We only skirted the bustling outskirts of Ithaca but the setting is lovely. The western shore of Cayuga is much rockier and more heavily wooded then the east. It is also home to Taughannock Falls State Park. We walked around a little bit and took in some of the fall color.

 

Then on to the real star of the park—the falls.

Taughannock Falls are the highest vertical falls east of the Mississippi River. They plunge 215 feet straight down into a rock amphitheater surrounded by rock walls as high as 400 feet. What a sight!

 

After the park it was time to make our way to Watkins Glen, our next stop. On our way we passed through the town of Trumansburg and made a note how lovely the area around it was. Down the eastern side of Seneca Lake we drove, passing vineyard after vineyard and arriving at Watkins Glen State Park just before noon.

Stay tuned tomorrow for more photos of Watkins Glen!

Here I am today at the Cavern Cascade at Watkin’s Glen State Park at the southern end of Seneca Lake. We hiked one mile up this glacier carved canyon and I have some very cool photos to share. I just haven’t had much time to either comment on your blogs or write my own.

We tasted some wine today. Some good. Some too acidic for our palettes. Let’s just say that at one vineyard, Glenora Winery,  we bought 14 bottles of wine to the four bottles of wine we ended up buying at Fox Run.

Sorry to be so short, but time is limited. I will be posting more once we’re home. Promise.