New York trip — 3 days in one post!

Wednesday, September 7.

Our now annual trip to the Finger Lakes got off to a rainy start. The drive was relatively painless, and I kept Bob entertained after I turned on the windshield wipers (for some reason he has an aversion to using them unless it’s pouring). Right away, the rain stopped after I took control of those blades, and Bob asked how I did that. I said it was magic and then found a YouTube video that had magic sounds on it. We laughed every time I played it when the rain stopped.

Arriving at El Rancho Restaurant in Watkins Glen at 2:30, we had a drink at the bar and chatted with the server, who told us that contrary to many years ago, the races and classic car festivals don’t draw the crowds in town because a lot of the fans have RVs and camp at the race track. There are also food trucks on hand so that people don’t have to go into town to eat, Sad for business.

Apparently

Bob is auditioning for the “most interesting man in the world.”

We then made our way to the Inn at Glenora Winery, where we have stayed for the last three years. It’s a lovely place with an awesome view of grapevines and the lake. It was raining pretty hard, so we rested until our dinner at Stonecat Cafe, our favorite restaurant here. The owner/chef passed away recently, and the place has changed its style from table service to ordering up front, finding a table, and then being served. The food and ambiance are still great with beautifully kept grapevines over our heads on the patio. We had a lovely meal and then checked out the Austrian restaurant we’re going to on Thursday night with a stop on the way back at the Lucky Hare brewery for some rauschbier! Early to bed.

Thursday, September 8.

We had a reservation for a wine tasting at 11:45am, so we slid our way into the day with coffee and a continental breakfast. After showering, it was off to Herman J. Wiemer Winery. Our guide through the tasting was Neshant, who was studying wine through a London-based program. We chose four wines to taste after Neshant asked us some questions about our tastes and then explained the wines that he thought we should try. It had turned into a lovely day, and we really enjoyed the one-on-one way the tasting was run. We ended up choosing two different wines to buy.

Neshant recommended Tabora Farms for lunch, so we headed there and split a sandwich and carrot cake (I might have eaten all the carrot cake). Back on route 14, we again headed north to Earle Estates Meadery and tasted 5 different meads. This time we bought a bottle of each variety of mead — all were so delicious!

Our next stop was Shtayburne Creamery, where we bought some cheeses to take home. Last on today’s list was Lakewood Vineyards, where we shared a tasting of five wines and bought some yummy sparkling wine (some of which came in small bottles). This location is another lovely place.

We returned to our hotel for a rest before dinner.

But first we enjoyed a glass of wine on our terrace, a favorite part of staying here.

And there was a wedding rehearsal!

And the sun is out to stay, we hope!

Our dinner destination was a new place for us, Dano’s Heuriger Restaurant. The menu was all Austrian favorites — quite a selection of spreads and pickled items. I chose a Viennese bento box, which consisted of a number of Austrian dishes in a Japanese style bento box. Bob got catfish Austrian style. Both meals were delicious! You could also choose to order from the counter, which displayed many delicacies, and have them brought to the table — that’s Heuriger style!

We also watched the sunset this evening from the restaurant. Then it was back to our hotel for after-dinner Glenora wine and then bed.

The moon was so bright that no matter how many ways I tried get a good picture, it always looked like a really bright light.

Friday, September 9

Today we traveled from Glenora to Cooperstown and Ommegang brewery — my all-time favorite. It just so happened that it was their 25th anniversary celebration this weekend. I had no idea when we decided on the date, so of course Bob got a commemorative t-shirt!

A little history. I had emergency gallbladder surgery in March of 2001, and in May I was traveling to Paris for a week with my friend Lynne. Because I was worried about getting up to full speed by that time, my son Frank agreed to take a trip with me to Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame over Easter weekend. We noticed that there was a brewery in the area and decided to try it because we’d heard about it through Monk’s Cafe, a Belgian restaurant in Philly. And thus began my obsession with Ommegang beer!

We had a stellar lunch and even got commemorative glasses! And we also bought a bunch of beer.

Then it was time to check into our hotel — a disappointment after the place at Glenora. Oh, well. We walked a bit and checked out the beautiful resort nearby — couldn’t even get in for a drink. Then we had a light dinner at our hotel’s restaurant, which was actually pretty good.