2011-06 Cornimg Museum of Glass - Market

The Corning Museum of Glass has a wonderful marketplace with a wide variety of glass for sale.  Prices  reach up to $44,000.  Needless to say we did more looking than buying.  Here are some of the items for sale:

2011-06 Corning Museum of Glass - Frederick Carder

Frederick Carder was the chief glass designer for Steuben Glass and then Corning Glass.  Mr. Carder live to be 100 and worked in glass for 82 of those years.  He was especially know for his development of different glass colors.  There is a separate gallery at the Corning Museum of Glass dedicated to Mr. Carder's remarkable work.  Here are a few examples:

 

2011-06 Robert H Treman State Park, NY

We explored Robert H Treman State Park which is a nearby NY State Park that we had not visited on our prior trip to the Finger Lakes Region.  It is just outside Ithaca, NY (home of Cornell Univ.) and is about a 30 minute drive from our campground in Watkins Glen.

Our first stop was to see the unique swimming area that is just below one of the park's waterfalls.  The water was a bit cool for our tastes - 60 degrees.

The we began a hike that was only a mile or so in length but was very strenuous.  We first went along the rim trail that climbs up and along the top of the gorge carved over the eons by the water flow.  We came upon a nice overlook to the main waterfall.  To the right you can see the trail and some of the stairs going beside the falls.

Then we started down a long steep set of stairs that switched back and forth to reach the bottom of the gorge.  (I felt like we were climbing down those long steep stairs that Frodo, Sam and Gollum climbed in "The Lord of the Rings" except with a lot more lush green vegetation)

Looking back up some of the steps we had just descended:

Once we reached the bottom we crossed over a small bridge and climbed back up the other side of the gorge where we reached some beautiful overlooks to the falls.  Following are some photos and a short video clip of the waterfalls.

Monique is standing to the right at the top of the falls.

This rock face looks like it is in the process of being carved like Stone Mountain Georgia near Atlanta, but it is just a natural occurrence.

Just after we crossed the first bridge and started up the other side of the gorge, a young man in a blue shirt came scurrying down past us.  When we climbed up to one of the overlooks, we spotted him way down below along the edge of the water below the waterfall.  He was taking photos.  I thought he must have been some type of botanist taking photos of some rare plant growing in the water mist from the falls.  He later came back past us on the trail.  He said "no, he was just taking pictures of the falls from below with some flowers in the foreground".  I thought he sure was taking a lot of risk for those photos.  In the photo below you can see his blue shirt against the green foliage.

The walk along the gorge was just gorgeous, and looks much like parts of the walk along Watkins Glen.

We stopped often to rest and admire the view.

There are some pretty blooms on vines that grow in places along the trail.  Here is a closeup and then a large grouping next to the 2nd bridge we crossed.

Here is a little grouping of ferns growing on the rocks.  It is almost like they were placed there to show three of the different varieties of the ferns growing along the trail.

I especially like this one that grows in a spiral shape.

At the beginning and end of the trail is an old grist mill that is about the same age as Hagood Mill in SC, built in the 1840's.

I love seeing all the gears and mechanical workings of these old mills.

We look forward to visits to more of the State Parks and hikes along the waterfalls in this region.

2011-06 Watkins Glen, NY

We traveled up from Ft Chiswell, Virginia to Watkins Glen, NY stopping overnight in Winchester, VA.  The drive up, especially the last 100 miles or so was through some really beautiful countryside in Pennsylvania.  That last section in PA was through rolling hills/mountains.  The terrain in northern PA and southern NY is more "rounded" than the mountains in the southern smoky mountains, but the elevation seems about as high.  We had a few long climbs up some fairly steep grades, but most of the route followed along rivers and through the mountain valleys.

The one word to describe everything was "green".  Our views were primarily of green forests and fields of grass.  With so much rain in the area, everything was very lush.  The farmers grow lots of grass for hay as well as corn.  I imagine the reason is that there is a lot of dairy farming.  We have seen many farms with multiple silos for storing grain with dairy cows in the surrounding fields.  In fact we have seen more dairy farming here than the areas we have visited in Wisconsin and Vermont, two states know for their cheese and dairy production.  The picture above is of a typical barn in the area.  This one is on the hill that sits above Watkins Glen and the campground we used.

 This a view of the farm on the hillside from near the campground, which adjoins a marina.

Below is the view looking from the farm down at Seneca Lake, one of the beautiful NY Finger Lakes.

These photos are of the area south of Watkins Glen.  This valley leads to Corning, NY which is about 20 miles south.

Here is a view from the south shore of Seneca Lake.

Were are a couple of sunset photos taken from the city park that is just across the road from the campground.  We often took a late evening stroll along the lake.

The city put on a very nice fire works display from this park.

We have enjoyed our stay in NY.  However this campground has been a far cry from the peace and quiet we enjoyed back at Solitude Pointe in SC.  This campground sits next to a very busy highway, especially on the weekends.  Plus for the July 4th weekend, there was a festival in the park across the road with a loud band.  We had to leave.  We rode over to Ithaca, NY to spend the afternoon away from the noise getting back shortly before the fireworks.  Fortunately the band did not continue to play afterward.