Visiting the Finger Lakes Region of New York

Thursday, September 22 - Syracuse, NY After a long, grueling show in Hershey, PA (7 days worth), we decided to relax for a few days in the Finger Lakes Wine Region of New York State, since our next show is here in Syracuse this weekend. We drove from Hershey to Ovid, NY on Monday, arriving at our campground destination around 4PM. Spent the rest of the afternoon and evening just chilling. On Tuesday, we drove up to Seneca Falls, NY to do some shopping. We found a farm stand where the price of farm-fresh vegetables was quite surprisingly low! Needless to say, we stocked up on fresh tomatoes, apples, cabbage, sweet potatoes, green beans, etc., all the essentials! The cost of all the fresh items we purchased came to about half of what we would have paid in a supermarket. I can attest that everything was/is delicious! Kathy made stuffed cabbage with the cabbage (we ate that tonight!); on Tuesday night, she made a chicken dish in the crockpot with the sweet potatoes and green beans. Of course, these meals were complemented by the fine wines of the region. On Tuesday, we stopped at the Cayuga Estates Winery on the western shore of Cayuga Lake. Here, we sampled some of the wines made in their winery. We each got to sample 6 wines for $2.00/person. Needless to say, we purchased some wine here. One of the wines, Cranberry Essence, we will TRY to save until we get home.

That way, we can serve it at Thanksgiving dinner, since it will go very well with the turkey! We also purchased Chardonnay and Reserve White, two very nice wines (these will not last until Thanksgiving - sorry!). On Wednesday, we traveled over to the eastern shore of Lake Seneca to find a winery we visited back in 1999, on our last trip to this region. We did find it, the Wagner Winery, and stopped to check it out. What we noticed right away was that they have changed their labels since our last visit, so it was difficult to remember what we liked, so, it was back to the tasting bar to sample more wines (mind you, it was only 11AM when we got there!). At this winery, tasting was at $.50/sample per person. We got to sample the wines we were interested in, and ended up purchasing just a couple of wines here, the Reserve Red and Reserve White. These are the same wines we purchased back in 1999, and we still like them! I also purchased some of their micro-brews. I did not sample any of these, I just picked out a 6-pack of various brews from the cooler. I selected a Pilsner, a Honey Wheat, an Amber Lager, and a Dopplebock.

These I will also TRY to save until we get back home in November (no promises, though!). Remember, I have not sampled any of these brews, so.... We are now situated at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, NY, for a small RV show here. The show starts tomorrow morning at 9AM and runs until 9PM, then again on Saturday, same hours. On Sunday, the last day, the show runs from 9AM to 6PM. From here, we will head out to Wilmington, NC on Monday for another show there next weekend. Not sure when I will get to post another entry, but I will be sure to notify you when I do. Until then, be safe!