Category: Gap Year Continues in the US of A

The Finger Lakes is a region of New York State named for its series of long, thin lakes, and known for its vineyards. There are eleven long, narrow, roughly north–south lakes in an area called the Finger Lakes region. There are over 100 wineries and vineyards located around Seneca, Cayuga, Canandaigua, Keuka, Conesus and Hemlock Lakes. The main grape varieties grown are Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Vidal Blanc, Seyval Blanc and Vitis labrusca (an American native). We tried most of these but in limited number during our visit.

There are a number of notable historical events that happened around the general area of the Finger Lakes – most notable might be the birthplace of the Woman’s Suffrage movement in Seneca Falls, Waterloo, the birthplace of Memorial Day and Palmyra, the birthplace of the LDS Church (Mormons). However, our goal on visit was to taste some of the wines.

Wine Enthusiast has a travel guide for the area with recent updates on some of the better places to visit. First on the list is Hermann J. Wiemer, so that seemed like a good place to start.

Several of their Rieslings have scored some good reviews – 93 points for the 2016 Magdalena Vineyard bottling and 92 for another Riesling.

We arrived after having a light lunch in Watkins Glen – the base of Seneca Lake – in mid afternoon. The Hermann J. Wiemer estate was established in 2001 and has been in continuous operation ever since. It has changed ownership at least once over the years but at present seems to have a stable operation.

Upon our arrival to the tasting room, we were directed to a table to sample a few different wines. The tasting menu has several different options from Chardonnay to their late harvest Riesling.

We sampled at will for the better part of an hour and had informative conversations with the staff. The primary wine is Riesling – although they do make a Grüner Veltliner, Gewürztruminer, Chardonnay and a sparkling wine.

On the red side of things they make a Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc but neither of these were on the tasting menu. The wines were pleasant, we found the Riesling Reserve Dry 2016 most to our taste.

I found it interesting that in the book, 1,000 Places to See Before you Die there is a section on the Finger Lakes and Hermann J. Wiemer is listed; they have a blow up of the page on the wall.

Our next stop, the following morning, was to Ventosa Vineyards.

Not only do they have a wine tasting they also have a small café that made stopping easy and resulted in a delightful lunch. Ventosa, like everyone else in the area, has a number of white wines – Riesling, Pinot Gris, Chardonnay – but we were coming for the red selections – Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Lemberger, Cabernet Sauvignon.

We tasted a number of the reds and were quite pleased with the Pinot Noir and the Lemberger both of which could find places in our cellar (assuming we were going to buy more wine).

For lunch, however, we opted for the Dry Riesling, as it would pair better with our lunch. The tasting room was large, well appointed with a large covered porch overlooking the vineyard.

All in all a lovely spot to taste some wines and have a snack – they also have music evenings on Wednesday but not until after 6pm so we didn’t stick around.

From there were off to Damiani Vineyards.

Again, Riesling, Chardonnay, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Grigio, make up the bulk of the white side of the house and Pinot Noir, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, and Cabernet Franc are on the red side of the house.

The tasting room is a converted home that has a tasting room on the upper level and a large event room below. Much more rustic then the other places we had visited.

The tastings we did required us to drive completely around Seneca Lake. Seneca Lake is the larges of the Finger Lakes, which is 38 miles long, and a combined shoreline of 75 miles.

I was surprised to learn it has a maximum depth of 618 feet and has only frozen three times in the last 200 years. The shoreline is dotted with homes, wineries, small communities and lovely spots to just sit and watch the lake. Unfortunately our second day going in the area was rainy and restricted our view somewhat.

While we could spend many more days here tasting wines we have gotten a feel for the area and will move on. The Rieslings are good, not to be compared with those of Moselle Germany, but in a pinch I would certainly drink those from the Finger Lakes area. The Pinot Noirs we tasted were OK but seemed to be lacking some of the structure we are used to, that’s not to say they were not good they were – just different from those we have had from other new world sources.

 

A long time ago, over 40 years at this point, we lived in Bethlehem PA. I had a job at Lehigh University as Director of Housing. The campus was founded in 1856 and has always had a strong engineering program.

This was during my higher education employment days. Over the course of the three years we spent in Bethlehem, we got to know a number of people, visited around the area (Kutztown, Bucks County, Quakertown, Philadelphia) and generally had a good time. One of the things I remember vividly was touring the Bethlehem Steel Plant with friends of my parents – a superintendent in the production area. We toured a couple of times and there is something really magical about watching a huge crucible filled with molten steel tip and pour out a river of liquid steel.

Today the plant is closed – and has been for the better part of 20 years –

sections are being reused, Sands Casino, shopping areas, public TV studios, but most is still in rusting degeneration.

The City is divided into two major parts – separated by the Lehigh River. The South side was the home of Bethlehem Steel and Lehigh University. The North side was the City Center, Moravian College, Church and Victorian splendid mansions. It defined itself in the 1980s as Christmas City. Since our leaving the area, with the steel plant closing, the South side has had to reinvent itself around its immigrant population and University students. There are a number of new business buildings, coffee shops and restaurants, plus a large portion of the steel plant was taken over by the Sands Casino. It seems this Casino is the closest gambling spot to New York City and attracts a lot of bused in business. Other sections of the old steel plant have become art studios, a public TV studio, Industrial Museum and other reuse spaces.

The North side has also had to refocus, but seems to be turning around. The old Bethlehem Hotel has been renovated and made much more comfortable, the Old Town has some interesting shops and various business areas have been developed. There are several large warehouse distribution centers in the area (Amazon has a HUGE operation and FedEx is developing a very large center also) helping the City to survive.

When we moved here in 1975 we decided it might be time to actually buy a home and eventually purchased a duplex on Wall Street for $17,000.

We ended up doing a lot of work to this place but it was ready to move in when we purchased it. The house still stands and looks very much like it did when we sold it before moving to California.

During our visit we drove around a bit on both sides of the river.

It is surprising after all the years to be able to find things we remembered from long ago. The Lehigh Campus has expanded with a number of new buildings taking over, many of the fraternities have closed and been taken over by the campus housing operation and the school has become much more of a liberal arts college than just a highly recognized engineering school (which it was when we were here).

When we lived in the city, dining was limited – ok, it was basically none existent. There was a restaurant in Hess Department store in Allentown the country club in Bethlehem, one or two small restaurants – think diners– and nothing like a place with a wine list unless you drove into the Poconos or NYC. Now there are a number of tasty eateries including specialty cafes doing breakfast/brunch only, steak and fish restaurants and a couple of up scale Italian spots.

One of our favorite places to visit while in town was always the Moravian Book Store.

This place is reputed to be the oldest bookstore in the country and always had wonderful books, artistic gift items, Christmas decorations and other treasures. Well, unfortunately, it is not longer the ‘go to spot’ as it is turning into a Barnes and Noble store for Moravian College. We found the change to be very saddening.

On Saturday we connected with friends Chad and Lynne for dinner.

It was really wonderful to reconnect with them – sure we exchanged the occasional Christmas card over the years but really haven’t seen them since we left Bethlehem (well, not entirely true – Janeen went to their wedding which was held in the National Cathedral in Washington DC). They have lived in the area for over 40 years and seem to know all the movers and shakers around plus a good part of the development history and our conversations provided a nice perspective on the changes and progress of the City.

After visiting in Bethlehem for a few days we left and drove up to Fairview Lake – where Jim and Carol have a lovely lake front “cottage” (1930s chestnut log) they have refurbished and made into a lovely retreat.

The home has two out buildings along with the main cabin allowing them to spread family around when they visit.

Our retreat area was the upper portion of the garage, which Jim had added to the property several years ago, with a great view of the lake. While it was a bit breezy and cool while we visited, it didn’t stop us from going on a lake cruise the first evening or enjoying the patio for afternoon relaxation time.

There is no telling when we will be back to either Bethlehem or Fairview Lake but I can certainly see a time when that will happen.

We arrived in Asheville to visit our friends Gloria and Jerry and had a lovely evening. The following day, being nice and sunny, we headed out to

The North Carolina Arboretum. This place, about 434 acres in size, includes a lovely arboretum, botanical gardens and a lot of walking paths to explore.

Although the idea for the arboretum stretches back to landscape architect in 1898, the actual place was not developed until quite recently – 1986 – so it is new and filled with lovely plants. While the place is still under development, there are a variety of hiking and bicycling trails along with several mature gardens. Our goal for the day was to get to the bonsai collection.

Inside the main building was a travelling exhibit, Making Scents: The art and passion of Fragrance. While we have seen similar examples of fragrance displays, including a museum in Paris, it was neat to see someone Janeen knows from the Huntington Library and Gardens in CA as part of the exhibit! Tom Carruth

is the curator of the Rose Garden and is known for breeding scented roses such as Sentimental and the Juila Child Rose

After looking over the traveling exhibit we headed outside

and walked towards the bonsai garden and past the model train (which it seems every garden needs to have)

and past a number of lovely areas. Eventually we made our way to the bonsai area

that was specular. It always amazes me to see these huge trees pruned to be so small!

 

After the Arboretum we drove out the Blue Ridge Parkway

and stopped for lunch at Pisgah Inn. This restaurant is at the top of the

mountain overlooking the various surrounding hills. Nice views, lunch was OK views were better.

 

For dinner we hit a Mexican restaurant called Limones Restaurant.

Not overly crowded and had delicious food.

In order to truly understand a city you need to walk the streets, see the sites and learn its history. To do this we took a walking tour conducted by a 13^th generation Charlestonian – Martha and her sister Anne conduct tours of their city having lived in it for generations. Martha, our guide, is also a practicing archaeologist for 25 years. Her unique perspective and information was a treat as she walked us around the historic part of Charleston. Her ancestor arrived on the first ship (Carolina) arriving in 1670.

Founded in 1670 as Charles Town, honoring King Charles II of England, it became the fifth largest city in North America within 10 years.   Incorporated as a city in 1783 at the close of the Revolutionary War; is defined by its cobblestone streets, horse-drawn carriages

and pastel antebellum houses particularly in the elegant French Quarter (where we stayed) and the Battery district.

The Battery promenade and Waterfront Park both overlook Charleston Harbor, where Fort Sumter, is located and where the first shots of the Civil War rang out.

Originally the town had a fortification along the waterside made of brick and an earthen barrier on the land side to protect it from attack.

This made Charleston the only Walled City in the new world. Needless to say, nothing of the original wall remains visible (some foundations yes, walls no) but quite interesting to learn. Our walk included visits to a number of historical buildings (see photos) and through pedestrian alleyways.

The style of building of homes called ‘single house’ usually had two large rooms on each floor with a doorway and stairs in the middle.

Entrance from the street was along the side of the house, not at the front but on the side. Many of these have a piazza or entrance hallway on the outside (open air) giving a place to relax in and catch the evening breeze.

An interesting point, Martha mentioned, was there are no rocks anywhere to be found anywhere around Charleston.  ALL the cobblestones and stones used for buildings came from the ships ballast.  Ballast stones were added to the bottom of ships coming to Charlestown and removed to make room for all the outgoing cargo.  Virtually ALL the streets have cobble stone base but with asphalt installed to smooth the ride.  There are a couple of streets that have been left as well as many sidewalks.

The number of church steeples and spires throughout the historic district is the reason Charleston is often called the “Holy City”. Methodist, Baptist, Catholic, Congregational, Presbyterian, French Haguenot,

Episcopal

and other churches all have major sites throughout the area; many of them built in the early 1800’s.

During the early days trading was the mainstay of the city but this changed over time to include rice, indigo and cotton.

As we all know slavery was the labor force for many of these industries and Charleston was certainly in the center of those activities.

The historic part of town has the last remaining site that was used for slave auctions – originally a fire station and then a slavery auction site ,it is now a museum.

Our tour ended in the garden of Martha’s parents home – now a B&B where she shared more information, some cold drinks and answered questions. The tour and the overview of the City was very interesting and we are very glad we signed on for this tour.