New Jersey Family, Keuka Lake, Watkins Glen hiking, racing, the family connection and FLX Wienery!

Pt. Pleasant Beach, N.J. and Family!

Growing up, my siblings and I loved when Uncle John  (Dad's youngest brother), came to visit us in California.  As a thirteen year old my parents let me visit our cousins in New Jersey and all of us kept in touch over the years.   Three thousand miles is quite a distance, but there were always vacations, marriages and sometimes family losses that kept the family connection going along with annual Christmas cards.   My Uncle is now 86 years old and it was important to me to spend time in New Jersey to see family.   

We stayed at a Navy Base about twenty-five minutes from my Aunt and Uncle's house and as we drove towards their neighborhood, I thought about childhood  memories of going to the beach/ boardwalk with our cousins and the fun we all had. 

My dear Aunt and Uncle took us to lunch along the beautiful Pt. Pleasant Beach harbor with much to catch up on.  After lunch,  Aunt Mary Anne pulled out old photo albums and shared pictures of my parents in their twenties (including a few wedding pictures), then brought out a stack of letters my Dad had written to Uncle John and their Dad while in the Navy.  The letters are a real treasure and I am so grateful to have them. 

There were other family "get togethers" sharing more good times with cousins I haven't seen in years, along with their children and grandchildren.  My Aunt and Uncle have lived here for decades and also owned a home on the boardwalk where a family barbecue took place.  Perry and I walked the mile and a half trip from their home in town to the boardwalk along the Atlantic ocean.  We were amazed by  the devastation that hurricane Sandy caused in 2012!  Homes in this area are now required to be raised up in certain zones but thankfully, neither one of my Aunt and Uncles' homes had serious damage. 

So happy to have had this special time with our east coast family and now it's time to head to a town outside Penn Yann, New York where we'll spend a few days at the Finger Lakes and Watkins Glen. 

Lunch on the N.J. Harbor

A pic of my beautiful parents!

Cousins and Aunt

My delightful Aunt and Uncle

One of several houses being raised near the Jersey Shore

The heavy rains accompanied us through the scenic Pocono mountains which thankfully let up at our once again rural destination of Country Charm RV Park.  Country…it definitely was…..as well as charming!  We pulled the fifth-wheel in between two large trees, an area overlooking a large pond.  This was plenty of space to let the dogs roam off their leashes and we were the only ones there.  Once again, we were in Amish and Mennonite territory but not as populated as the town in Pennsylvania.  Beautiful countryside and rolling hills took us to the quaint old town of Penn-Yan.  We found a friendly place to enjoy a bite of dinner after a long day of travel and to plan the next couple of days.

THE FINGER LAKES, NEW YORK

Our first day took us to one of the 11 Finger lakes, Keuka Lake.  The drive along the lake was scenic with its' tall trees and summer homes.  We stopped at wineries (wine region of New York) enjoying a little wine tasting meeting many nice people including a fun bridal party. Our last winery was at Dr. Konstantin Frank.  I thought this was an interesting name for a winery (the founders name) with their wines being one of our favorites. He introduced European grape vines along Keuka Lake.  Our Finger Lakes travels also brought us to a flea market and a Mennonite Farm and store.  The store was run by a friendly and helpful Mennonite woman who talked about her religion (she said she "had been in a house with a television once") and explained some differences between Mennonites and Amish.  Mennonites are allowed to drive cars if given permission by the area church leader while others are permitted only to travel by horse and buggy.   In the Amish culture, they are not permitted to drive or use any source of electricity.   We bought homemade spaghetti sauce and pasta before thanking her for her warm welcome! The next day was Watkins Glen, N.Y.

A winery in front of Keuka Lake

Some of the better N.Y. wines

Amish quilts displayed in the store

Off the beaten path Amish store where we were the only ones there

Perry, wine and Keuka Lake

Another view of a beautiful Finger Lake 

     

       WATKINS GLEN

When I was a young girl, our family took a cross-country trip to visit east coast relatives.  In New York, Dad wanted to visit his Uncle Ben (a descendant from Poland) who lived on acres of rolling hills in Watkins Glen where he raised his family.  This forgotten memory had resurfaced as we toured the area. We took a day with the dogs to hike Watkins Glen State Park a couple miles towards the falls.  It was a perfect day to make the uphill hike passing an old cemetery along the way.  Of course being in the area, I was thinking of my Dad and our genealogy efforts, wondering if my ancestors could be buried there.  As we hiked we heard a "whirring" sound but  I continued to research my ancestors on my phone.  I learned they were buried in a Catholic cemetery in Watkins Glen while a passerby told us the "whirring" sound was coming from the neighboring Watkins Glen racetrack.  We had to check it out!

The Watkins Glen International Raceway was a short distance from the falls and we were fortunate that the security guard allowed us to visit the raceway to take pictures.  The "whirring" we heard earlier was a practice day  (a Sunday with no official race) for Porsche GT racing series.  We took pictures from the empty stands watching 6 Porsche GT exceed 150mph, a stop worthwhile seeing.  It was late afternoon and we were hungry.  Driving back we decided to stop at the highly recommended "Wienery" for lunch which was well known in the area for their homemade hot dogs, sausages and "wienery" antics.  Their food was amazing and lived up to their well deserved reputation.  Continuing our drive back ( I was driving), I noticed a Catholic cemetery and flipped a u-turn on the not so busy highway.   Perry and I split up to search for my great-uncle Ben Ziarno and within a few minutes there it was!  We found his gravestone alongside his wife's and daughters.  This gave me  comfort knowing my Dad would have been pleased to have one more think to add to our genealogy find.

Watkins Glen State Park and Falls

A genealogy find

The "whirring" Watkins Glen Racetrack

The highly recommended "Wienery"

The view outside our RV site

A beautiful sky at our RV site

We will miss our beautiful, quiet spot in the small Mennonite area called Potter as we work our way towards Vermont.  

NEXT- BRANDON (town in Vermont), BURLINGTON JAZZ FESTIVAL, "THE HILLS ARE ALIVE" AND COFFEE!

My Southern Perspective Y'All!

My Southern Perspective

I have always loved the south and I'm not sure if that stems from loving "Gone with the Wind" or living there for two years.  In our travels this past year, we've been fortunate to spend quite a bit of time in many southern states.  This is my perspective-

I will start and end my perspective with southern hospitality.  Our experiences have led us into many conversations with southerners that we barely knew to people we got to know. The generosity, humility and kindness of the people we encountered were unmatched in any other states. They bend over backwards to make you feel welcome and  depending on what part of the south you're in, the dialects can differ.  "Hey, y'all" is a catchy phrase and with the laid back tongue, we would catch ourselves talking like the rest of them.  In a conversation with some nice southern folk, it took us a little while to figure out "diddy" was really "daddy".  Okay, that's not too bad but a conversation at a local produce stand in North Carolina went like this with two middle-aged gentlemen, friendly, bearded and in bib overalls- "Ahhsee yo dawgs are dravin yo car"-translation "I see your dogs are driving your car".  Daisy and Gracie like to sit in the front of the car while they wait for us.  "Ahhsee y'all from Calfonia-we hear thall lobral".  "I'm sorry, I didn't catch that". One of the men Perry referred to as "junior" repeated so we could try to decipher what he said and this is what we gathered "I see you're all from California. We hear they are all liberal".  We had fun with that one and kindly explained that not all the people in California are liberals.  We gladly ate the kindly offered sample of cantaloupe and purchased our boiled peanuts and ramps.

At the market stand-They eagerly await! Oh-but that face!

Southern Food

We have tried biscuits and gravy, catfish and waffles, gumbo, crawfish, fried bologna sandwiches, southern style fried chicken, cracklins (like a pork rind) and we were told to try ramps.  Ramps are a type of onion found along a river bank during a certain time of the year. They are pungent so a small amount goes a long way and they can be used in sauces, eggs, etc. like a regular onion.  We bought ramps at the local produce stand and what we didn’t use, we froze.  Another southerner suggested we try livermush. It's disgusting what the ingredients are, but Perry fried it in with eggs and I tolerated it…..not a fan!

Years ago living in Georgia, we were brave enough to try boiled peanuts.  They can be served warm or cold but Perry prefers to eat them warm.  I have to admit, I'm not much of a fan of this either because of how salty they are.  The peanuts are soft and swollen, not your typical peanut! Southerners can really cook great food and besides the delicious fried foods, many love their fish!

Because of the beautiful lakes and the gulf in the south, you can buy fresh fish almost anywhere.  From grouper to sturgeon to catfish to crappie.  In Florida, we found the best smoked fish spread (also prevalent in the south).  

Louisiana's shrimp and grits

Southern style strawberry shortcake

King Cake popular at Easter

Georgia's catfish and waffles

A southern favorite-Key Lime pie

                                                                    

                                                                                          Can't forget the southern meal at Piskah Ranch

Fishing southern style

Spending time in Lake Wateree, I learned about some fishing techniques used by local fishermen.  The more serious fishermen launch their boats before sunrise and some have what's called a "honey hole". A  broken off pine tree is tied to a cement block then sunk to the bottom of the lake.  The tree protrudes enabling the fishermen to decipher their cordoned off ideal fishing spot.  

The Southern Drives

Why "18"?

The road trips here in the south are undoubtedly some of the most beautiful!  The thick trees are everywhere with beautiful lakes down many side roads in larger and rural towns alike.  The mountain ranges aren't as grand and tall as  on the west coast but in the Appalachian and Poconos, the waterfalls, trees and wildlife are magnificent!  Some of the road signs are different such as the 18mph and the multiple directional road signs that take five minutes to decipher.  Driving through many small towns ( we love this part of our journey) , there are century old tall-steepled white churches on every street with large, old cemeteries.  We joked how there are more dead people then living in these small towns.  We also noticed in the small towns, large conservative signs in peoples yards and public places.  Many rural towns (especially in the Appalachians) have old crumbling homes.  In California, these homes might be torn down and rebuilt but here we observed many are deserted and some, sadly, people actually live in them. We've seen poverty and we've seen homes of wealth.

How confusing?

We saw a few of these in the south

Our drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway    

From the road in The Appalachians

 A southern church steeple in S.

Reaching up to southern Sky!

With some of our observations of the south noted, I will always have a special fondness for this part of the U.S.   The simplicity and kindness of the people and it's overall beauty,  is one of a kind! 

Amish country, Trace, Gettysburg and "the Accident"!

May 15-25, 2017

AMISH COUNTRY

Driving from W. Virginia towards Pennsylvania, I noticed a change in the landscape.  This included different types of trees, it was less mountainous and in some parts, there was more traffic.  Working our way towards Intercourse, Pennsylvania (yes, that's where we'd be staying for the next ten days),  the green hills soon turned into farmland.  Entering Amish country, soon we'd be dodging Amish families in their horse-drawn buggies on the road towards our RV spot. I was excited to live (for 10 days) among their culture as I was intrigued by the admirable lifestyle.  Our RV park was an adult only park with not many sites and our site was about ten feet away from an Amish farm.  Our new neighbors were outside visiting with other retired friends but welcomed us warmly.  A lot of RVer's come to this spot each spring and summer (snowbirds) and over the years some of the regulars got to know our Amish neighbors quite well.  Our Amish neighbor was Sam and his family has been on this land for generations.  He is a hard working farmer where he and his wife raised six children.  More about the Amish ( Sam and his family)  later on, but we were ready to go exploring.   A couple miles down the road was the cute, Amish town of Intercourse with the majority of the stores being owned by the Amish and/or Mennonites.  We bought a delicious pretzel while in town and across the street was an Amish owned meat store.  They carried homemade butter, farm fresh eggs, fresh chicken, beef and enticing Amish desserts.  The parking lot was shared with horses and buggies and the cashiers in the grocery store were young Amish girls.  We continued to explore the surrounding area which primarily was made up of miles of farmland being worked by Amish men and their sons.  The simple (but lovely) homes had laundry strewn from the house to the farm, with many road stands along the way selling farm grown produce and fresh eggs. 

Perry and I discussed our dinner plans for the night and decided to get a bottle of red wine to go with our meal.  The grocery store (the nearest was 7 miles away) didn't carry any alcohol which was no surprise considering where we were.  The clerk mentioned we "might" find wine at a local gas station "market" another 7 miles away.  We didn't mind the beautiful and serene drive to get that bottle of wine!  The drive took us to a quaint town (once again Amish farmland everywhere)  with rivers and several covered bridges.  I was not minding this peaceful area of Pennsylvania but the next day we would check out Lancaster (pronounced Lank-is-ter) a population of 60,000.

Out of the Appalachians

Sharing the road

A cultural experience

An Amish farmer

The truck parked outside an Amish store

One of over one hundred covered bridges in the area

 We found a park to let the dogs play rewarding ourselves on this warm day with a beer at a local brewery our friend recommended.   The dogs got a lot of attention on the patio and our view was of a beautiful private college, Franklin and Marshall.  The dark clouds were hovering and it was time to head back.  Locals recommended we visit the town of  Lititz with its cute downtown and beautiful parks.  Here we found another great park for the dogs and a delightfully old but busy main street with a well known, century old chocolate factory.  We weren't far from the Hershey chocolate factory but opted to keep it on the smaller (less populated) side, visiting the Wilbur chocolate factory instead.

Long's Park in Lititz, Pa.

A park in Lancaster

TRACE ADKINS

The W. Virginia train ride would have been enough for Mother's Day, but my thoughtful husband also purchased tickets to see country star, Trace Adkins. The venue was thirty minutes from us in the town of East Lampeteer at the American Music Theater.  I've always loved his music and the energetic, one and a half hour show wasn't long enough for me, leaving me wanting more!  Well done, Trace!  The delightful evening ended with dinner at a hotel called "The Steamboat". 

"The man"!

Amazing Performer

A little dinner after the show

GETTYSBURG

The local farm towns have community sirens that sound if there is a fire (there are quite a few local brush burns) and this morning I had heard a siren for the first time.  Shortly after, someone pounded on our door making my heart skip a beat.  It was a local Amish girl selling baked goods.  She was so sweet and we couldn't resist the selection of goodies, especially "whoopie" pies. 

Growing up, I never enjoyed history (memorizing dates…..terrible!), but now as an adult I really appreciate learning about what shaped this great nation!  Perry and I made the hour drive to Gettysburg learning more about the Civil War (the Union vs. Confederate armies), the young lives that were lost and buried here.   In the museum were some of the actual ammunition and uniforms used in the war. We stood at the place where Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address of 1863 and walked along the unmarked graves of the Union soldiers, then stood at the open space where the battle of the North vs. South was fought.   Our country was shaped and defined by this war and this is a place everyone needs to visit!  Our day ended with a lunch at a small restaurant with well known German food.  The owner was an interesting guy who was interested in genealogy and assisted in bringing history to families.  This made me think of how my Dad and I researched family history together until 2008, when we lost him.  I promised to continue my efforts and the owner sparked the interest once again.  After Pennsylvania, we were to head to New Jersey to visit my Uncle (my Dad's brother) and Aunt. 

Instruments used in the Civil War

Many of the actual guns used

A selfie with statue if President Lincoln

Soldier's National Cemetary

Gettysburg Memorial

The Battle

Brandon and "The Accident"!

Our trip here in Pennsylvania was coming to an end and we wanted to pick up postcards in town.  Brandon called us while we were walking and informed us over Face Time he had just heard from a Tap Room in Chico about employment.  He was excited to make extra money and needed a haircut before going in to fill out paperwork.  Happy to see his excited face (via technology) we transferred money to his low college student account.  Fifteen minutes later, I received a call from Brandon but on another number I didn't recognize.  "Mom, I was in a car accident"!  We had just talked to him! "What? Are you Ok?"  "I don't care about my body, just my car".  He loved his 20 silver Mustang that was now totaled.  "My arm is bleeding and they called an ambulance".  This is NOT the kind of call you want to get when you're 3,000 miles away, making you feel ill and helpless as a parent.  Thank God he wasn't seriously hurt but did get stitches in his arm, hand and leg.  I didn't care about the car, only the well being of our dear son.  (Brandon was spun around after the other driver ran through a yield sign losing control and running into a house). The other driver was not hurt and according to the police report, was clearly at fault and without insurance!

Getting past the shock of the accident, the reality sunk in of no insurance of the other driver, needing a rental car, etc……. I pray for our children's' safety and continued good health while on this trip and I look at it that my prayers were answered. Given the speed of the other driver and the fact Brandon's solid Mustang was totaled, I feel prayers and the car saved him. 

Once his pride and joy!

THE AMISH- My limited knowledge, perspective and reflection!

I admire and respect what the Amish stand for……..Church going, family oriented, hard working with very limited resources of the outside technology world.  The children don't attend school beyond the 8th grade as the boys work on the fields and the girls teach younger children, helping around the house. 

Pony Boy- Sam, the father/farm-worker across from us would be out on the field first thing in the morning, coming home at dusk.  Most of his children are married but the youngest is about ten years old.  He helps his Dad on the farm, but each day rides one of his two ponies.  We watched outside our fifth-wheel, his care-free and dare-devilish ways riding his pony bareback going so fast that at times I couldn't watch. 

Sam- Every day Sam was out farming and he would hitch up his five "jackass" (half donkey/horse) team right outside our fifth-wheel.  He was dressed in long pants, long sleeved shirt and a hat (it was hot this week).  His roosters would get them up (and others) early each morning.

The people in general are very quiet and subdued not having a lot of contact with the outside world except maybe in retail (baked goods, eggs, candles, etc.).  The houses are very conservative with attached garages containing buggies.  The women and men dress differently than the Mennonites.  On Sundays, the Amish families gather and the children can be seen playing soccer.  Each morning we were awakened by the "Klip-klopping" of hooves, families going to work or children to school. On Sunday mornings, the long line of buggies going to church was like a freeway.  It's amazing to see how the horses are unaffected by the cars and trucks on the road and the number of buggies riding next to traffic.  Their buggies do have turn signals and brakes enabling them to be safe on the roads.

I say this a lot- but this IS a place I will miss! 

A knock on the door......

And......the goodies!

Pony Boy

Farming right outside the Fifth-Wheel

Sam the farmer!

Sam and his team!

NEXT- MY SOUTHERN PERSPECTIVE…….., NEW JERSEY, THE FINGER LAKES AND WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.