Upstate New York Travels

Then we headed up the road to the city of Syracuse, in between down-pours, so we could visit the Erie Canal Museum. A man inside gave us a nice introduction. The canal no longer exists, and he pointed to a byway and bridge where it used to be but it has all been built over or filled in. We followed the green taped arrows on the carpet, wound around the exhibit halls and read the info on the history of the canal. There was even a covered canal boat that one could get on and walk through, which had more plaques with history and white plaster full-sized figures as part of the display. Back inside the building, we took a fully painted elevator that looked as if one was standing on the bow of a canal ship and going down the canal. On the second floor were more exhibits and at the far end someone was giving a lecture to a full room. We stayed out and finished the museum. More on this museum is here.

We had lunch at a bagel shop up the street and then headed on Highway 5 toward the Finger Lakes and then south on 89 along the west side of Lake Cayuga, opposite Seneca Lake. Half way down the Cayuga lake shore was our place for the night, the Glass Magnolia.

We were greeted by Wally and Nancy Rudolph, he a retired chef and she a baker, and indeed, the house smelled of molasses sweetened bread. They showed us the guest kitchen where we could have a long list of items at any time and then showed us our room. It was on the second floor, called the Lord Mayfair room.

A separate vestibule was outside our room, which led into a lovely room with a deluxe king size bed with two windows which faced out the front of the building, a shelf with books to read and a wing chair with footstool for relaxing moments. A detailed review of this wonderful B&B can be found through this link.

Our first foray was to visit what this area is famous for, wineries. The nearest winery was Lucas Vineyards. We were on a sweet wine hunt and they had two sweet wines, a cabernet Franc ICED and a Vidal Blanc ICED, so we got a tasting sip of both. They both were classified as an “iced” wine, which sounded incorrect, as the real “Weis” wine is a white grape from Germany and spelled differently. Then we found out why it is called “iced”. Apparently, they pick selected grapes and then freeze them artificially before they frost on the vine. This seals in the concentrated sugars to produce a sweet wine. We bought a bottle of the 2018 Vidal Blank ICED wine with flavors of apricot, pineapple and honey with a golden color. It captured our attention, and as I like to say, ‘let itself be drunk’.

Just before sunset, my husband said he wanted to visit the gravesite of Rod Serling, the host of the TV show Twilight Zone. Turns out we had passed the graveyard twice, having gone to the winery. A one-lane gravel road circled the small cemetery, which we followed until the scene matched the picture from the website. Then he got out and walked to locate it. He found Serling’s grave next to his wife’s, under a tree. People had left many different things on his grave, money, shells, buttons, sunglasses, pebbles, and other items.

When we were leaving the cemetery, Vere couldn’t resist taking the following sunset picture, and I am glad he did. It seemed kind of iconic for the farming state.