10.20.2010

Mini Vacay to Rochester

This past Friday morning Liz and I set off on the open road to Rochester, NY to visit Katie. Katie has lived up there since last June completing her residency and we have yet to visit! Liz picked me up at 9:00AM, we stopped at Starbucks to get some Pumpkin Spice in us and off we went! It was a beautiful day...until we got to Scranton. Then it started raining and did not stop...for the whole damn day!

We decided to stop in Ithaca, NY for lunch and to poke around in the little shops. The rain seriously put a damper on this. Liz had found a place for us to eat before we left, Waffle Frolic which was delicious!
My Waffle


Liz's Waffle


Not only were the waffles delish but the hot chocolate was the best I've ever had! We looked around a few stores in the center square area but again, the rain ruined it. There was one store Liz had found online, The Kitschen Sink before we left that we had to drive to but was totally worth it!! I could have seriously spent hours in that place, it was HUGE and there was so much stuff everywhere! The lady Lizzy who worked there and I immediately hit it off. We were talking about all the wonderful stuff she had and then she noticed I was looking at all the vintage craft supplies so she showed me into a secret room in the back with all kinds of amazing craft supplies, yarn, fabric, thread, needles, pin cushions, tons of stuff! I finally decided after circling the place 3 times to buy some lovely zebra knit fabric which I hope to make a dress out of and these adorable little salt and pepper shaker deer!! Aren't they the cutest?!



We had also drove around Cornell (ever heard of it?!) a little bit. I really just wanted a picture of a big Cornell sign but holy crap it was impossible to find. That campus is like on the side of a mountain or something, it was so hilly and the roads were twisty and windey, it was ridiculous! We finally found one Cornell sign but it was so out of the way, I had already put the camera away...LAME!
Here are some pictures I did take while driving around the Cornell campus, the rain did make it feel very much like Fall though.





We hit the road again and made a quick stop into the Bellwether Hard Cidery in Trumansburg, NY. We did a little tasting and everything was great but I really liked the Hard Cider with Cherry so I bought a bottle!

Again we were off but this time, no more stops...straight to Katie's. The rain didn't let up at all, if anything it seemed to get worse the closer we got to Katie's. We arrived around 6:30PM, took a tour of Katie and Scott's lovely home and went out to dinner. We ate at a place called Tap & Mallet. The food was really good and they had 6, count 'em 6 pages of beer!! I love beer but I stick to the usual Miller Lite and PBR with an occasional Yeungling thrown in. I don't really do all the fancy beer so I just got Woodpecker Cider...mmm mmmm good!
Here we three are, Liz, me and Katie!



After dinner we went back to the house, sat around for a few but eventually we all admitted to ourselves that we were very tired and we went to bed.

The next morning Katie had to work until Noon and Scott left for wedding in Jersey. Liz and I were able to get up at our leisure, eat some breakfast and watch CNN. Katie and Scott have an adorable puppy, Lily. She's a chocolate lab who I am of course allergic to =(


My allergies were acting up a lot so I decided to go outside for some fresh air. It was an absolutely beautiful day so I decided to take some pictures of all the beautiful fall scenery outside Katie's house. She has this tree right outside her front door that I have never seen before. It has these red berry looking things all over it and was so pretty. Also, here's a gnome I gave her riding a snail in the front garden =D






The leaves were absolutely beautiful up there!







Once Katie got home we headed out to Lake Seneca, one of the infamous Finger Lakes to go to some wineries. We had a wonderful lunch at Ventosa Winery and a tasting. The scenery up there was beyond breath taking!! I got a bottle of Reisling, mmmmm.




Then we went to Three Brothers Winery and did a tasting and I got a bottle of Gewurztraminer. Their vineyards were right by where we parked so I got some pictures of grapes on the Vine, it was so pretty.






Next, we went to Zugibe Winery and did a tasting there too, I got a bottle of Cayuga White. This was a fairly new winery, only opened last November but it was beautiful inside. Lots of dark wood everywhere, my favorite! The scenery outside was beyond words. Absolutely gorgeous!! Their vineyards were close to the parking lot too so I got some more pictures.






The last winery we went to was a Castle, Belhurst Winery where I got a bottle of another white wine called Neptune! It didn't look what I was hoping a Castle Winery would but it was still really neat and their view was also amazing!!





Here are all my wines together...if you look closely you can see the Reisling is already gone =P



That night we got some Mexican for dinner and then went home and played a trivia game on the Playstation which was so much fun. I LOVE trivia!! Sunday morning Liz and I got up, Katie made us breakfast and after we got ready we hit the road home. Nothing exciting happened on the way home, it was just a really long boring ride. All two lane highways, ugh!

It was a wonderful mini vacay with some even more wonderful friends!

2 comments:

Amy said...

WOW! That looks like a really great vacation! And I LOOOOOVE those little salt and pepper shakers!

Anonymous said...

I didn't realize what good pictures you were taking! They're great! Those dear are so effing adorable!!