Stays on Women's Weekend.
See you on the other side!
Friday, August 8, 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
Bikes, Alpacas, and Crow
We awoke on Sunday morning to a cloudy rainy day-what's up with that? The weather people were forecasting that Sunday was going to be the gem of the weekend!
We ate our delicious breakfast at a casual pace. Jim tried the French Toast and I went with the Buckwheat Pancakes. Once again, it was all tasty. Did you know that Penn Yan, NY is the Buckwheat Capital of the world? One of the innkeepers told us that when she was describing our breakfast options. Now you've learned something!
We read the Sunday paper, chatted with some of the other folks at the inn, who were very sympathtic to our desire to ride. We made an alternative plan of driving to Watkins Glen to do some hiking, figuring we'd rather hike than bike in the rain. We took our time getting ready to leave and figured we'd take our bikes in case the weather improved. Well, as we were packing up the car, Jim decreed that the rain had stopped for the day and we really should ride to Geneva as we had planned. I was a bit skeptical as the threatening clouds still loomed overhead, but, whatever! And Jim ended up being right! We rode 40 miles over about 4 hours and only got about 10 sprinkles on us! We had a great tail wind to Geneva, and then had to really work to get back to Canandaigua. One of the highlights on our return ride was finding an alpaca farm! As we were pedaling down a hill, I was in my full-tuck position, trying to gain every advantage against the wind, when Jim yelled, "Alpacas on the right!" I quickly looked up away from the road and saw a hillside full of alpacas at the Oh My! Alpaca Farm. Of course, I hit the brakes, turned around and took a photo. The farm sign said By Appointment Only or else it might have been fun to go up and try to a get some answers to the questions we were asking each other.
We ate our delicious breakfast at a casual pace. Jim tried the French Toast and I went with the Buckwheat Pancakes. Once again, it was all tasty. Did you know that Penn Yan, NY is the Buckwheat Capital of the world? One of the innkeepers told us that when she was describing our breakfast options. Now you've learned something!
We read the Sunday paper, chatted with some of the other folks at the inn, who were very sympathtic to our desire to ride. We made an alternative plan of driving to Watkins Glen to do some hiking, figuring we'd rather hike than bike in the rain. We took our time getting ready to leave and figured we'd take our bikes in case the weather improved. Well, as we were packing up the car, Jim decreed that the rain had stopped for the day and we really should ride to Geneva as we had planned. I was a bit skeptical as the threatening clouds still loomed overhead, but, whatever! And Jim ended up being right! We rode 40 miles over about 4 hours and only got about 10 sprinkles on us! We had a great tail wind to Geneva, and then had to really work to get back to Canandaigua. One of the highlights on our return ride was finding an alpaca farm! As we were pedaling down a hill, I was in my full-tuck position, trying to gain every advantage against the wind, when Jim yelled, "Alpacas on the right!" I quickly looked up away from the road and saw a hillside full of alpacas at the Oh My! Alpaca Farm. Of course, I hit the brakes, turned around and took a photo. The farm sign said By Appointment Only or else it might have been fun to go up and try to a get some answers to the questions we were asking each other.
We thoroughly enjoyed the Sheryl Crow concert, even though the D & C reporter stated in his review, that he thought she could have given more, whatever that means. Crow had us all up and dancing and singing along by the end of the concert and I heard no negative comments from anyone as we headed to our car at the end of the show.
So, we had a great weekend in Canandaigua. Jim had to be back at work by 10 this morning and it was such a beautiful day (finally) that I decided to ride my bike back home. It ended up being a 43 mile ride, 28 of it on the Canal Trail. Here is a photo I took shortly after I got on the Trail near Macedon at Lock 30.
Tomorrow and Wednesday will be very busy day as I leave for Women's Weekend on Thursday and will go right to my Hudson River Valley bike ride right from camp.
Hope all is well.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Saturday Happenings
Once again, coming to you live from the Morgan Samuels Inn, Canandaigua, NY.
I wrote yesterday's entry before we went to breakfast and I have to tell you about it-before we go to breakfast today (Sunday). Jim and I had our own private sun porch (but there was no sun, only rain) and we sat at a small round table set with beautiful china and silverware, fresh flowers, a candle and linen napkins. We had a choice of juices (fresh-squeezed OJ or a locally made apple and lemon mix-we chose that and it was delicious), followed by this fruit platter! 
Now because we were the first people at breakfast it had not been picked over and it was impressive. There were over a dozen different kinds of fruit on it. We were then served a berry muffin while our main course was being prepared. For the main course we had a choice of a veggie omelet or greek omelet, which was built more like a pizza with the egg being the crust and the toppings piled on top, or buckwheat pancakes, french toast, or scrambled eggs. I had the veggie omelet and Jim went with the Greek one. They were perfectly made and very tasty.
Monks Bread toast accompanied the omelets. I could only eat about half of all my food, Jim did a little better, but we skipped lunch because of the hearty breakfast we ate. I can hardly wait to go to breakfast this morning.
Now because we were the first people at breakfast it had not been picked over and it was impressive. There were over a dozen different kinds of fruit on it. We were then served a berry muffin while our main course was being prepared. For the main course we had a choice of a veggie omelet or greek omelet, which was built more like a pizza with the egg being the crust and the toppings piled on top, or buckwheat pancakes, french toast, or scrambled eggs. I had the veggie omelet and Jim went with the Greek one. They were perfectly made and very tasty.
Monks Bread toast accompanied the omelets. I could only eat about half of all my food, Jim did a little better, but we skipped lunch because of the hearty breakfast we ate. I can hardly wait to go to breakfast this morning.So after breakfast we toured Sonnenberg Gardens in the dampness. We carried umbrellas, but never needed them. The mansion and gardens were lovely and it is fun to think about places like that in their hayday! 
In Thursday's Rochester newspaper there was an ad for a Garlic Festival that was taking place at one of the winerys on Seneca Lake so we decided to drive over there and check it out. By now the sun had come out and we enjoyed our drive across Lake to Lake Road. Our destination was the Fox Run Winery and when we arrived, we realized that this was the place to be on this particular day! There were 30 plus vendors, many, but not all, selling garlic-related items. 
There was food and entertainment on the lawns around the winery. After walking through the vendor area (and buying some garlic) we went into the winery and did some wine tasting. We tasted a variety of wines, including 3 different Reislings, one of which we ended up buying. As we were leaving the festival I realized that someone should have been there selling a Garlic Zoom! What a missed opportunity-I may have to become a dealer!
There was food and entertainment on the lawns around the winery. After walking through the vendor area (and buying some garlic) we went into the winery and did some wine tasting. We tasted a variety of wines, including 3 different Reislings, one of which we ended up buying. As we were leaving the festival I realized that someone should have been there selling a Garlic Zoom! What a missed opportunity-I may have to become a dealer!We returned to the inn with the hopes of getting out on our bikes. However, by the time we got here the skies had clouded over and there was thunder all around. So we lounged around the inn waiting for the weather to move on through. After an hour or so of no rain, but distant thunder we decided to risk it and go for a ride. We did 16 quick miles, getting back in time to shower before the concert.
Our concert plan had been to stop at Wegmans and buy some dinner to eat on the lawn at CMAC before the concert. We changed our minds about eating outside as we drove to Wegmans and a big, old storm rolled through! Instead, we ate in Wegmans, which has a very nice eating area set-up just beyond their prepared foods section.
The concert was wonderful and it ended with a rousing rendition of the 1812 Overture including cannons and fireworks! I took my knitting and got quite a bit done on the baby blanket. The woman right in front of us was knitting too so at intermission we compared projects!
We made a quick and easy escape from the concert parking lot and were back at our inn in less than 10 minutes after the last firework exploded!
Another good day in Canandaigua.
Hope all is well.
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