CAYUGA WINE TRAIL HAS GONE TO THE DOGS!

It's been quite a few months since I've updated this blog. We've had many adventures since then such as Mardi Gras in Ithaca, Scott and Alyssa's graduations and our time in New Orleans to see Scott's and many more.

I thought I'd add our past weeks adventures so I don't get too far behind! It will be a super condensed version!

We went to Ithaca to camp at Robert Treman State Park. We love it there and have been camping there since the '70's! Alyssa even goes there to camp with her friends! We love that you can swim under the waterfall and there's a lifeguard to save you if needed!

One of our first stops was Mimm's Garden outside of the Plant Science Building at Cornell. We love just walking around it seeing all the beautiful plants.

We toured Seneca Lake Wineries for a change. They were ok but Cayuga lake has friendlier people!

We went to the Floriculture Field Day Test Gardens at Cornell. Beautiful flower

We walked the gorge of Taughnnock Falls.

We were given 2 free tickets to the Cayuga Lake Greyhound Event so we took part in that. It was lots of fun and the dogs didn't bother me at all like I thought they would!

We made our stop at King Ferry Winery and lovely 93 year old Malva is still the greeter! She always makes our day!

The owners' wife painted this barrel for the Painted Barrel fund raiser.

We visited Wegmans MANY times and found that we can buy coffee and a muffin or bagel and go upstairs and sit in the Tastings Cafe and read the newspaper. Very relaxing!

One of the reasons that we extended our trip a few extra days was so we could experience the 50 MILE Garage sale from Montezuma to Homer. That was fun but after 3 hours we were exhausted! We spent like a total of $25 ! I loved stopping at the houses that were really nice that overlooked the lake and also the old houses with barns. I thought there would be a lot of deals to be had but there really weren't.

We took in the beautiful scenery
and also found a GREAT store... Sauder's Store. It's a Mennonite store and boy did they have interesting items and the food prices were GREAT! PJ and I each got hero's from their deli to take on the garage sale with us. They were on hero rolls, about 12" long and about 4" HIGH!! You couldn't fit your mouth around it! There was so much that we saved half of each sandwich for Sunday's travel home! And they were only $4 each!!

We also went to Sunset Park...

Last but not least, we visited our property... Same weeds, same look but there have been changes to the area.

The solar house that is behind our property is nearing being finished. It's pretty ugly.Another owner has hired people to build a barn. They have 2 lots so they are allowed to have 2 horses and that's what they're doing.

And a lot # 23 is starting...

When we got home, Alyssa has a big (small) surprise for us... She got a kitten! NO COMMENT!

She named it...Huckleberry TK Velociraptor Zukowski

the TK stands for "trash kitten" after a cat that lived in the garbage behind my apartment at school "TK Lionel" and since Huck is from the streets she thought it was appropriate.

What a way to end a vacation!

MARDI GRAS IN ITHACA...

It's been quite a while since I posted any adventures. We must be slowing down!

This past weekend PJ and I went to Ithaca for the Cayuga Wine Trail Mardi Gras event and the Chili Cook-off at The Commons.

We had lots of fun, chatted with a lot of people and froze! It was in the low 20's to the teens and flurrying the whole time we were there. We made our usual stops to a few of the water falls to see them all frozen. What a beautiful site. Saturday and Sunday was the Mardi Gras event with the Cayuga Wine Trail Association. It was so much fun. People were dresses up for the occasion... not us though. We got to catch up with a lot of people that we've met through the years which is always fun.

Gorge trail leading to Taughnock Falls

Ithaca Falls

Chili Cook-off at The Commons

In the back in the red jacket is Samantha Izzo aka Mama Red... owner and chef of Simply Red Bistro at Sheldrake Winery. I have her cookbook Mama Red's Comfort Kitchen and it's been a family favorite. She made a delicious chili that was vegetarian and had pumpkin in it. It took first prize and was delicious.

Off to the Mardi Gras event at the Wineries. This is a 2 day event. You go from winery to winery sampling the different wines and the food that is paired with them. People dress up for the occasion. there were some really funny outfits but I felt funny taking their pictures.

This sweet lady is the 'greeter' at the King Ferry Winery. She is 93 years old!! She has had this job for MANY of years and we look forward to seeing her at each event.

Alyssa's friend Danielle. She works at the Americana Winery.

PJ and I on the deck of the Thirsty Owl

This is a small section of the vineyard at Six Mile Creek

I love seeing the geese hiding within the corn stalks. The last time we tried to get a picture of them, PJ got out of the car and shut the door. The sound of the door scared them and they all flew away. This time I just opened the window!

Robert Treman State Park waterfall. This is where we camp every year.

Buttermilk Falls

CRASH!!!!!!!!! ALYSSA CRASHED THE GRADUATION!!!!!

We went up to Plattsburgh to move Alyssa out and to have her 'crash' graduation. Being that she'll be student teaching down here for the spring, she didn't want to go back up there for a May graduation being that all of her friends have already graduated etc. She asked if she could 'walk' at the Dec one and they said no. Education majors can't because if they're not doing well at student teaching, you get pulled and have to repeat it. They then wouldn't even be graduating in May. Plus, Scott graduates the same day in May. We were going to split up with one going to Alyssa's grad and one going to Scott's grad. She wants to go to Scott's to take part in all the parties for the families (crawfish boil, party at the pres house etc). So anyway, I wrote a letter to the pres asking him if she could walk and he wrote back that she can't. The vice pres called Alyssa in and told her to listen to his words carefully and he said " you know how the kids purchase the cap and gown from the bookstore and they fill out the card with their name one it..." He basically told her to just go and 'walk'. So that's what she did. I was a wreck thinking she'd be caught!

We started our trip on Friday Dec 12th. It poured here the previous night. Our first problem was that major roads in Westchester County were closed because of flooding. Good thing PJ knows his way around! The next problem was the ice storm from the previous night in the Albany area.

The pics don't show it well but it was so pretty with the sun glistening on the ice. We always stop in Clifton Park (a few exits past Albany) for gas. We got there and the station was closed! We drove around the town and everything was closed. We realized that there was no electricity. We went up one exit and still everything was closed! We had 1/8 of a tank left and were a little nervous. Without knowing how far north the outage went, we turned around and went south, back to Albany and got gas there. The station was next to a Stewarts where PJ loves their milk shakes. So we got milk shakes. It was so cold out and holding those cups just froze your hands. So what do you do... you wear your gloves so you can have your milk shake!

Graduation was fun. It was 9 degrees! I felt so bad for the girls in dresses and heels!
It was nice because she got to sit with Maggie.
Just before going up...


SUCCESS!!!!!

Alyssa handed them the card with her name on it that read

Alyssa ORKIE Zukowski!! (Scott's nickname for her!)As a gift to herself... Alyssa got a tattoo of L.I. in sunset colors with a star for Wantagh. What was she thinking??!!

The way home the ice still didn't melt from the trees.

The sunset was really pretty. The pictures don't do it justice. The weird thing was that there was a beam of light that looked like it was coming from the ground and heading toward the sky.

That's it! It was good to get home to an unusual 60 + degrees!!!