Exploring The Finger Lakes

While Natalie was in town, we worked a lot. We painted a guest room and my bedroom. I'll post before and after photos of my bedroom in another post, but check out what my guest room looks like now!

In addition to all the work we did, we also found some time to play and have fun.  On a Sunday afternoon, before spending some time and money at the nearby outlet mall, we had lunch and did a tasting at one of the local wineries.  There are more than 20 wineries, cideries and distilleries that surround Seneca Lake - and another 2 dozen or more around neighboring lakes.  We'll have plenty to do on her future visits!  The winery we went to is called Ventosa Vineyards and is about 4 or 5 miles from my home.  The food was simple but good enough, we tasted some good wine, and enjoyed a gorgeous view of the vineyards and lake while we ate.  Check it out.

We also took a drive down to the southern tip of Seneca Lake and spent the afternoon at Watkins Glen State Park.  We took the beautiful 3-mile-round-trip hike on the Gorge Trail, which took us through the bottom of a pretty gorge, complete with a stream, 19 waterfalls and 832 stairs (it brought back bad memories, Adam).  I only got one photo with my phone, but Natalie took lots of great pictures that she'll pass along soon.

Finally, I have to wrap up with a comment about how much Natalie and Sancho bonded while she was here.  They hadn't seen each other in nearly a year.  He was bummed for a couple of days after she left.  I think this picture says it all: