July 7, 2018 Picnic lunch on Seneca Lake, NY

Today we traveled from Corning, NY up to Watertown, NY.  Along the way we drove alongside lovely Seneca Lake, one of the New York State finger lakes.  Never knew it was prime country for vineyards and wineries!  The park we lunched at was at the top of the lake and we really enjoyed it.  Here are a few pictures....

The willows had massive trunks....

We saw lots of barns, silos, and wild chickory..... 

Twisted old willow tree.

Apparently the north end of the lake is the place to be on Saturday.....

Those are hops growing up vertically on the right side of the picture.
Never saw them growing before.

July 6, 2018 Rockwell Museum of Western Art, Corning, NY

After we finished in the glass museum, we wandered around the commercial district in Corning, and then decided to visit the Rockwell Museum of Western Art.   Compared to the glass museum, this was pretty small.  But the exhibits were all outstanding.  Here are just a few pictures.

The old building used to be city hall.

The old jail door from back when the police department was in the city hall.

Indian head cast from pyrex glass.  See the words below.

The title of this is End of the Trail. 
Some days this is how we feel after driving lots of miles...
The end.

July 5-6, 2018 Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY

We spent about 8 hours in the Corning Museum of Glass, and it was just amazing.  There was an extensive collection of Contemporary Art and Design, a massive display called "35 Centuries of Glass" and a lively Innovation Center with demonstrations and hands-on things to see and do.

The first thing we learned is that back in 1972 the Chemung River (one block away from the museum) flooded and caused massive destruction to some of the precious glass pieces which were tumped over and broken, and to the library of books in the basement.  (why are books always kept in basements?)  

The Contemporary Art and Design section was - well, it's amazing what they do with glass these days...  I've included a few of those items in this post.

The Innovation Center was great fun.  We watched glass-blowing from start to finish;  we watched a demonstration of how different kinds of glass break, from a plain window pane to tempered glass.  We saw how automation changed the way everyday bottles are made.  Watched a lady make a little glass swan.  There was so much to see and do in that one section!

And finally, we spent most of our time on the 35 Centuries of Glass exhibit.  Glassmaking began about 4000 years ago near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Mesopotamia.  We followed the timeline around the exhibit, and after a few hours my head was spinning and I was going into overwhelm!  My goodness!  Who knew glass was such a part of our past?!  Every bit was interesting from start to finish.  This is the kind of museum I could visit over and over and still find new things.  We took well over 200 pictures in that museum, and I have managed to cull out just a few for you.  Wish you could see them all, though! 

Glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly.

Butterflies chandelier........

.... and the butterflies are made of solar panels which powers the light!

another interesting piece.

can you believe this is all made of glass? 

another amazing glass sculpture. 

Lynx created out of glass - wow!

This was a piece hanging from the ceiling; I just thought it was interesting. 

Glass blowing;  she's shaping it.......

...... now she's preparing to finish it off.

Just love the cobalt color here. 

Massive glass table and equally ornate boat on top;  these items
were created for special events such as World Fairs and Expos.

Lalique pussycat.  Just loved this one.

Tiffany.

This shows the method of creating a cut-glass goblet.
Just thought this was interesting.

This is the biggest and fanciest punch bowl I ever saw!

July 3, 2018 Hershey, PA

Our campground for 3 nights is just outside Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania.  It's a pretty area of rolling hills and lots of farms.  I noticed that all the corn looks exactly the same:  same exact height, shade of green, shape, everything.  Would this be GMO corn?  I don't remember the cornfields of my youth being quite so completely uniformly the same.

Since this area was under an Excessive Heat Advisory, we opted to visit the Hershey Chocolate World nearby.  Wow!  It was packed with families and kids zooming on chocolate highs.  There were multiple things to see and do, including a kid-oriented movie, a "factory tour" in a tram car, and other stuff.  Mostly it's about selling candy.....  We obliged, of course!  Plus we were given free pieces of chocolate, which we ate right there on the spot, yum.

One small part of the extensive gift shop. 

Kisses, anyone?

The mighty Susquehanna River, which goes through the middle of Harrisburg, PA

June 29... 2018 Random pictures from on the road....

Here we are, finally on the road again!  Due to a rather late departure, we ended up spending four long days traveling in a heat wave, trying to get on up out of the deep south to cooler days in the northeast.  Hah: the heat wave is following us.  Here's a tidbit for all you non-RV folks:  there's very little insulation in an RV and thus, the temp outside is usually the temp inside, as you can see in the photo below.  We turn on the AC first thing at every campground and it takes several hours to cool things down to a bearable level inside.  But hey:  at least we're on the move!

Here are some random pictures from our first four days on the road.  Four days of mostly driving.

Our trusty indoor/outdoor thermometer tells the tale. 

Teasel.