Sept. 25-30 Washington, DC (Part I)

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture are like a tree without roots.” — Marcus Garvey

We took one last trip with our Pennsylvania family...we spent five days in our nation's capital. We rented a nice townhouse on Capitol Hill. It was within walking distance of many things, but after walking over five miles the first day we learned how to take the Metro. Even with that we racked up a lot of miles this week. 

The house

The first floor was the entryway, dining room, half bath, kitchen and breakfast nook.

The second floor had the living room and children's room with an ensuite bathroom.

The two larger bedrooms were on the third floor along with two more bathrooms.

After dinner the first night we walked to Whole Foods for dessert.

There was a wonderful park across the street from the house where the kids ran and played each day. If you have to live in a city...this would be a great place to live.  

We spent our first day walking...walking and seeing a lot. Our first stop was at the United States Botanic Garden. This is the oldest continuously operating public garden in the United States. During the late 18th century, George Washington had a dream of a national botanic garden and was instrumental in establishing one on the National Mall in 1820. The gardens came and went some until The Victorian Conservatory opened to the public in 1850 and the U.S. Botanic Garden has been in continuous operation and open to the public since this date.

This lady taught all of us about bees. She knew more about bees than anyone I've ever met.

We truly were impressed with the gardens, but our favorite section was the Orchids.

After lunch we headed to the National Museum of American History. Along the way we saw the Capitol and walked through the National Sculpture Garden. Unfortunately between the weather, construction, road barricades and a cultural festival on the National Mall getting good photos of any of the iconic places was impossible.

The sculpture garden offers a relaxing, year-round setting ,an oasis, in the middle of the National Mall. It was opened in 1999.

The National Museum of American History opened in 1964 as the Museum of History and Technology. It was renamed in 1980 to represent its mission of the collection, care, study, and interpretation of objects that reflect the experience of the American people. Some of the displays include the famed Star-Spangled Banner, First Ladies gowns, Dorothy's Ruby Slippers, Muhammad Ali's boxing gloves and presidential artifacts.

Our last stop of the day was walking up to the Washington Monument. There are at least 160 monuments and memorials in Washington DC and the Washington Monument is perhaps the most famous. It pays tribute to our nation’s first commander in chief, George Washington. A world-renowned structure, the obelisk-shaped memorial sits in the center of the National Mall, in between the U.S. Capitol and the Lincoln Memorial and was completed in 1884. 

Washington Monument Fun Facts:

• The 555 foot tall obelisk is the tallest building in DC and by law, no other building in Washington is allowed to be taller.
• The Monument is built of free-standing masonry which means there is no cement holding the blocks together.
• When originally built, the Washington Monument was the tallest building in the world at 555 feet tall. This record was broken in 1889 when the Eiffel Tower was built.
• The original elevator ride took 8-10 minutes. Currently the elevator ride to the top takes about 70 seconds.
• The trowel used to lay the cornerstone of the Monument was the same trowel used by George Washington to lay the cornerstone of the Capitol in 1793.
• The cap at the tip of the Monument is made out of aluminum which was a new and rare process at the time.
• The words "Laus Deo""Praise be to God!) are inscribed on the aluminum capstone. 

Looking towards the Lincoln Memorial from the Washington Monument.

Sept. 15-16 The Captain's Birthday (Part II)

“Earth and Sky, Woods and Fields, Lakes and Rivers, the Mountain and the Sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.”  –John Lubbock

We had a great time in Canandaigua, but after a few days we decided to drive down to Corning to visit the Corning Museum of Glass. In the seven seasons we've been here we have visited Corning several times, but never seemed to have the time to get to the museum. I'm glad we finally made the time. It's a beautiful place.

Our dock neighbor worked for Corning most of his life and has filled us in on how involved they've been in scientific discoveries and things that have made our lives better. They don't just make dinnerware. The fiber optics we use, the glass on our phones and TVs, huge telescope lenses and items for space travel are just a few of the things they have developed. There was so much to see and learn, like most museums it was too much for just one day. We had some great leftover pizza, cheese and wine so we had another picnic today. I wish I had taken a picture, because instead of our usual beautiful setting it was in the parking lot of the museum...in our car! It was just too breezy and chilly outside today.

This photo shows the museum and the beautiful area around Corning, NY.

The Contemporary Arts and Design section of the museum.

The Netflix series Blown Away is filmed at the Corning Museum of Glass. I've watched some of it, but I may need to check it out again. This little guy was created by John Sharvin in episode 6: Under the Big Top. It's called Walter's Audition.

While you are at the museum you can see many hands-on demonstrations, take a class or even make something of your own. During this demo they made a pretty blue water pitcher. It took him 15 minutes to complete and it sells for $162 in the gift shop.

Some of the fun things we saw at the museum. The orange bowl depicts the skyline of San Francisco.

Dale Chihuly's style is unmistakable. We visited one of his museums in St. Petersburg, Florida years ago and I fell in love with his work. This piece is called Fern Green Tower. It stands over 15' high and has 712 handmade elements.

It's pumpkin season in New York and Corning.

The store at the museum was amazing...glass from here and everywhere else in the world.

Corning is a beautiful little town along the Cohocton River. Market Street is full of shops and nice restaurants.

We actually chose to come down to Corning at this time so we could enjoy their Harvest Festival. There were tons of vendors and musicians along Market Street.

We had dinner at an Italian Restaurant called Sorge's. We both had the Milano dish served with artichoke hearts, tomatoes and capers in a creamy garlic butter sauce. Stan of course had salmon and I had chicken. 

While we were in Corning we heard about another event going on this weekend in Hammondsport, NY. We love visiting this little village on Keuka, so on Saturday morning we drove up to check out the Wings & Wheels: Seaplane and Car Show. It was a wonderful fall day and it was a highlight of our trip. The event was put on by Glenn H. Curtiss Museum and featured seaplane demonstrations and more than 60 vehicles in the car show. 

Just a few of the neat cars on display throughout downtown. 

Glenn H. Curtiss was an American aviation and motorcycling pioneer, and a founder of the U.S. aircraft industry. He designed and built the first successful pontoon aircraft in America and his aircrafts were the first to take off and land on the deck of a ship. Curtiss built the first U.S. Navy aircraft and trained the first two naval pilots.

We sat on the wall next to the boat ramp. We had a front roll seat to all the action.

Some of the boats had pontoons and wheels, some had just wheels and others had just pontoons. I've only seen seaplanes with pontoons before now.

This little plane only had wheels.

And took off quickly.

This little piper cub is just like the one that Stan's Daddy had, except it had pontoons instead of wheels. It brought back a lot of great memories for him.

These little guys came in like a boat...

and drove right up on shore.

The seaplanes showed how they take off and then did a bombing demo. Each plane was given grapefruits which they had to drop between the two yellow buoys. It was harder than it sounds...can you see the splash in the water? This plane was the closest to the target. The next thing they demonstrated was landing precession. They came around and had to touch down between the same buoys. That seemed to be difficult too. It was a lot of fun to watch.

 

Sept. 13-15 The Captain's Birthday (Part I)

“Travel often; Getting lost will help you find yourself.” — Holstee Manifesto

We celebrated Stan's birthday by taking a small trip to The Lake House in Canandaigua. It's a very nice resort hotel on Canandaigua Lake. Kyle and Brytanie gave us a gift card for this hotel after we kept the kids in May.

Our first stop on the way to Canandaigua was a picnic at the Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard. It's one of the top wineries on Seneca Lake.

This winery doesn't have a view of the lake, but the setting was beautiful, the wine was good and we had fun watching the geese.

Check in wasn't until 3 so we did a little exploring along the city pier and wandered through the old boat house. The pier was built in 1848, and the first boat houses were built during the 1850’s. The simple wooden boathouses contained small skiffs while larger ones housed sculling shells, sailing and steam yachts. By 1888, over 80 boathouses were along the pier and in the “steam” basin. In 1903, the pier was enlarged to accommodate train and trolley tracks to service the steamboats transporting farm produce and passengers along the lake. Boathouse Row is one of the most captivating and unique attractions in the Finger Lakes.

The boathouses are all unique and have their own personality. They serve as a place to dock and store the owner's boat for the season. Some only have space for the boat, while others have a second story for relaxing and taking in the sights of the lake. But the homeowners association prohibits people from living in these boathouses.

The Lake House on Canandaigua.

Our beautiful room with a view of the canal leading to the lake.

We had dinner at Nolan's. We started with the fried calamari topped with banana and roasted red peppers, green onions and fresh garlic in a white wine-Parmesan sauce. Stan had the chef's salmon special and I had the Asiago Scallops topped with spinach, bruschetta tomatoes and melted Asiago cheese with fresh basil corn.

The view from our room after sunset.

An aerial view of The Lake House.

On Thursday we wandered through the little shops on Main Street and then rode our bikes along the lake. We had a nice lunch sitting outside at the Twisted Rail Brewing Co.

After lunch we went to the Sonnenberg Gardens and Mansion. Sonnenberg (Sunny Hill) is the former summer home and creation of Frederick Ferris and Mary Clark Thompson. He was a New York City banker, and she was the daughter of a New York State governor. As newlyweds in 1863, they purchased the 300-acre farmstead near Canandaigua Lake for their summer estate. By 1887, they replaced the previous farmstead residence with the current Sonnenberg Mansion. After Mr. Thompson's death Mrs. Thompson started renovating the house and building the gardens that are here today. After her death the home and grounds were used by the VA as a hospital for 40 years.

The house

Only a small section of the home is open to visitors at the moment, but work is continuously going on to renovate more of the mansion.  

The view of the south lawn and Italian Garden from the main bedroom of the home. The Roman Bath and Japanese Garden are past the pine trees. 

A map of the grounds. My favorite gardens were the Rock Garden and the Japanese Garden.

The Carriage and Ice House.

The Peacock House

The Rock Garden was the last garden designed by Mrs. Thompson in 1920. It has a winding path that traverses a limestone grotto with a waterfall, a river and several pools. I bet it was the favorite place to play for the children that visited.  

In 1906, Mrs. Thompson had the Japanese Garden built and is today recognized as the first residential Japanese Garden in America. This detailed miniature landscape was created on an orchard in just six months. The designer returned in 1908 to build the teahouse.  

The Greenhouse Conservatory Complex was built between 1903-1915, is one of the few remaining intact Lord and Burnham Greenhouses in the United States. They were year-round greenhouses that produced fresh fruit, vegetables, and flowers for Mrs. Thompson at Sonnenberg as well as her New York City home.

Our last dinner in Canandaigua was at the New York Kitchen. This is a nonprofit organization with a passion and mission to create a gateway for people around the world to experience New York’s incredible agriculture and viticulture industries. They hold all kinds of classes and run a nice little restaurant. We sat on the deck with a view of the lake.

Stan had the sweet ginger orange glazed salmon with boo chow, red pepper, red onion and garlic served over rice noodles. I had the chicken and bacon white pizza with garlic oil, shredded mozzarella, spinach, caramelized onions, mushrooms. Very good.