FINGERS AND LAKES, WINE AND BEER

SENECA LAKE REGION

Seneca Lake area is just beautiful…Or maybe it was the relief of getting off the NY Thruway with the frost heaves about every three feet….or it’s probably BOTH.   Apparently it is a well kept secret but it’s getting out.  Yahoo and USA Today have praised the area, although I’m sure many people pass through this area on the NY Thruway not having a clue as to what they are missing.

  

 Coming down from Seneca NY to Sampson State Park we’re traveling down the east side of Lake Seneca.  Taking Route 96A is a very nice, two lane road framed by farm after farm after farm.  Very peaceful and pastoral…..until the railroad overpass.   

It’s rolling hills here and the initial view of the RR Tracks is from the top of a crest......you are looking dead on at it.  Then there is a steep decline as the road swoops down under the crossing.  The sign read 12' 11".  I knew we had 12' height in the MH and wasn't sure if that included AC units, antennas, etc.  To confirm  I asked Dave, what’s our height.  He said 12’.  Hum, 11” to spare – it's Julia Tuttle all over again!!!!!

Seneca Lake is the largest of the Finger Lakes and deepest lake entirely within the state.    It is 38 miles long and holds about 50% of all the water in the Finger Lakes.  It is named after the Seneca Indian Nation one of the six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy and is nestled between Cayuga Lake and Keuka Lake also named after nations of the Iroquois.  Since Seneca Lake never freezes  it moderates the temperatures and enables the farms and wine vineyards to grow so well.

The farmland in the Romulus-Varick areas are largely worked by Amish farmers and Mennonite farmers.  Farmland on the eastern slop to Cayuga Lake is largely devoted to wine grapes.

   

We stayed at Sampson State Park on Lake Seneca which also houses the Military Museum where Dave’s father was stationed as a recruit. 

Pulling into our campsite I could hear a helicopter over the lake.  Several  hours later I could still hear the helicopter so Billy and I walked down to the lake.  Off in the distance I could see a helicopter hovering over the water.  A ranger walked by and I asked what the helicopter was doing and she said it was a Navy helicopter and they were probably testing sonar.  Cool!   The  838 foot depth in this lake enables the Navy to perform test and evaluation of equipment from transducers to sonar systems.  

HOME SWEET HOME

BILLY'S PLAYGROUND!

Once we settled in and Dave finished his nap, we took a walk down to the Lake.  

 There is a marina here where small boats are kept.  The lake is massive so lots of good boating here.  It's also the Trout Capital so lots of good fishing here.  Great place to be in the summer.

Since it's daylight forever, we decided to take a drive around in the car.  We drove some of the roads in the park, long overgrown from when the Naval Training Center was here.  Then we headed out of the park going south along the lake.

As the sun was setting, the Amish farmers were bringing their farm equipment home drawn by their horses.

This guy was really moving down the highway.  Had to take the picture through the windshield.  

Driving along the lake you're on a rise looking down across the fields to the lake.  It is really, really beautiful here.

WAGNER’S WINERY & BREWERY

Set up high on the ridge with the vineyards down the slope, Lake Seneca is in the background.

We had a great day drinking and only had to go to one place.  We stopped at Wagner’s Winery which was also a brewery so we go two for one! 

We stopped for the beer tasting first and it was quite good.  

We particularly liked the Sled Dog Doppelbock and their Amber as we both lean to the darker brews.  The Heffwizen was also excellent so ended up getting a six pack of our three favorite beers. Their root beer was superb, but regrettably they were sold out.  

From here we went to lunch at the restaurant on premises and it was great.  Sat out on the deck overlooking Lake Seneca.  It was so peaceful.  Dave said he always thought of NY as bustling and hectic but this region is just peaceful.  I think many people confuse NY City area with NY State which are two different worlds.

After lunch we strolled over to the wine tasting and was pleasantly surprised that many of the wines we liked.  We stuck to the whites, however as the reds still don’t quite measure up to what we are used to.  So we purchased some Cayuga White which is semi-sweet and fruity but not too sweet, Vignoles which is a sweeter and fruitier wine and the Melody which is “medium bodied” semi-sweet wine. 

We tried the Niagara which is grape juice in a wine bottle.  It brought back memories of when I was a kid and would eat the grapes from my grandmothers grape vines.  It was wonderfully sweet as you bit down on the skins and the grapes squirted into your mouth.  Great on a vine, not so much in a bottle. 

We did leave some in the store.  Have Noooooo idea where we're going to put all this wine/beer/bourbon.  Storage under the bed is filling up!

As if all of this wasn’t enough, we headed over to Lake Cayuga to the Cayuga Lake Creamery for some DELICIOUS homemade ice cream.  I got the maple and salt flavored and it was really great.  The salt comes from the bottom of Lake Seneca.  Dave got a chocolate milkshake which he enjoyed to the last drop.

LAKE SENECA SALT MINES

As a result of evaporation 300 million years ago, an enormous salt reserve stretches from Madison County to Lake Erie to Ontario Canada and along Pennsylvania.  Here in Geneva the salt is only 200’ below sea level.    During the war of 1812 (the one were the British fled to Ontario??) it became difficult to obtain salt from abroad so from Lake Onondaga  Syracuse’s largest industry was refining salt.  The Erie Canal allowed cheap transport to getting the salt to Chicago and beyond.  In Syracuse the Erie Canal is known as “the ditch that salt built”.   During the Civil War Syracuse provided the North’s salt supply but the South were cut off and unable to buy salt at any price.  Those in the “salt” think they may have been one of the many reasons the South lost the war.

As with many industries, the salt mining caused considerable environmental damage to Onondaga Lake and was closed in the 1920s.   Currently there are four salt mines and wells in the Finger Lake region but none are open to the public.  Guess we won’t be a-salting today!

Headed on back to the RV for the evening.