Corning NY | The Beauty Around Us

Corning NY Mid-Week Getaway: Day 3

We spent three nights the week of October 17th in Corning, NY. I published blog posts previously about our activities on October 19th and 20th. This blog post is about our activities on October 21st.

We ate breakfast at Donna’s Restaurant in downtown Corning.

The restaurant is full of vintage Pyrex dishes on display. It is a quaint, homey restaurant. Bob had a steakhouse sandwich (shaved ribeye, sautéed peppers & onions, egg and cheese on a grilled everything bagel) with corned beef hash. I had a western omelet with home fries and wheat toast. Our breakfast entrees were delicious and filling.

See that older man, looking at me? I showed him his picture. He liked it. All during breakfast I caught him looking at me. The few times are eyes met, he would give me the biggest smile.

After breakfast we went for a walk to Centennial Park.

Centennial Park Bridge
This is a pedestrian bridge that crosses Chemung River.
We walked halfway across the bridge.

Chemung River, as seen from Centennial Bridge

Corning Inc. World Headquarters and Little Joe Tower,
as seen from Centennial Bridge

According to a Wikipedia article, the Little Joe Tower “was built in either 1912 or 1913 by Corning Glass Works (now known as Corning Inc.). The construction came during a period of growth for the company, and the 187-foot tower was used in drawing glass for thermometer tubes. On the outside of the white tower is a blue stenciled silhouette of “Little Joe”, a glassblower, giving the tower its name.”

The Centennial Park Pavilion is attractive.

The Farmers Market is held at Centennial Park each Thursday from 10:00 am-2:00 pm. We visited the next to last Farmers Market this year, as the last one was held on October 28th.

Centennial Park Pavilion and Farmers Market

Centennial Park Farmers Market
Centerway Square Clock Tower is at one end of the market, and
Centennial Bridge is at the other end.

Fresh Vegetables at Centennial Park Farmers Market

Flowers at Centennial Park Farmers Market

Bob purchased soft ginger snaps at the Farmers Market. The cookies were delicious!

We returned to downtown Corning around 5:00 pm, when we went to dinner at Sorge’s Restaurant. Bob had lasagna; I had spaghetti and meatballs. Both entrees were accompanied with salads and fresh bread. Dinner was tasty.

When we weren’t downtown, we were at our Airbnb resting and relaxing.

Relaxing on the backyard patio at our AirBnb

——————–

We got up around 7:00 am the next day. We showered, got dressed, and ate breakfast. We packed our stuff and carried it down to the car. We left, en route home, around 9:00 am.

Shortly before 10:30 am we stopped at Tim Hortons in Olean NY. I had wanted a Boston Creme donut since the start of this trip. We picked up two donuts and coffee/tea at the drive thru and ate our treat in the parking lot. This wasn’t the best mid-morning snack, but it sure was tasty!

We returned home around 1:00 pm. We enjoyed our getaway, but we always are happy to return home too.

Corning NY Mid-Week Getaway: Day 1

We spent three nights the week of October 17th in Corning, NY.

We left for Corning on October 19th at 9:20 am.

We stopped in Cuba NY at the Cuba Cheese Shoppe and at The Perfect Blend Coffeehouse & Eatery. We bought habanero cheese and butterscotch cookies at Cuba Cheese. At the coffeehouse we had a mid-morning snack–coffee and tea and two chocolate with peanut butter frosting muffins. The muffins were delicious!

We would have arrived in Corning too early to check in at our accommodation, so we drove to Watkins Glen first.

We enjoyed a stroll at Seneca Lake Harbor, before leaving for Corning.

We stopped at Wegmans in Corning to pick up a few grocery items that we felt were needed for our 3-night getaway.

From Wegmans we drove to our Airbnb “Home Away From Home”. It was a short drive, as Wegmans is only a mile away. Check-in was 2:00 pm, and our arrival time was around 2:30 pm. We carried in our stuff from the car and got settled in for our 3-night stay.

This was our third stay at “Home Away From Home”. Our first stay was for one night in January 2019. That was our very first stay, as well, at an Airbnb. Our second stay was for three nights in April 2019.

Since our stay 2 1/2 years ago we noted some changes throughout the house. In the living room the couch was different. The new couch doesn’t recline like the old one. The old one didn’t work properly, so the new couch is an improvement. The coffee table is different too, as is the tv and the stand it sits on.

The TV stand has an electric fireplace.
The TV stand was a very nice aesthetic improvement!

The fireplace has several temperature settings and does generate sufficient heat to take the chill out of the living room. I LOVE the new TV stand. Maybe one day we can replace our TV stand with one similar to this one.

In the bathroom the window on the bathtub wall is now frosted. I don’t believe anyone could have seen in that window, but it is another improvement that we especially liked. In the kitchen there is a new table and chairs. One of the bedrooms now has a TV. All of the changes were nice improvements.

I noticed as we entered the living room, a gift bag on the coffee table. Lucas gave us two Corning “Crystal City” wine glasses. He is a thoughtful host. Lucas gifted us a Corning coffee cup, when we stayed there in April 2019.

Another thoughtful touch was this flower arrangement in the kitchen.

We brought the makings for chili with us. We had chili for dinner, accompanied with tortilla chips and salsa.

I was in bed by 9:00 pm. Bob followed me about an hour later.

Corning Museum of Glass

We spent the night of Saturday, January 12, in Corning NY. The purpose of our trip was to visit Corning Museum of Glass. Corning is an approximate 3-hour drive from our home in Warren PA. We could easily have driven to Corning, visited the museum, and driven back home all in one day. Spending the night in Corning, though, made for a relaxing weekend.

We arrived at Corning Museum of Glass around 9:30 am. For the next 3 hours we toured the museum. This was the first time either Bob or I visited Corning Museum of Glass. As described on its webpage, the museum “tells the story of a single material: glass … The story of glass is a story about art, history, culture, technology, science, craft and design … Nearly 50,000 objects representing more than 3,500 years of history are displayed in the galleries…”. It would be a daunting task to see and read about each glass object in the museum in a entire day’s visit, let alone a 3-hour visit. We didn’t even try to see or photograph everything.

“Fog”

“Carrrion”

“Candy” Sphere Chandelier

“Continuous Mile”

Mosaic Portrait This portrait shows Elena of Montenegro, who was queen consort of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy.

Stained Glass Window from Rochroane Castle

“Skulls Bowl”

“Witch Pot”

We did watch a 30-minute Hot Glass Demo, while at the museum. The Hot Glass Demo was a live, narrated glassblowing demonstration. A glassmaker took glowing gobs of molten glass on the end of a pipe and skillfully shaped them into a bowl. A narrator talked through the process, and cameras inside the 2300°F furnace ensured that we didn’t miss a single step of the process.

Hot Glass Demo – Gathering a little glass out of furnace.

Hot Glass Demo – shaping and cooling glass

Hot Glass Demo – Glass goes back into the furnace.

Hot Glass Demo – Glassmaker goes back to the bench.

Hot Glass Demo – shaping and cooling glass

Hot Glass Demo – glass blowing

Hot Glass Demo – glass blowing

Hot Glass Demo – adding foot to bottom of glass

Hot Glass Demo – adding foot to bottom of glass

Hot Glass Demo – working on upper part of bowl

Hot Glass Demo – glass blowing.

After this step, the bowl was placed back in furnace and spun.

Hot Glass Demo – Bowl after spinning in furnace

Hot Glass Demo – Bowl after spinning in furnace

What an awesome demo!

We purchased our museum tickets online a few days prior to our travels. Tickets may be purchased at the museum as well. Tickets cost $20 for adults. Kids and teens under the age of 17 are free. Tickets are good for two consecutive days.

We left the Corning Museum of Glass at 12:30 pm and drove to Elmira NY, where we ate lunch at Old Country Buffet. It had been a long time since we enjoyed a meal at Old Country Buffet. The Erie restaurant closed its doors some time ago.

On our way to our night’s accommodation we stopped at Wegmans to pick up a few grocery items that we felt were needed for the rest of the day, night and next morning.

From Wegmans we drove to our Airbnb accommodation. It was a short drive, as Wegmans is only a mile away. Check-in was 2:00 pm. Our arrival was around 2:20 pm.

We spent rest of the afternoon and evening at “home”. We watched TV and surfed the internet. We stayed in for dinner as well, having eaten two meals out already. Lunch at Old Country Buffet was very filling. We chose to eat a light dinner — a bowl of soup.

I went to bed at 9:00 pm. Bob followed about 1 1/2 hours later.

We planned to make a return trip to Corning Museum of Glass the next morning. Our plans, though, changed. I will write about our change of plans in my next blog post.

Our First AirBnB Stay

With our Discover credit card, we automatically earn unlimited 1% cash back on all purchases. 5% cash back can be earned each quarter at different places (e.g. grocery stores, Amazon, fuel stations), when offer is activated. There is a potential for earning a lot of reward points, with Discover’s cash back rewards program. We cash in our reward points for gift cards. For several years we used gift cards to partially fund our stays at Best Western hotels. Best Western gift cards are no longer available from Discover’s cash back rewards program. A new offering is AirBnB gift cards, which we used to pay for our first AirBnB stay.

We spent the night of Saturday, January 12, in Corning NY in a 2-bedroom house. Our “home away from home” was small, but comfortable.

This AirBnB rental is located over a garage, nestled in woods.

We climbed up several steps to reach the entry door. Bob entered the door code, opened the door and we walked inside. The entry door opens to a very tiny foyer, with a coat closet opposite the door.

The first room you enter from the foyer is a small living room.

Living Room

The living room is comfortably furnished by an arm chair, flat screen TV on a stand, coffee table and sofa. Our hosts (Luke and Natalie) provided blanket throws for each seat in the living room. For our viewing pleasure DVDs, local TV and Netflix were provided. We found a notebook on the coffee table in which Luke and Natalie welcomed us to their home.

Luke and Natalie’s note welcoming us to their home.

I responded to our hosts’ welcome note, before our departure.

Leaving the living room, you enter the center hall. At one end of the hall is a huge linen closet. Inside the linen closet I saw, among other objects, bedroom and bathroom linens, a few games and perhaps toys for children to play with. A small bathroom is located at the other end of the hallway.

Bathroom

Toilet paper, Kleenex, shampoo, conditioner, bath soap, and toothpaste were some of the products provided by our hosts.

Three other rooms are reached by way of the hallway: two bedrooms and the kitchen.

Bedroom #1

Bedroom #2

Queen-sized beds predominate both bedrooms. Our hosts provided bed linens, towels and wash cloths. The beds were very comfortable and provided for a good night’s sleep.

Kitchen

The kitchen contains all the essentials of cooking and dining to include cookware, dinnerware, utensils, stove, oven, microwave, toaster, Keurig coffeemaker, spices, Pam spray and so much more. We found coffee pods and creamer, as well as bottled water available for our use. We didn’t open it, but there was even a bottle of wine provided! Cleanup was a breeze too. Dish soap, sponge, paper towels and tea towels were provided. We did very little cooking during our one-night stay. We did heat up soup for dinner, had a light breakfast of instant oatmeal and a banana, and took advantage of the Keurig coffeemaker and microwave. I would have no difficulty preparing a meal in this kitchen.

A door in the kitchen, by the table, enters the laundry room. This room looks like it could have been a porch at one time. A washer and dryer are located at one end of the room. A laptop friendly table with printer, room for a laptop and two chairs is located on the opposite end. There is a door in the laundry room that leads outside to a patio and to the spacious back yard, both of which would be very welcoming on Spring, Summer and Fall days.

All photographs, with the exception of the notebook, contained in this post are screenshots from the AirBnB listing. Lucas gave me permission to use the photographs in this blog post. The complete listing for this AirBnB rental may be seen by clicking here.

This AirBnB rental, which is located on a quiet street, is a very nice accommodation. The rental cost was less than $30 more than the cost of a hotel room with two queen bed at Americas Best Value Inn, located in nearby Painted Post. Our “home away from home” was much nicer than staying in a room in a hotel! I highly recommend this AirBnB rental to individual travelers, couples, and families with two small children.

Thank you, Luke and Natalie, for sharing your home with us. We hope to make a return visit!

Lincoln NH to Warren PA

We took two days for our trip back home from the White Mountains of New Hampshire. On the first day we drove from Lincoln, NH to Weedsport, NY. On the second day we drove from Weedsport, NY to our home in Warren, PA.

On Thursday, August 4, we awakened early, which enabled a departure an hour or two earlier than expected. We departed the Rodeway Inn (Lincoln, NH) at 6:00 am, leaving the room keys in our room because the hotel office was closed.

Our first photo stop was in Woodstock, Vermont, after driving for about 2-1/2 hours.

“Bob, stop! There’s a covered bridge!”
Taftsville Covered Bridge, seen as we were driving through the village of Taftsville

Taftsville Covered Bridge

Taftsville Bridge is a two span 189 foot long Multiple Kingpost Truss with an arch. Spans are 89 and 100 feet. This bridge was built in 1836 and is one of the oldest covered bridges in Vermont.

It carries River Road the over Ottaquechee River in Taftsville Vermont.

Taftsville Covered Bridge spans the Ottauquechee River.

About an hour later we stopped for breakfast at The Maple Diner in Bridgewater, Vermont.

The Maple Diner

Great breakfast! We highly recommend this small family restaurant, if you find yourself in Bridgewater, VT some day.

We passed through Killington, VT where we couldn’t miss the ski slopes of Pico Mountain. We stopped for gas in Rutland, VT. What a busy and congested city that is!

We stopped briefly at Moreau Lake State Park near Wilton, NY. Using our NY Empire Passport we gained admission into the park. We followed Lake Road from the entrance gate to the beach. There was a nature center located near the beach. The beach and picnic areas were in heavy use, and we were not able to find any nearby parking. We skipped the nature center and made our way back to the park entrance. We made a photo stop near the boat launch area.

Moreau Lake

We passed through LOTS of small towns on our way to Interstate 90! We avoided Albany, NY. We skirted around Saratoga Springs, NY. We finally reached Interstate 90 W at 2:33 pm, about 10 miles or so east of Utica, NY (near mile marker 222).

We checked into the Rodeway Inn in Weedsport, NY around 4:00 pm. This hotel used to be a Best Western, as it is still identified in the GPS and on Facebook.

The only meal we ate out was breakfast. We didn’t stop for lunch and opted to eat a picnic lunch, with food items brought from home, for dinner.

On Friday, August 5, we ate breakfast at our hotel, packed the car and left a little after 8:00 am en route home.

We made a few stops along the way.

Weedsport, NY
“Four Freedoms” mural

The four train cars on the mural are based on the four freedoms Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke of in his 1941 State of the Union Address.

The four freedoms are:
Freedom of speech, Freedom of religion, Freedom from want and Freedom from fear.

Also in Weedsport are the remains of the Centreport Aqueduct, which is the centerpiece of a small park located along NY Route 31.

We walked the towpath (on the right) to the towpath bridge.

The towpath bridge was reconstructed to be nearly identical to the one built here in 1854.

Remains of Centreport Aqueduct, as seen from towpath bridge

We stopped briefly in Port Bryon. While Bob took our Nissan Xterra through a car wash, I photographed a colorful mural.

Port Bryon, NY
Erie Canal Mural

We rode through the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, in Monezuma, NY, where we saw a few species of waterfowl. The majority of the waterfowl that we saw at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge were Canada Geese.

Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge
I cannot identify these flowers, but aren’t they pretty!

We drove through Ovid, NY and along Seneca Lake. We drove through Watkins Glen. We had planned to hike the gorge but decided against doing so because of the heat and humidity but also dry conditions. When we passed by Hector Falls, just before reaching Watkins Glen, there was very little water falling. We had never seen Hector Falls so dry!

We stopped for a short time in downtown Corning.

Corning, NY

The clock tower was built in memory of Erastus Corning in 1883. The clock tower is located in the center of town, just north of Market Street in Center Square.

We thought we would eat lunch in Corning, but opted instead to eat lunch a little closer to home. All we did in Corning was photograph the clock tower, before continuing on our way home.

We stopped for lunch at Sprague’s Maple Farms in Portville, NY. I ordered a center cut pork chop dinner with baked potato, apple sauce, carrots and tossed salad. My dinner included two pork chops. I boxed one and brought it home. Bob ordered a Sugar Bush Club (a Triple-decker sandwich filled filled with turkey, country ham, bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayonaisse) with maple baked beans. We picked up a piece of peanut butter fudge for later, as we paid the bill on our way out. Lunch was excellent.

We returned home at 4:00 pm. We unpacked the car, putting away what we had taken with us. I uploaded to my computer the pictures that I had taken, while on vacation. I entered in Quicken our expenditures during vacation. Bob mowed the grass. With the exception of doing laundry the next day, I took it easy. Bob took it easy as well. Being on vacation seems to be more tiring than being at home, as we are always on the go. I have heard people say “I need a vacation after vacation”. I agree!

This blog post concludes the account of our 7-day New Hampshire vacation. I hope that you enjoyed your armchair travel!

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