Seneca Lake Wine Trail

Watkins Glen, New York

I'm a happy camper. Finally we're in a place I want to be. The New York Finger Lakes compare favorably with the Lake District in Italy (except for the gelato opportunities).

We spent a day in Fancy Gap, Virginia, on the Blue Ridge Parkway and then two days in Port Royal, Virginia. I tried to keep Mrs. Phred entertained in Port Royal. We went to the Stonewall Jackson Museum, but it was going out of business. Next we went to the State of Virginia Arboretum, but it was raining. The two wineries I picked out were both closed on Tuesday.

So now we are at the foot of Seneca Lake. It's one of the deep lakes carved by glaciers long ago. There are many wineries and dramatic gorges carved though soft shale in the area. I was born 20 miles away at the foot of Cayuga Lake. Both Seneca and Cayuga have deep salt mines formed 300 million years ago when the area was covered by a shallow sea.

We've signed up for a week here and plan to have breakfast with Cousin Danny in the morning.