Upstate New York

Kevin's parents just celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary and to celebrate they wanted to take a vacation with the entire family. They rented a house in Westfield, NY and we all met up there for the week. It was a fabulous, relaxing week and we had a wonderful time.

Heading to upstate New York was a nice change from the hustle and bustle of the city. We arrived at the rental house that evening and the views took our breath away. The house was situated just off a private beach  on Lake Erie. From the wrap around porch it was incredible watching the sunset. 

If you didn't like that view you only had to look out the window and you got to see beautiful vineyards. Incredible!

We didn't waste much time jumping into the lake. The vastness really made you feel like you were at the ocean...minus the salt water and big waves. 

Being in the water and watching the sunset left you speechless. 

We played a lot of games during our stay and truly enjoyed each other's company. It was nice not having anywhere in particular to be and truly being able to relax.

One afternoon we rented a boat so we could go tubing on the lake. In order to keep the camera dry the only pictures I took were right as we were getting on the boat. 

We'd only been on the lake about 30 minutes when a storm popped up. As we saw the rain moving in on us we tried to make it back to the docks as quickly as possible. Joe pulled us into the dock right as the rain really started coming down. We were a little soaked. After about 30 minutes the rain cleared out and we able to head back out onto the lake.

After about an hour more on the lake our boat died. We had to call the rental place and this lady came and towed us back in with her wave runner. They have us a replacement boat but it was a pontoon boat. Not the best boat work tubing but we still had fun. Just being on the lake was nice and relaxing.

A bonfire on the lake was also beautiful. The sound of the waves, the breeze, and fire...a pretty wonderful combination.

Kevin wanted to take all the boys golfing so Patti, Serena, and I had a girls afternoon/evening while they played around. I thought the men looked rather handsome in their polos. 

We ladies drove a little ways to Jamestown, birthplace of Lucille Ball. We were a little surprised at how desolate the town was. There were these incredible old buildings but many of them were closed and there were very few shops like we had expected. There was the 'I Love Lucy' museum and we took a tour through the playhouse. That was really neat. They had pictures, props, videos, etc. Serena and I had the chance to act out the Vitameatavegamin skit and it displayed us on a black and white television. 

On our way back to the house we saw this sign. Not something you normally see.

Patti, Kevin, James, and I went to check out a local arts fair going on in the city we stayed in. On the way home we stopped at this wonderful place called the Sugar Shack. They had all kind of fruit syrups and butters and we were able to try all kinds of it. It was hard to decide which types not to buy. There were 27 flavors of syrup and I finally went with Wild Currant Raspberry, Wild Blackberry, and Apple Cider Cinnamon. The apple cider on the ice cream tasted like apple pie....yummy.

Although New York is not known for their wine (most of the grapes in New York are Concord and used for jams, jellies, and juices). We'd heard about how much sweeter the wines were compared to California wines and thought it would be fun to try. There were two wineries we went to. The first was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. It was in this old mans house and it was a unique atmosphere (I'm trying to nicely say it was unprofessional in comparison to traditional wineries). A couple of the wines were okay. We ended up buying an Apple Crisp wine that they served us warm. I think it will be great this fall.

The second winery was more like we are used to. The wines overall were definitely sweeter and we did buy a couple bottles to take home. I think I still prefer traditional wines a little better. This is the view from Noble Winery. On a clear day you can usually see Canada.

Patti bought a puzzle early in the trip and we had a lot of fun working of it. I love puzzles but there isn't really a good table in our apartment to leave one on so I rarely work on one. There was a perfect table up in the loft.

Patti and I were the main two working on it but we had a little help from others. We finished it in plenty of time.

Our last sunset of the trip was another picture perfect sunset. 

Sunset from the porch of the house

We had another bonfire our last night but we used different wood and it was much smokier than the previous fire.

It was still beautiful.

Our vacation was much needed and wonderful. Thank you Patti and Kevin for the trip and Happy 30th Anniversary!