Fall Trip Highlights

Narrowing 250+/- vacation pictures down to a few for a blog post is hard work! The beauty of digital snapshots and i-phones is that so many can be taken and later deleted after selecting the best of the batch.

It appears I have this down to an art - well, the first part. I definitely take a gazillion pictures. Whittling them down, deleting the duds, and culling and editing for the primo result - that's the part at which I fail.

But here ya' go. The most representative pics from the 5-day, 4-night jaunt into upstate New York shall be shared here with a bit of commentary; I will try to keep it brief.

And yes, quilts will have a bit part in the narrative. *smile*

Finger Lakes region/New York

Our purpose was to see fantastic fall color. We chose to do a short trip and go as far as the Adirondack Mountains. I can happily report that we far exceeded both goals. Our trusty US atlas and a book called The Most Scenic Drives In America (1997) helped us along our way to slow country roads and top-notch scenic views.

In the Adirondacks.

Lots of shots were taken through the windshield going 55 mph or less. Occasionally we have a glare or road dirt, but this shot turned out pretty good. 

Rural Pennsylvania.

After awhile, all the scenery shots begin to look alike. But not all my pictures are of trees along the roadways. Sometimes we stop and turn around and get out and explore. We are drawn to pretty old houses, barns, and churches mostly. Here are some good ones.

All the windshield "yuck" present in this photo!

We turned around to take a picture of this vintage roadster.

We stopped at Chateau Lafayette Reneau Winery.

We stopped at a winery - there were dozens to choose from in the Finger Lakes region. This one was a good choice! We had a tasting, bought a bottle, and we bought a barrel!

Don't all vacationers buy a wine barrel while on the road??

Taughannock Falls in the Finger Lakes region.

Weasel - they really do "pop, goes the weasel."

One of the wineries we passed - and turned around for! - was this one featuring what we thought was a quilt show. It turns out the woman who made these was a vendor at Hosmer Winery's Columbus Day celebration near Ovid, NY. All these quilts were for sale. What a pretty sight they were, gently floating on the breeze. I talked extensively to Kathy Kline of Winetrail Quilts, learning that she has vended here for something like 25 years and has sold lots of quilts. She definitely has a prime location out on the road to tempt passersby.

On Friday night, we stayed in Bradford, PA, and after a quick search for local quilt shops, I found one just a few blocks away from our hotel. The Little Fabric Garden is a cute little shop with lots of fabric options. She has some great samples on display, and plenty of variety of yardage, precuts, kits, patterns and notions. I did buy some fabric, and my one regret is that I didn't take any pictures inside the shop. That is remedied, though, by looking at pictures on the shop's website. My purchases consisted of baby quilt fabric. No surprise, eh?

That pretty well summarizes our little trip. It sure was fun, and it is equally fun getting back home to attack some of the projects on the "to-do" list. A quickie get-away sorta' recharges the batteries.

Happy Quilting, Friends!