In search of the illusive Honeycrisp apple.........

We've got apples, apples and more apples!

As is often the case, our drive from Point A to Point B was about twice as long as was shown on google maps.  Yesterday Point A was Wellsboro, PA and Point B was Slippery Rock, PA.  Driving it straight through should take a little over three and a half hours.  With stops for hiking the Pine Creek Rail Trail, lunch, an orchard and a produce stand we made it in just a little over six hours.

After biking the Pine Creek Rail Trail the previous day, we enjoyed a hike along part of the trail before leaving the Wellsboro area

One of the displays in Serenity Glass Park, Port Allegany, PA

One of the things we were searching for along our drive was the illusive Honeycrisp apple.  These apples were developed by the University of Minnesota Agricultural Extension service in 1974.  They were patented in 1998 and released for sale to the public in 1991.  I'm not near as picky when it comes to apples as Beth.  I do prefer a red apple over a green apple and one that is more sweet than tart.  The honeycrisp has been described as the apple with perfect firmness, sweetness and tartness for eating raw.  It's Beth's favorite apple and based on the scarcity of them around this part of the world, it's the favorite apple of a whole bunch of people.  I'm not a biblical scholar, but I'm reasonably sure that although the University of Minnesota holds the patent, this was the type of apple Eve tempted Adam with in the Garden of Eden.
We'd been on the lookout for them ever since we realized it was "apple season" up here.  We had made a couple of stops at produce stands on our way from Pittsburgh to Wellsboro, but every place was sold out.  Not wanting to go away empty handed, we settled for purchasing Cortland apples.  These are good apples, but according to Beth, they aren't as good as honeycrisp apples.
We looked around Wellsboro during our three days in that area, but again, no luck.
Although our hopes of finding these illusive tasty fruits was diminishing, we weren't going to give up easily.  We slowed down at every produce stand we passed to see if they were advertising honeycrisp apples, but no luck.  We took a slight detour down some scenic back roads so we could stop at Rocky Ridge Orchard.  The nice lady and gentlemen working in the store seemed genuinely sad to tell us they had sold out of honeycrisp apples in just a few days.  They did encourage us to look around and try any apples we might be interested in.  He said "if you see one you think you might like, just pick it up and take a bite".  We did, and we ended up with a bag of about a dozen nice Cortland apples, but no honeycrisp apples.

A great place to stop...…...even if they were sold out of honeycrisp apples!

Rocky Ridge Orchards
Finally, in Leeper, PA (pop,. 1,604) at a produce stand we had stopped at just a few days earlier...…..there they were...……..the mother of all apples...……..the honeycrisp apple!  We bought a decent size basket (it's the picture at the top of the blog) of these tasty treats and we each chomped into one as we were pulling out of the parking lot.
I just did a quick count.  On Ben's counter right now there are over forty apples, more than half of them are honeycrisp apples.  We're making sure they stay separated from the others and we're also making sure to lock his house when we leave.  Those things are rare and valuable!

Below are a few pictures from around the area where Ben lives:

Mural on the side of the Guthrie Theater in downtown Grove City

Street Art along Broad Street in Grove City

Moraine State Park is about 15 miles from Ben's house.  It has a huge lake and lots of hiking trails

Moraine State Park

Biking the Pine Creek Gorge..........

The Pine Creek Gorge from the Colton Point Lookout

The Pine Creek Gorge is often referred to as the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania.  While it may not be quite as grandiose as the Grand Canyon out west, it is spectacular in it's own way.  The floor of the gorge is just under 1,500 feet deep and nearly a mile wide at it's widest point.  Through the gorge runs Pine Creek, an 87 mile tributary of the Susquehanna River.

Bear Mountain Lodge, our home for this trip, is located just a few miles from the Pine Creek Gorge

Along 62 miles of the creek an old railroad line has been converted into a multiuse trail appropriately named the Pine Creek Trail.  USA Today listed the Pine Creek Trail as one of the 10 best trails for biking.  On a clear, crisp day as we biked along side the creek, under a canopy of colorful leaves we are in complete agreement.

Pine Creek Rail Trail
We started our day at Pine Creek Outfitters, which is located less than a mile from the trail.  They outfitted us with nice bikes, a map and pointed us in the direction of the trailhead.  We enjoyed biking 17.5 miles of the flat, well maintained trail, going from the Marsh Creek Access to Blackwell Village (pop. 247). The scenery was incredible the whole way and there were a number of rest areas with benches, picnic tables and hiking trails, which made the ride a leisurely one.

The welcoming committee at Pine Creek Outfitters

Pine Creek Outfitters
We reached our destination of Blackwell Village around 1:30.  Which gave us plenty of time to enjoy an ice cream cone from Millers Store before our arranged 2:00 PM pick up.  After picking up the car we got some great views from above by going to the outlooks at Colton Point State Park on the west rim and Leonard Harrison State Park on the east rim.

Along the trail

Tiadaghton is the halfway point in this ride.  It was a great place for a picnic

Millers Store...…..water, food, art and most importantly ice cream!

Colton Point Overlook

Leonard Harrison State Park Overlook

Today, with a ton of great memories, we pack up and head southwest towards Slippery Rock, PA. Which is where Ben and his dog Allie call home.  There'll be a few stops along the way.  The first one will most likely be back along the Pine Creek Trail for a nice little hike.
At some point yesterday as we were enjoying the cool temperatures and scenery Beth proclaimed "I think I'm a yankee"...……………….she quickly followed that proclamation up with "at least until winter"!


  

Rainy day fun...........

The mums in downtown Corning were enjoying the rain...….and so were we!

The New York state line is just a short drive of around 30 minutes from where we are staying in Wellsboro, PA.  A few miles further, and located on the Chemung River, is the town of Corning.  This town of around 12,000 is the corporate headquarters of Fortune 500 company, Corning Incorporated.  There are probably very few homes in America, or around the world that don't have some type of cookware that was manufactured by Corning.  While they are most commonly known for their cookware, they are also a major player in numerous arenas of the glass industry including eyeglasses, optical fiber, emissions control technology and scientific glass products.  In other words, they've earned their spot as a Fortune 500 company.
The weather, as promised by the weather channel was pretty soggy, so it was suggested by our host here at the Bear Mountain Lodge to visit the Corning Museum of Glass.  In spite of the rain, the drive was easy and the color of the leaves seemed to be enhanced by the gray clouds.  The museum is a very large, modern building located just a block from the Corning corporate headquarters and the Chemung River.  It was the perfect rainy day activity.  There were numerous displays tracing the history of glass back to the time before Christ up to it's uses in so many aspects of our lives today.  Additionally, there were demonstrations of glassblowing, flameworking and glass breaking (safety glass).

The entrance to the Corning Museum of Glass

Glassblowing Demonstration inside the museum

Crystal Punchbowl....one of the largest made.  It weighs over 50 pounds empty.

The pumpkin on the right is the largest glass pumpkin ever made.  It weights over 97 pounds, making it slightly larger than the one I made

This and the pictures below are from the Contemporary Glassworks Display 

 
Beth and I even tried our on hands at creating our own glass masterpieces out of 2,000 degree molten globs.  Beth made a lovely flower with a curly stem.  I stayed more seasonal, making a pumpkin.  Beth was able to do some actual hands on work with her creation, bending and shaping the flower and the stem.  Thankfully mine just required some hot air, something I've been told I'm full of on numerous occasions.

Decked out and ready to create a masterpiece

Beth's instructors' unprotected arm is close to something very hot!  

A quick picture of the finished product!

Blowing hot air into my pumpkin...……...

or taking a hit off a bong!

As soon as we were finished with our works of art, we snapped a quick picture before they had to be placed in the 900+ degree "cooling oven".  They cool down overnight.  The finished product can then be picked up the next day or shipped to the address of your choice.  Ours will hopefully be waiting on us when we return to Anna Maria Island.  Unless some high level art thieves get wind of them and intercept them in route between New York and Florida.  I'm sure they're worth a fortune!
The museum offers a continuously running bus that will take visitors from the Corning Museum of Glass a short distance over the river to the downtown area of Corning where there is another museum, The Rockwell Museum.  Although we read nice things about this museum, which is a Smithsonian affiliate museum,  we didn't have time to visit it.  Also, if you plan to visit it, just note, it's artwork collected by the Rockwell Family of Corning and not affiliated with Norman Rockwell.

Corning Town Square is located in the Gaffers District of the city

As we were leaving the museum the weather began to clear, giving us enough time to make the 20 minute drive from Corning to Watkins Glen, NY.  This small community is most famous for it's motorsports race track, but it is also known for it's state park (Watkins Glen State Park) and for being on the tip of Seneca Lake, one of the five main lakes of New York's Finger Lake Region.  There are eleven lakes altogether.
The leaves between Corning and Watkins Glen were the best we have seen so far.  We enjoyed a short hike along the gorge trail and a walk out on the gazebo over the lake before heading back to Wellsboro.

Spectacular color between Corning and Watkins Glen

One of the numerous waterfalls along the Watkins Glen State Park Gorge Trail 

Seneca Lake Marina

Gazebo over the lake in Watkins Glen

The pier over Seneca Lake with the town of Watkins Glen in the background

Rain or shine, a day in Corning and Watkins Glen are sure to make some special memories!

Chasing cooler temperatures and fall leaves.........

Kinzua Skybridge at Kinzua Bridge State Park

We left Anna Maria Island on Friday morning.  Our next adventure actually had us splitting up for a short period of time.  I dropped Beth off in St. Pete where she enjoyed a little solitude (something we rarely get) and then a visit from one of her friends from back when we lived in Port Charlotte.  They had a great time walking along the waterfront, visiting the Dali Museum and catching up.
I went on to Gainesville for my annual "boys weekend".  This is when I get together with some of my lifelong friends from Mulberry who also attended the University of Florida, as well as several other guys who we roomed with at some point during our academic pursuits.  Somehow we all managed to graduate and become semi-productive members of society.  These friendships are something I value tremendously and the weekend of rehashing old stories that become more exaggerated every year is great.  Topping it all off, the good guys won on Saturday!
Reunited, we flew to Pittsburgh on Sunday morning.  We left behind temperatures that were still in the high 80's/low 90's.  Stepping out of the airport we were greeted by refreshing temperatures in the high 50's!  Cooler temperatures were easy to find!
Although Ben lives only an hour from Pittsburgh we won't see him until Wednesday afternoon.  We're spending the first three nights at the Bear Mountain Lodge in Wellsboro, PA.  Of course, we turned the four hour drive into an all day affair, arriving at the four room lodge just before sunset.
Bear Mountain Lodge
The drive through the rolling foothills and the Allegheny National Forest was spectacular.  Although the leaves haven't reached their peak yet, the various shades of reds and yellows mixing with green was quite a site that became more pronounced as we drove northeast through farmland, forests and small communities.  Watch your speed through the small communities!  Thankfully I got off with just a verbal warning!

Kinzua Dam on the Allegheny River

As if the drive wasn't enough, the stop at Kinzua Bridge State Park was really interesting.  In 1881 construction began on a bridge across the Kinzua Creek, a small creek that lies in a deep gorge between two mountains.  The bridge was over 300 feet high and 2,000 feet long.  As trains got bigger, heavier and longer it became necessary to rebuild the bridge in the early 1900's.  Freight trains continued to use the bridge until the 70's when the use shifted to just excursion tourist trains.
In 2002 the bridge was declared unsafe and closed to all rail traffic until repairs could be made.  On July 21, 2003 while repairs were underway a significant portion of the bridge was destroyed by a tornado.  Instead of rebuilding, it was closed until someone came up with the idea of using the undamaged section as a pedestrian skybridge.  Now visitors flock to the state park to walk out over the gorge as well as enjoy a walk or bike ride along the adjoining Knox Kane Railroad trail.
We didn't have time for a hike but we did enjoy walking out on the skybridge and taking in the views of the gorge from 300 feet above it.

Part of the skybridge

The remains of the destroyed section of the bridge in the gorge 300 feet below

The leaves in the Kinzua Valley are starting to change

It was a great journey and the destination is amazing, but that's for the next blog!

Day Tripping Around Florida.............Sunken Gardens

The sign that has been welcoming visitors to Sunken Gardens for years!

In theory it's supposed to be cooling off in Florida now.  The first official day of fall was a week ago.  As we all know, sometimes theories don't work out.  So far the theory of it cooling off hasn't proven to be much of a reality around these parts.  Yesterday it was in the lower 90's with plenty of humidity to go along with the heat.
To celebrate the arrival of fall Beth and I have put together a list of around 15 or so local attractions/places of interest that will be easy day trips.  Our goal is to do one a week while we are here.  Undeterred by the somewhat oppressive heat we started checking them off yesterday.
First up, was a visit to Sunken Gardens, one of the oldest of Florida's "roadside attractions".  In case you're wondering, a "roadside attraction" is defined by Wikipedia as a feature along the side of the road that is meant to attract tourists.  Sunken Gardens has been doing that since 1935, long before the biggies such as Disney, Universal Studios, Sea World and Busch Gardens existed.

The entrance to Sunken Gardens in the 60's

The history of the gardens and how it came to be actually goes back to 1903.  A gentleman named George Turner, Sr.  purchased four acres of property in what at the time was on the outskirts of downtown St. Petersburg.  Mr. Turner was a plumber by trade, but also an avid gardener.  He figured the best soil for creating a nice garden was at the bottom of a small lake.  He drained the lake and developed his garden in the area which sat 15 feet below street level.  Without the aid of a marketing/public relations firm he came up with the very creative and accurate name of Turner's Sunken Gardens.
As word of the lush gardens spread, locals and tourists began to stop by wanting to walk through the gardens.  In true entrepreneurial spirit, he started charging 25 cents (about $4.50 in todays terms) for visitors to enjoy his creation.
As St. Petersburg grew, so did the popularity of Sunken Gardens.  In the 50's the gardens added wildlife such as monkeys, alligators, flamingos and other birds to the collection of tropical plants and flowers.  In 1967 it expanded even more, opening what was then billed as the world's largest gift shop.
As larger tourist attractions began to make their way into the state, interest in the gardens started to decline.  Thankfully Sunken Gardens didn't suffer the same fate as many of these attractions.  In 1998 it was designated as a historic landmark and in 1999 was purchased by the city of St. Petersburg.
While there are a few animals remaining (flamingos, parrots, koi and the biggest alligator snapping turtle that I've ever seen), Sunken Gardens is once again mainly a lush garden oasis in what has now become a busy section of St. Petersburg.

Koi Pond

Spiral Ginger Plant

In her day NaNa was an expert at growing crotons...….she said these were some of the largest she had ever seen!

Birds of a feather...…...

We purchased a one year family membership using a groupon.  Not only does this give us unlimited admission for the year, we also get admission to over 200 Botanical Gardens around the US.  With the groupon and reciprocal agreement we feel we got as good of a deal as those folks who paid a quarter back in 1935!   We already have plans to visit several gardens around Florida with NaNa, and Beth and I will use it as we travel around the United States.

Reciprocal Gardens Directory

Children's Area.  You can tell you're in Florida.  Check out the lizard on the arm of the largest minion.

As for our visit to Sunken Gardens, it was great!  We spent about an hour and a half (which is all the time you need to devote for a visit) roaming through the gardens enjoying the shaded paths on a sunny, hot Sunday afternoon.
Sunken Gardens is easy to reach, the parking is free, there are a number of restaurants in the area (the gardens shares their parking lot with a Carrabba's that gives a 20% discount if you show your ticket) and is a real blast from the past!

The paths are somewhat narrow but it is wheelchair accessible throughout most of the gardens

There are numerous restaurants along 4th street.  We enjoyed an inexpensive and very good lunch at Fourth Street Shrimp Company.

There are no thrill rides or technological wonders to behold at Sunken Gardens.  It's just a simple garden with benches, picnic tables, and nice shaded walking paths........just the way George Turner Sr. intended.  I'm sure it's a place we will enjoy "day tripping" to again.

Sunken Gardens