New York Welcomes Us with Outstretched Arms

Neither of us had been to western New York state before but we were both pleasantly surprised. The landscape was very hilly and intermixed with forests and farms. Our destination was friends I had worked with in Coldfoot, Alaska. They have a beautiful home on nearly 200 acres in the western Finger Lakes region. Their hospitality was extremely generous. Not only did we get a personalized tour of the area but we were fed a lot of great home cooked food!! Although we only spent a couple of days with them it was an incredible experience and we can’t wait till the next time we can visit.

This is Don and Nita, two of the nicest people on Earth. They were the campground hosts and worked at the visitor center in Coldfoot for two summers.

They have lived in this beautiful house on almost 200 acres for 42 years.

This is a photo overlooking their land.
Unbeknownst to us western New York is wine country. The hillsides surrounding the nearby town of Hammondsport were covered in vineyards. The lake you see in the background is Keuka Lake, one of the Finger Lakes.

We visited the Bully Hill Winery for a tour and a tasting of five of their wines.
Nita even grabbed some of the grapes to bring home she liked them so much!!
Hammondsport is also the hometown of Glenn Curtis, the inventor of the float plane. He started out working in a bicycle shop before he started inventing small motors capable of mounting on a bike or a plane. He was the fastest man alive in the early 1900’s after he went 136 mph on an 8-cylinder motorcycle he invented.