Oneonta, NY (05-28-11)

         The last few days have flown by. Paul and I met up with Elaine and Robert, our internet/blogging friends we had never met in person until now. They are from England, and travel in their RV throughout this country for a few months at a time, flying home to England for a few months between visits. Like us, they are having such a good time living this life, they have no concrete plans for ending their journey.
We were so  busy exploring, hiking and visiting, and it's hard to believe we have already left them!  As usual, whenever I am with people, I forget to take pictures. I'll try to do better while I am in Boston, but I hope nobody holds their breath.
             Our first day of exploring started with Cooperstown, home of Baseball's Hall of Fame. We meandered through the downtown and waterfront area, but all 4 of us were in agreement that the Baseball aspect of the town didn't capture our interest. I, of course, am a Red Sox fan, but I just like to watch them play, I am not interested in collecting signed baseballs and trying out different styles of bats.






        We soon headed to the "Beverage trail" which consisted of two wineries and two breweries, so there was something for everyone- except Paul, who doesn't drink much wine and won't touch beer at all. But, since he was our driver, that worked out perfectly for the rest of us!  The first place we stopped had a cider mill, with a small room that had exhibits explaining the process of making cider etc. It was the biggest of the venues, with a large store and a small restaurant.



Ommengang Brewery beer lesson


From there we moved on to the nicer of the two breweries, Ommegang.  Their beer is brewed in traditional Belgian ways and I admit I really liked a few of  them. There are two ways to infuse bubbles into beer, and Ommegang uses the natural method as opposed to injecting CO2 into it. We toured this brewery and found it to be well-run, clean and interesting.  After the tour,  the guide taught us a little about each beer before giving us a taste.  It was all well done. 



They were having a few issues that day because the storms we had the previous evening had knocked out the electricity, and it hadn't been restored yet, but they were up to the challenge.

 The second brewery that we went to wasn't up to the same standards as the first one, but we still enjoyed it, as well as the 2nd winery.  Our plans were to go over to Elaine and Robert's for dinner that night, but we didn't get around to eating lunch until the 4th stop on our route, so no one was really hungry for dinner.
     Saturday was a different story however.  The four of us spent the day at Gilbert Lake State Park, hiking around the lake, finding geocaches ( I think we found 3) and dodging raindrops.  We hiked about 5.5 miles and along the way came across some downed power lines.  We managed to walk around them but we could see where they had scorched the grass when the lines fell, which made it a bit spooky to walk over them. 


hiking with the power lines ( they were not "live")

      Dinner was at Elaine and Robert's that night and we were all pretty hungry.  Homemade pizza.  I gotta say, it doesn't get better than that!  The special beer from the brewery did add to the ambiance as well though.  After a great night of food and conversation, we called it a day.
        Yesterday Paul and Robert worked on a problem Robert was having with his motorhome for a while, after which Paul and I did some errands, and in general just goofed around for the afternoon.  Dinner was at our "house" this time.  Paul made his Chile Rellenos and once again the food and conversation were great.
    This morning we took off and arrived in Massachusetts early this afternoon.