Chautauqua Institution, New York

I've been lucky enough to make two trips to Chautauqua in the past week. Chautauqua Institution is just an hour an a half away, on the shore of Chautauqua Lake in New York. Founded in 1874, the summer retreat is based on four pillars: arts, education, religion and recreation. Over the years, the Institution has hosted speakers that include: Susan B. Anthony, Lucille Ball, Gary Trudeau, Tim Zagat, Amelia Earhart and many Presidents. Visitors park their cars outside the gates, then walk the picturesque streets. As you stroll around the perfectly manicured grounds, you feel transported into another world. Musicians, artists and speakers seem to be around every corner.

Bob on one of the brick covered streets

Bob and I visited during Cinema Week (each week has its own theme). We heard Matthew Modine speak in an outdoor amphitheater.

An artists painting.

Ben sitting on a chair in someone's yard. Their sign invites visitors to sit, relax and think awhile.

Me with my mom, aunt and kids.

Lucille Ball History in Jamestown, New York

Lucille Ball was born just an hour and a half away, in Jamestown, New York. We made the trip to visit the home where Lucy was born, her childhood home and the I Love Lucy Museum. The museum held fabulous Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz clothes and pictures and also played clips from her tv series. The playhouse had costumes and recreations of the sets from I Love Lucy. There are some passionate Lucy fans out there!

William with Nanny, Papa and Aunt Irie in front of a recreation of the kitchen from the Ricardo's New York apartment in I Love Lucy.

Pip (yes, Nanny and Papa's puppy finally has a name!) on the steps of Lucy's home.

Jamestown Pioneer Arts Festival

Every year, for I don't know how long, we've gone to the Jamestown Pioneer Arts Festival. On the bank of Pymatuning, the festival has Civil War and Native American encampments as well as arts and crafts and food booths.

Civil War Encampment from Pennsylvania Bucktails.

This guy is there every year. He had a new trick this year where he'd challenge people to a tug of war while standing on blocks of wood. As soon as his opponent began pulling he'd loosen his grip. He won every time.

New this year - Abe Lincoln himself! He even handed out cards with one of the newly designed Abe Lincoln pennies.

Conneaut Lake Park

Conneaut Lake Park is open for business this year! The park, originally opened as Exposition Park in 1892, sits on the opposite side of the lake from our cottage. For years it has suffered from neglect and financial troubles. The money problems were so bad that that park couldn't open in 2007 and 2008 (1995 was the only other year in its 117 year history that it didn't open). Despite being run down, the park is a favorite summer destination for the kids.

The Devil's Den, around since 1968, features the 'infamous gun wall'.

Amy and Tessa, a little scared, at the end of the ride.

William and Ben

Kate

Ben

The kids are old enough that this is the first year we didn't go in Kiddieland at all.

Kate, Amy, Tessa, William and Ben (missing John who was out golfing).

Campbell's Pottery

Campbell's Pottery, in nearby Cambridge Springs, is located amidst fields of lilies. The store sells their own pottery as well as jewelry from various artists. I love browsing in the store and walking around the grounds.

A pair of swans in the pond.

Geese walking at the edge of the pond. I love the nesting areas set up in the water.

Fields of lilies.

Amy and Tessa.

Amish Dairy Goats

We enjoyed an absolute treat today during our stop at Schwartz's Country Store, a local Amish store. Schwartz's caters to Amish and carries everything from black boots and shoes to coal and coal burning stoves. We were greeted inside the store by the very talkative father and five of his very quiet girls. Another toddler girl and three young boys ran around outside.

The Schwartz's also run a dairy goat business, so after shopping (a tub of bag balm for me- supposedly great for chapped hands - and a pair of scissors for my mom) we wandered over to the barn to peek at the goats. One of the girls happened to be walking behind us on her way to milk the goats. Delilah invited us into the barn to watch the milking, which takes place twice a day - at 4 am and 4 pm. We watched as the four girls (the oldest no more than 15) ran barefoot through the barn, filled the troughs with feed and led the goats in to the milking area. With bare hands and tin buckets, they milked each goat. An amazing thing to watch. I managed to get a few pictures of the goats, but didn't take any of the family since they don't allow their picture to be taken.

After watching the milking, though, I will say that there is a reason our dairy products are pasturized. I would not recommend raw milk products!

Our view inside the barn. The goats were very noisy and ready to be fed and milked.

The baby goats jumping up at us.

These goats are ready to be milked. The walked into this room from the attached barn that you see in the background. They immediately jumped up onto the raised platform and found their place.

Conneaut Cellars Winery in Conneaut Lake

Many local businesses have been struggling since the close of Conneaut Lake Park. We do everything we can to shop local and support local businesses. We are lucky to have Conneaut Cellars Winery nearby. Buying any type of alcohol in Pennsylvania is difficult. Wine and liquor must be purchased from a state store, which means a drive into Meadville. Beer can be purchased from beer distributors, which is fun because of the novelty of driving through and popping your trunk open for the case of beer. For some strange reason, beer can only be purchased by the case. Fortunately, we can skip the drive to the state store for wine since we have Conneaut Cellars in town.

Conneaut Cellars gets its grapes from the Lake Erie area, then it makes the wine in the Conneaut Lake winery. The Lake Erie area boasts the 2nd largest grape production in the country, just after Napa Valley. These are some grapes growing in front of the winery...

The winery rates its wines on a sweetness scale from 0 (not sweet) to 4 (very sweet). And, by very sweet, they mean very sweet. Even a 2 seems sweet to our California palates. We like to stick to the '0' wines, but the winery says that the sweeter wines are their most popular.

On a tour of the winery...

Making a purchase...

Looking from the winery to the lake...

Read Between the Signs and Signs and Flowers in Meadville

For the past 7 summers we've watched the growing highway art along 322 as you drive from Conneaut Lake to Meadville. A partnership between Allegheny College and PennDot (Pennsylvania Department of Transportation) has created two art projects using road signs - Signs & Flowers and Read Between the Signs. The flowers create a huge flower garden in one corner of the parking lot, with flowers high enough to dwarf a man. Read Between the Signs depicts rural and street scenes along a good stretch of the road. All of this out of road signs! It's constantly evolving and is guaranteed to have something new each year.

The detail is amazing. Look at this window...

To give you an idea of the size, this is my son standing by a street scene...

You can see how far this stretches...

A flower from Signs & Flowers...

Pioneer Arts Festival in Jamestown

We go to the Pioneer Arts Festival every year. It's held nearby, on the banks of Pymatuning (in a beautiful area, not near the Spillway and those bread-eating fish). The two day event includes everything...Civil War reenactment, Native American village, crafts, kids activities, and pie eating contests.

Civil War reenactment...

Firing the guns...

In the Native American area...

The Native Americans in this area ate well! Examples of their food...

Candle making...

Blacksmiths...

Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls is less than three hours north of Conneaut Lake. Our daughter said that she wasn't going home this summer until she saw Niagara Falls. So, yesterday, with a packed car, we headed North. It had been 15 years since Bob and I had been. We looked at the falls from both the American and Canadian sides, and we took the obligatory ride on the Maid of the Mist, the tour boat that brings you on a very wet ride to the base of the falls.

You get very close to the falls, and very wet as a result! On the top deck of the Maid of the Mist...

Ninety per cent of the water goes over the Canadian Falls, and only ten per cent over the American Falls. View of the Canadian Falls from the Maid of the Mist...

In the blue Maid of the Mist raincoats...

Looking down at the Maid of the Mist...

In case you couldn't figure this out yourself...

Looking at the Canadian Falls from Goat Island on the American side...

On the Canadian side with Bridal Veil in the background...

Even looking at the falls from above, you become soaking wet because there is so much mist. A double rainbow in the mist...