- By Dan Veaner
- Around Town
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On Sunday we went to the Sterling Renaissance Festival. We had gone before and been a bit underwhelmed. I'd been to better festivals in other parts of the country. And the last time we went the joust was a very long wait, a lot of shouting, and then a short, anticlimactic contest. This summer the festival seemed much improved, with more entertainment, raucous fun and a much more satisfying joust.
Our favorite part was the pillow fight, where two opponents try to knock each other off a big log by smacking each others with pillows. A boisterous host helped the underdogs, berating older brothers who fought little sisters and a young lad who fought his own mother. It was played for laughs and the loser had to be submissive to the winner for the rest of the day. Except the boy who fought his mother -- he had to be submissive for life!
Another favorite was the maze. This was our favorite from last time, but revisiting it didn't disappoint. It presented a challenge, but you never felt you were entirely lost. The food wasn't so great, and overpriced in my opinion. But there were many shops with interesting things including armor, glass -- the glassblowers demonstration was great -- costumes, and hats.
Sunday we recovered from Saturday, but Monday we decided to pick blueberries. Off we went to Grisamore Farms, where we got buckets and picked blueberries. We always pick enough to freeze so we have enough to make blueberry pancakes all Winter. But that didn't mean we couldn't have some of them in a delicious blueberry pie!
Tuesday we decided to rent a canoe, so off we went. Except we didn't know where to rent one. So we stopped at the Chamber of Commerce's Visitor's Center, where they recommended we go to Puddle Docker's Kayak Shop. A few minutes later we were getting fitted for life jackets, and were plopped into the Lake Cayuga Inlet. Three of us went on this excursion, and coordinating the paddling was a challenge, but we managed to make it to Stewart Park and back.
It only cost $20 for two hours, and seeing things like the Farmers Market and Cass Park from the inlet gives you a whole different perspective on these spots. It was good exercise, and a good time, and we managed to coordinate the paddling well enough to not want to kill each other, not capsize, and not collide with the MV Haendel, AKA The Floating Classroom, as it cruised past us on its way to the lake.
Years ago we were fond of visiting the Earl Estates Meadery when it was located in Locke. Mead is a honeyed wine that was popular in the Middle Ages, and good mead is pretty tasty. traditionally it was consumed by newlyweds on their wedding night, thus the 'honey' in 'honeymoon.' It is still made in England an other parts of Europe, including Poland. But the Earles moved their business to Penn Yann, and while we've occasionally seen their booth at the State Fair, we hadn't visited the new meadery.
As before, the Earles keep bees, and over the years they have amassed an impressive stack of gold, silver and bronze for their mead and fruit wines. We splurged and bought a case of assorted meads and wines, then headed back to Watkins Glen for lunch. We walked around town for a while before heading home.
Thursday we were off to the Corning Glass Museum. But the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. Or "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley," as Robert Burns actually said in the original quote! We only got as far as Wegmens when car sickness struck. After dealing with that we ended up at the Pyramid Ithaca Mall, where we bought the kids shoes for school, then had buffet lunch at Wok Village after determining our car-sick little one was sufficiently recovered. I think the kids had almost as much fun at the mall as they would have in Corning, but we plan to try again some other time. After that we made an early day of it and went home to digest for the rest of the day.
But we were off to Rochester Friday to spend the say in the Museum and Science Center. This is a marvelous hands-on museum, and it was a pretty cheap day trip, because our Ithaca Science Center membership card got us in for free. I skipped the space ship simulators while the rest of the family was hurtled through the cosmos. But I enjoyed exhibits on how things work, Native American artifacts, and the history of Rochester. The kids had a great time in the Adventure Zone, where they could build things and try all kinds of hands on adventures.
We ate in the museum cafeteria, which had typically bland museum food. But that meant we could spend the whole day in the museum, which was a treat. The drive is a couple of hours, so we probably spent more on gas than anything else in the day.
It just goes to show that you can have a great time by staying close to home. There was some temptation to stay home and do chores, but we resisted that as much as possible to take advantage of our time off and spend time as a family. And there was something for everyone in everything we did. Not bad for staying home!
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