Flash Back Tuesday

 Good Morning everyone. Yes I know EARLY, well I woke up this morning knowing what my blog would be about today so I figure why not do it now before I start my day and get into a project and lose all track of time.
 We are having Bill''s Everything but the Kitchen Sink soup tonight and I need to figure out something to go with it. That is not what I am going to write about but that thought just keeps popping up in my head so I wrote it down in hopes of making it stop.
 Today subject is as always walking, photos, and food. The walk was a long one and took 6 hours to drive to. Totally worth the time and the drive.
     In October we like to go away for our anniversary. This year was no different other then I had to hire a sitter for mom. We took a long weekend and traveled to Corning NY. Let me just say this is the perfect time of the year to visit that part of the country. The cool brisk air a nice treat after a   stifling  summer heat  and the colors are absolutely breathtaking. We walked and drove all over the little town of corning and the surrounding area.

There were water falls everywhere we went

With little or no warning you drive right by some very pretty waterfalls. Bill spotted this one just as we almost passed it.

 We found cute little towns every where we went with some extremely good restaurants.We saved a little money by staying in a hotel with a kitchen suite and only eating lunch out. Thanks to the grill at the hotel and some very flavorful olive oil we had romantic delicious dinners every night we were there. Our lunches were all real real good and different then what we normally eat with both of us deciding to try new things. My favorite restaurant had nothing to do with the food and more to do with the 50.00 I won while having lunch there. The restaurant had a lottery game you could play while you dined. I smile every time I think about it, Bill will never go to the bathroom again when playing this game. He came out of the men's room just as the waitress was handing me my winnings. I do wish I had a picture of his face he never knew what hit him. I am still now giggling as I write this.
   During one of our many drives we found the Gorge. The first day we saw it we couldn't go in because with all the danger of the trail no dogs allowed and we had the boys with us. As close as we could get to the trail with the dogs was on the back end of it.

 That little preview had me drooling at the thought of walking this trail. Had we done a little homework we may have done the trail differently and I for one am glad we didn't do our homework. The trail is not a complete circle like so many, this trail you either walk up it and take the shuttle or walk back down, or vise versa, we walked up and took the shuttle back down. The walk was I don't know how many miles and 832 steps up some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen. For a great deal of the walk I was more then scared being so high up and so close to the edge but this is one time it was worth pushing my comfort zone.

The back side of Bill as he climbs one of the  many  sets of steps

This was one of my heart stoppers you notice there is no ledge on the edge of the step. My back was against the wall taking this picture.

Now I know how many miles

 If you are ever in corning you just have to go visit the Corning Glass Museum, it will take 2 days to see it all and the admission you pay the first day covers the 2nd and much of the museum is free.  Nothing I have ever seen compares to this place and they are right now in the process of making it bigger. Even if your not into pretty dishes and glassware this museum will hold interest for  you with its magnifying glass, and bending glass, displays on how to make different types of glass and fiber optics I could go on for hours  there is just so much to see and do there.

I only took 1 photo in the museum and I only took this because the glass pumpkins where everywhere you went. One followed me home from an artist shop in the town of Corning.

 Just don't use your GPS to find it if your hotel is directly across the street from the museum. I noticed as we pulled into the hotel that the glass museum was right there ( the only way I would have known about the museum was seeing it. I did not do my home work for this trip.) Bill to busy navigating traffic and didn't notice the museum, he saw the flags and buses in the parking lot and thought it was a bus station. So when I said we would do the museum first thing in the morning because we could walk there Bill looked at me strange but agreed. When he pulled out the GPS I was more then a little confused we literately had to walk across the parking lot, across the street and into the museum door. The GPS takes us in the wrong direction and tells Bill it is a 14 minute walk. I say no and I point right at the museum but Bill is a man and you know men and directions so off we walk. We get a nice little tour of the area and all the corning office buildings and factories, finally I get tired of this and ask some one on their way to work for directions. Sure enough we back track the way we came and once again I wish I had a picture of Bill's face when we stood on the corner and looked at both the hotel and the museum all at the same time. You just know that was a laugh that lasted a good long time. 

On the way home we stopped to water the dogs and this baby with it's mom walked right by us not caring a bit that we were there.

  " What Was Dinner"? Homemade freshness. I had a bowl of tomatoes that were about to become compost so one of my projects yesterday was to find a use for the tomatoes. I found a use for them they became spaghetti sauce. I cooked them down all afternoon in 2 cups of red wine and then strained them in a cheese cloth squeezing as much liquid from the pulp as possible. I added onion, garlic, bell pepper, carrot, mushroom, and okra to the pot and then put my tomato liquid in as well and let it simmer all evening long till dinner. I made meat balls and baked them adding them to my sauce for the last half hour or so. Last but not least I made garlic bread and served dinner buffet style.

 I have to say it was really very tasty and I will do that again. 
    I hope you enjoyed flash back Tuesday as much as did and I am wishing everyone a happy day. Thank you for stopping by.