Ginohn's Trip to New York State, July

GINOHN'S 2002 NEW YORK TRIP
At the end of July we took a trip to New York State, mostly around the Finger Lakes region. Here are some snapshots from our handy digital camera.			Click the pictures to see bigger versions.
Right before we left, we discovered a few cauliflower mushrooms (they look like brains) growing in our woods. Yummy!
Dreaming of brains.	Brains! Brains!	Mmm. Brains...	Brains! More brains!
Starwood, our first stop - The Starwood culture is one of the kindest, laid back bunch of people we've ever spent 30 hours with. John played didjeridoo with about 25 other didj pullers, and he had the honor of climbing the didj-dome to light a dazzling fireworks display. The next night we watched a 3-story engineered timber sort of pyramid structure burn to the ground while hundreds of naked painted people danced and drummed around it, and large fireworks shot out of the fire. The weather during Starwood was oppressively hot and humid, with some terrific thunderstorms during the bonfire (the fire lasted all night long). The following two pictures of Starwood were taken by our friend Dorian, who also took a lot more, displayed at his site.
Gina enjoys the weather.		John plays whale songs.
We stayed at Pollywogg Holler for the next few days. Pollywogg is a primitive B&B run by Bill and Barb Castle. They built all of the cabins, sauna, and shower by hand. Bill is an expert woodcraft guy. There's a big stone pizza oven for parties on Wednesday and Sunday nights. When we arrived on Sunday night there were guitar players, garlic pizza, and homemade black raspberry wine (Gina found a wine that she likes!) Some cowboy reenactors also rode in, complete with six-guns, long coats, and beautiful horses. We chatted late into the night with a nice young couple, Karl and Jen, who were planning for their wedding there.
Loft over the wood shop.	Bill washes his garlic.	(Blurry) Jen and Karl.	A path to the cabin.
Inside the sauna anteroom.	Outside the sauna.	The main cabin.	See the big window! That's where we stayed.
We slept very comfortably in a loft room over the wood shop, and spent lots of time roaming around the Holler, looking at the sculptures that pepper the woods and fields. We used Pollywogg as a base while visiting Alfred during the day.
Gina eating a blurry meal. That's a big wood fired oven, behind her.	John cranking a ... thing.	Polliwog's paths.	More paths.
On a lovely but somewhat hot day we walked around Alfred U. Some of the highlights for Gina were finally seeing her class yearbook at the library, and eating at the Jet, where they have added tons of wonderful vegetarian fare since she last visited. Gina used to DJ at the campus radio station which was then located in the Stienhiem, Gina's favorite building on campus. It's now the Career and Counseling Center, and the radio station, WALF, is in the (also new) campus center.
Alfred University, where Gina went to school.	John takes off his sandals for King Alfred.	The Steinheim at Alfred.	It's a Castle.
Another highlight was surprising, and being surprised by the handful of old friends who were still around. When we arrived at Pollywogg, an old schoolmate, Lori Cevera, was there strumming her guitar, and she clued us in on who was where so we could find them. Pictured below is Big Daddy Bill Schultze and his new wife, Jen, and baby. He said we made his day when we walked into his place. Later we found Nicci Sturniolo (Graves) who is also married and has an adorable little girl. We also found Gina's old glass professor, Fred Tschida, who was as talkative and charming as ever. And later in Corning we randomly ran into an old friend of John's, Mary Pollock, who is married now to Joel O'Dorisio. They run a glass and ceramics studio/gallery in the heart of Corning.
The Schultzes		Pollywogg Stage.	Amethyst gave John a didjeridoo!
Next was Watkins Glen and the Finger Lakes Region. We stayed at the Farm Sanctuary, and checked out lots of gorges in the area, plus Ithica and Corning. Here are only some of the pictures we took, the rest are on undeveloped film. The City of Watkins Glen, named after some guy named Watkin and a nearby glen, is primarily interested in racing these days. Lots of checkered flags and race memorabilia adorn the shop windows. We hiked up the glen and ate at a couple restaurants. John saw a plane that he's flown in several dreams, long ago. Now it's sitting on WG's main street.
Watkins Glen.	A very touristy place...	... so No Swimming!	John's dreamplane.
The falls near Ithica are less populated, but still sport No Swimming signs. Even so, during one hike up Buttermilk Falls we saw many people swimming, and diving off rock ledges into deep pools. Gina was about to join them but the Fun Police showed up, and we continued our hike instead of paying a fine or what-have-you. We later visited Treman Park which hosts Lucifer Falls, boasting a 115 foot drop.
Treman Falls.	Lucifer Falls.	Lucifer Falls More. Get it? Lucifer Falls. Hail Satan. Brains! Nevermind.	A beautiful stone bridge.
Farm Sanctuary gives refuge to badly treated animals, from Easter bunnies thrown out after Easter to cows that jumped walls to escape slaughter houses. Gina once interned at the farm, over a decade ago, for three months. Since then it has grown and continues to take in downed animals from auctions, chicks thrown into dumpsters, and the occasional lab refugee. The B&B at Farm Sanctuary is most excellent. Our cabin had two queen size beds, electricity, and a large front porch. On our last day there we took a tour. Gina saw a few animals she had seen before, and many new ones.
Gina in her element: Farm Sanctuary.	Gina and Penelope.	Sheep have tails! Long ones too, if you don't cut 'em off.	An old pig grunts hello.
All the animals at the Sanctuary were very docile, even the 800-pound pigs! Gina was a little bummed that the turkeys weren't available for petting. They're very cuddly talkative creatures, and soft, too.
Geese! (blurry, sorry.)	Gina with a pig.	Gina with another pig.	That's Some Pig.
Before our trip, friends asked Gina if we'd visit Niagara Falls, and she said no, we had other places to go. Well, we ended up going to the Falls anyway. We walked along Goat Island to the touristy American side with Gina's siblings Lori and Grant, and Grant's friend Lynn.
Niagara Falls.	Slowly I turned...	Step by step...	Inch by inch...
Ya can't get too many shots of that rainbow.	Blurry Grant & Lynn.	Ginohn amidst a lovely Niagara backdrop, marred by, uh, Progress.
The Denn Family Reunion occurs once every two years. This was our last stop on our tour of New York. We also visited her Mother's side of the family, the Militellos, who are textbook Italian-Americans. They're lots of fun, argue a lot and make you eat too much pie. (That was really good pie.) We stayed with many other Denns at Aunt Marjie's house. She has two extremely spoiled and lovable doggies named Kibu and Metu. She also has two Siamese cats, Pasha and Saki. Don't pet Saki! She'll take your arm off. That was one scary cat. Very pretty though. No pictures, sorry.
About 1/8 of the Denn Family Reunion.	Kibu and Metu.	Swingers	Kibu and Meetu fight over the rat puppet.

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