Lighthouses, wine tasting and a beautiful sunset
/Wine Country
There are a lot of wineries in the New York - Pennsylvania lake region... Our new friends at the Cherry Farm told us of a winery down the road that buys their grapes, so down the road we go. Yes it was still early but it is OK to do wine "tastings" before noon. Heritage Wine Cellars is a family owned farm that was started in the 1800's and is still run by the same family. Located in North East, Pa. it is not one of those fancy California vineyards, but they do produce some very good wine. It is the only self serve wine tasting that we have ever seen. Just pick up your own tasting cups and try all of the selections that you want. There are about 40 bottles with a great variety of flavors sitting on the counter. You know the girls love Cherries and Chocolate...guess what one of their flavors was? Chocolate and cherry flavored wine - there is nothing better than that! We picked up a couple of bottles for the trip.
As we headed East along the coast of Lake Erie we pulled into a marina just to look around. Turned out to be a great place to pick some of Delise's favorite flowers. Sweet Peas were growing wild on the hillside. She picked a bouquet that lasted several days..
Light Houses
We Love Lighthouses! We guess by now you can see a pattern, we love everything. We will drive way out of our way to see one - especially if we can climb it...But who knew there were light houses on the Great Lakes. We were lucky to find this one very close to our route.
The Dunkirk Lighthouse is on Lake Erie in New York State and was established in 1826. The current tower was first lit in 1875. The light's 27-mile range makes Dunkirk one of the most prominent on Lake Erie. The original lens is a third order Fresnel lens installed in 1857 at a cost of $10,000 and is still in operation. It was automated in 1960 with an automatic bulb changer. The keepers house is now a museum that is run totally by volunteers.
The volunteers provide a guided tour of the house and yes, you can climb the tower! The tower is 61 feet high. To reach the top you have to climb the original cast iron spiral staircase where you can go outside and walk around outside the tower. The last 10 steps are pretty tight but the view is worth it...
As we were driving in to Erie, Pa we saw a state park out on a point. It was getting late abut we decided to check it out anyway. We were glad we did. As we were walking to checking out the harbor lights we started talking to a fisherman that told us we should head over to the other side of the park to see the sunset. We always love talking to locals. He was right, It was a beautiful sunset over the lake...
Next - Delise has a dream come true... I think I hear a waterfall!
