Wednesday, August 31, 2022
For our final morning here, Jane made yummy omelets using leftover vegetables. We then leisurely prepped for departure. Jane drove the toad and I drove the RV to meet Nancy and John at the Riesling Cabin arriving shortly after 10:30 am. I parked the RV in the adjacent and spacious Buttonwood Grove Winery parking area. John then drove us in Nancy’s car a few miles down the road for our final Finger Lakes wine tasting.
With a panoramic view of Cayuga Lake, Six Eighty Cellars is known for its adventurous vision and innovation in winemaking. They employ a combination of ancient-style clay, stone, and terracotta vessels with state-of-the-art technology to extract unique characteristics from each grape harvest. The estate also contains a wide variety of vinifera grapes including some lesser-known varieties such as Gruner Veltliner and Pinot Meunier.
Our wine tasting was at a table in a large warehouse-style room with clay vessels and served by a friendly and chatty hostess. A new tasting room with a beautiful lake view is due to open in a few months. We were served a charcuterie board (meatless for three of us) and each of us selected five wines to sample trying to maximize the total number of wines sampled. I must say this was the widest range of flavors I’ve sampled from a single winery. I did not like some of the wines (I’m not a fan of Pet Nats) but some were uniquely good (but pricey). It was interesting comparing the differences between traditional oak barrel aged wines versus stone vessels. After the tasting, Jane & I purchased a couple of bottles. We then headed back to the cabin, hitched the car to the RV, and departed saying our goodbyes to Nancy & John who we’ll see again in a couple of days.
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| The Six Eighty Cellars Tasting Room |
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| Clay Fermenting Vessels |
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| A Terra Cotta and Clay Vessel |
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| Cement Vessels |
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| View of Cayuga Lake from Six Eighty Cellars |
We headed south retracing some of our route along the eastern coast of Seneca Lake, through Watkins Glen and past the site of the accident that had delayed our north bound trip. After a couple of hours of driving, we turned off the interstate onto a rural Pennsylvanian road. The road was narrow, had no markings, curvy, and hilly but we made good progress until the final turn to our destination. There, signs warned of an enroute bridge with a 9 ft. height limit and a 3 ton weight limit. Our RV exceeds both of these restrictions, so we turned around. Although we were in an area with no cellular reception, Jane could determine our detour route from the buffer in her phone’s GPS. My phone was displaying an empty grid at the top which become ever larger as we continued driving until we eventually entered grid-land. Fortunately, about that time, we drove through a small village and momentarily had cellular reception sufficient for my phone’s GPS to recalculate the new route.
Despite no cell reception, we found our way to Little Pine State Park but drove past the turn for the campground. We continued past a dam before pulling over to unhitch the car. As we were returning to the campground road driving separate vehicles, Jane stopped and waved me down. A protective lining under the car had almost completely detached and was dragging along the ground. So, we completely removed it and continued to the campground.
After leveling the RV as best we could at site 91, set up was quick. Only electricity is suppled here, no cell data, no cable, no wi-fi, no water, and no sewage connection. We were old-fashion camping despite the “Modern Camping” claim on at the top of the park’s brochure. (In anticipation, we had filled our fresh water tank and emptied the gray and black tanks before leaving Sned-Acres.) Jane and I took a short bike ride to check out the campground. Upon returning, we put a tablecloth on the picnic table, opened a bottle of wine and a Beer Nuts snack that John had given us, and played several rounds of Hive, Sequence and Rumikub. As the sun and temperatures went down, we put on long pants and fleeces and enjoyed a hot picnic dinner that Jane prepared. We headed to bed with the windows open and blankets at the beckon.
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| We arrived after a Lengthy Detour |
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| Settling in at Little Pine State Park |