Niagara Falls, Butterfly Conservancy, Skylon Tower Lunch - Oct. 16, 2019

A rainy drippy day, but spent most of it inside.

The Butterfly Conservancy was so much fun, and the butterflies would often land on you.

The revolving restaurant was great to be able to see 360 degrees from a high tower.

 When these fly, they are the prettiest electric blue ever. (inside of wings)

They fly so fast that I found it almost impossible to get a picture - darn😫

These lovely blue butterflies  feast on citrus 

(I'm still waiting for them to fly so that I can see the pretty electric blue on the inside)

However, my friend Colleen was able to capture on of these beauties!

Thanks Colleen!

This one stayed quite a while 

and Lou had to gently move him off before we left the conservancy.

 A very unusual flower that we thought should be shown.

The restaurant revolved as we ate a terrific lunch

Tomorrow we get the boat ride, also a 'behind the falls' tour

Visit to the quaint little town of Niagara on the Lake

The Price of Wales Hotel

Bully Hill Winery - Glen Curtiss Aviation Museum, Hammondsport, NY - Oct. 14, 2019

 First Presbyterian Church of Bath, NY

built in 1808

The sanctuary was renovated by Tiffany in 1895

Finger Lakes region, Lake Kekua

Lunch and tour of the Bully Hill Winery.

I think the name had to do with the fact that the “Powers that be” (New York State lawmakers and  Coca-Cola ) tried to bully the owner by disallowing him to use his name on his fine quality wines, but the owner won.  

"Can you hear me now?"

Glen Curtiss Aviation Museum
Glen Curtiss was originally a bicycle builder, then a motorcycle builder.  He was always interested in speed and became “the fastest man on earth” in 1907 when he attained a speed of 136.4 mph on his V8 powered motorcycle.

In 1908 he flew his 'flying machine' the June Bug
a distance of 5000 feet at a speed of 55 MPH

In 1911 he made an aircraft take off and land on water,
developing the seaplane and flying boat.
He began training the Navy pilots and became known as the “Father of Naval Aviation”

It was interesting to learn the similarities with the Wright brothers and the history of  aviation.

Since we are in “Curtiss territory” we left with the impression that he did more and got recognized less.

When we were in Dayton Ohio at the Wright Brothers Bicycle Shop, the story was a little different.  Interesting how there are always two sides to a story.

Lou has actually had time in this simulator!

How exciting to see this display. 

The top is closed and the student flies to the destinations by instruments.

The progress is tracked on the paper (to the left)

 so that the student can see how well they have done.

Color is getting prettier

We leave for Niagara Falls tomorrow!

Corning Museum - Not just a pretty piece of glass - Oct. 13, 2019

Welcome to the Corning Glass Museum

I am "Blow Away" ( a new Netflix movie) by the scope of this place.

Not only gorgeous glass, but history of glass making that goes back to Egyptian times up to present, and ultra modern works of art.  Plan to spend the day if you come!

What is amazing is the continuing scientific applications using glass, and the research still being done

with Corning as one of the leaders.

Welcome to Corning Lobby

Just pretty, (and a bit unusual)

This Lalique cat would be on my wish list 

(if it weren't a museum item😉)

Chandelier made from butterflies cut from solar panels.

A closer look

This section of Islamic art glass is a huge mural made of glass mosaic.

This chess set is requested by visitors and seen year after year.  

The artist moved to US from Italy, and he visits this place every year.

The artist is Jewish, his wife is Catholic, so he created this chess set to symbolize the religious tensions between the two groups.

Actually, the sculpture was so good, that it helped feed his family!

Tiffany Glass exhibits

(one of my favs)

This is a picture window in a prominent home that lets in the 

bright light and beautiful scene overlooking the Hudson River.

(the guide said that the owner wanted to screen out the drab and dreary weather of winter)

This Tiffany vase was perhaps 24 inches tall.

The one I have at home (thank you grandmother Angel) is probably 4 inches tall

(very old)

See the next ones of 'very new'

Now for a couple of the scientific exhibits:

(by the time we were here, my feet hurt and we couldn't grasp all of it!)

The Fiber Optic Cable demo was great and nice to try to understand a bit more of these things.

Basically, the display compares the amount of copper wire needed to equal one fiber optic cable which is just a bit larger than a human hair.

These fiber optic cables are flexible and not brittle, like you might expect.

For added explanation.

We also had a good demo.

 The first scope, now is called an Endoscope 

(invented by a German medical student)

 In the old days, the patient had to lie flat.

The fiber optic cables do not have to be in a straight line 

for your doctor to see what is going on inside of you.

Finger lakes region New York - Oct. 12, 2019

In spite of quite a bit of rain we decided to 'hike' the waterfalls trail at Watkins Glen State Park 

(along with many others)

It is interesting to see the map of what was covered by ice and to visualize the depth of it.

(even if we don't think the two million years is accurate😀)

We probably all have worn the trash bag solution for rain gear.

If the rain don't get ya, the waterfall will.

Finding a few good trees!

Other activities:

Another yarn store and another museum🙂

 In the Village of Watkins Glen

 I thought this was a quilt display but it was a blanket display 

Rockwell Museum in Corning, NY

This is the note regarding the blanket with the beads,,

same type we had seen in Crazy Horse Monument in South Dakota.

Fun reading the personal notes of the ones who donated items.