New York - part 1

July 20, 2019 - July 26, 2019

From Coudersport, PA we drove northeast through Corning, NY and onto Campbell where we set up our base to explore the area.

The Rockwell Museum (an affiliate of the Smithsonian) is located in Corning.  Despite its name it's not about Norman Rockwell although that would have been fun.  We were so glad we decided to visit as it holds some wonderful pieces of art.  

There were fabulous paintings -

Mt. McKinley (Denali) by Sydney Laurence

Sun River War Party by Charles M. Russell

Clouds in the Canyon by Thomas Moran

There were incredible bronzes:

I have a particular love of bronze statues. It began after we visited a foundry and saw what it takes to create a bronze statue.  After that experience it was also easy to see why they are so expensive.

The Bronco Buster by Frederic Remington (his first effort at a bronze!!!!)

The End of the Trail by James Earle Fraser

Whoops - we didn't get the name of the piece or the sculptor but isn't it wonderful!  

The Last Drop by Charles Schreyvogel

There was amazing Native American work including baskets, beading, painting and carving.

This is the largest fetish I ever recall seeing.  You can't tell from looking at it but it's about 4 inches tall.

Our next destination was the Corning Museum of Glass.  This museum definitely qualifies as a MUST SEE if you are ever in the vicinity.  There is so much to see I would suggest giving it two days.  If offers the history of glass making (35 centuries with examples), optical glass (e.g. microscopes, telescopes, cameras, etc.), fiber optic glass (and how it's changed the world), specialized glass (e.g. windshields for cars), contemporary glass, hot shops where you can watch glass blowers make their projects, and you can even make make a glass project yourself.  It's just an amazing place and I won't be able to do it justice.  Here are just a few of the glass items we saw (an an explanation where I can provide one).

A Dale Chihuly piece

Raindrops glowing in the dark

Gilded and enameled glass

Roman cut and engraved glass.

Forest glass from central and northern Europe - middle ages to 18th century.

Louis Comfort Tiffany window

Lynx made of glass pieces.

Glass desert pieces

Glass petri dishes.  

Modern chandelier

Fused glass strands

People see different things in this display.  They look like gondolas to me.

I can't even imagine how something like this is created out of glass. Exquisite!

If you are ever in the vicinity of Corning, NY please don't miss the Corning Museum of Glass!  It is amazing.

From our campground in Campbell we drove to the town of  Watkins Glen to hike up a trail to see a long series of waterfalls.  As we found out it's a very popular spot.  We had called ahead to make sure we could bring Barney on the trails and we were assured we could.  What they just didn't bother to tell us he couldn't be on the main trail - the only trail where you can actually view the waterfalls!  Had to go back to the car, find a shady parking space, then get the car arranged for his comfort before we took of on the gorge trail.

Looking back towards the visitor center from the gorge trail.

The water just shoots through this narrow pass through the rock.

It's easy to see the hundreds of layers of rock laid down millions of years ago that have been cut through by the stream.

To navigate the gorge trail you have to climb lots of wet and muddy steps.

Looking back down the stream.

The trail leads behind this waterfall.  You can see the kind of work that was done to build this trail.

Looking back from just before we duck under the waterfall.

Tired legs and concern for Barney cut our visit short so we didn't see the entire series of waterfalls.
What we did see was spectacular!

Again, driving from our campground in Campbell, we went to Hammondsport, NY to see the Glenn H. Curtiss Museum.  Laura wants to take the controls on this section so ... over to Laura.
Hello Everyone! Any aficionado (such as my youngest brother Mark), will know who Glenn Curtiss was! He was "the fastest man on earth", riding his V-8 engine motorcycle (which he produced himself) in 1907 and that record was not beaten until his death in 1930. Please read printed story below this picture.

As you can read below, Glenn set the world's speed record on his V8 motorcycle in 1907. 

What an amazing ride this must have been! Over 136 miles per hour, going a mile faster than any man in history!!

Here is one of many inventions Curtiss obtained patents for.
You'll see as you read on that he was really a mechanical genius!

It looks like a great idea if you only go about 5 miles an hour otherwise you could become a flying object out of this seat!

Glenn Curtiss was the first person to land an airplane on water (1910) and take off from water (1911)
Much of his experience with planes was gained when he worked with Alexander Graham Bell and a group of flight enthusiasts up in Baddeck, Nova Scotia.

This tells about an amazing land, sea and air vehicle that Curtiss invented in 1911! Who knew?!
The Navy was very excited to get a hold of this and bought several for their use. 
Curtiss is now know as the father of Naval aviation.

And here it is! He was also inventing a regular airplane about the same time as the Wright brothers. 
They were in serious competition with each other and lawsuits were the result.
Curtiss made the "first officially witnessed flight in North America" per the museum and Wikipedia.

This invention of his "blew my mind"! The one below in 1929 might have been the first 5th wheel travel trailer!! There was a model of one in the museum but I really liked these old pictures with the old cars pulling the trailers. Wouldn't it be fun to have one of these? It even had a stove to cook on and a toilet and sink, plus a couch that made into a bed.

Notice how the trailer roof hangs over the car and essentially provides a roof for the car!
Not so good in the rain though.

This picture of Curtiss (and possibly the buyer) was great too. I took pictures of the inside of the full sized model that was at the museum but they didn't show up very well because they were through the windows so I didn't include them here. The Curtiss Museum was one of the most  interesting museum's about a guy not many have ever heard of. There were quite a few of his inventions besides motorcycles there, plus other brands of bikes and some older cars from the 1920's-1950's that were built by the usual car manufacturers. But since I love old cars (and motorcycles) I had a lot of fun checking them out. I also sent pictures of several motorcycles to my brother Mark without their names showing and he knew them all! Of course he did, he's owned numerous 'bikes' since 1970 at age 16! That's all folks! Until next time I choose a fun topic to write about, 'happy trails to you, until we meet again'!!