Tuesday, April 30, 2013

A night in Hector - at the Hector Wine Company, of course

By Michael J. Fitzgerald
Honest Traveler

HECTOR, New York, USA - The wine flows freely Friday nights in Hector, NY, though not for free, just freely as in out of the bottles and into glasses.
Bob and Dee entertain at HWC

And at the Hector Wine Company, the wine is excellent, the music is always in tune and the people who gather there - locals and visitors - all seem like they just stepped out of an episode of the television program Cheers.

Except in this version of Cheers, there's no crankiness at all, just laughs, followed by more laughs, followed by smiles.

Lake wine rack
The only downside is that in all that laughing, laughing and smiling, it's entirely possible to imbibe a glass or two more than you should. But that's a matter of personal responsibility.

The winery on Route 414, just up the highway a few miles from Watkins Glen also features some fabulous artwork. Even one wine bottle display is a work of art itself.

Then there is art on the walls, much of it produced by local artist Emma Schockner who, coincidentally can be found working at the winery often.

The scene below was from a recent Friday at the HWC which had a nice mix of local folks, visitors, music, and of course, HWC wines... lots of different varieties, all quite tasty.

The Hector Wine Company comes recommended by The Honest Travelers without any reservations.

Friday, April 26, 2013

In the Finger Lakes, a lot to keep track of

HECTOR, New York, USA - Not even two weeks into touching home base at The Honest Travelers home office at Seneca Lake and we have already been catapulting here and there.

Brett's van is almost as famous as he is

Monday night was wine and music at Rasta Ranch Winery with blues played by Brett Beardslee.

Then Thursday there was more music and more wine, this time at Sheldrake Winery's tasting room, barely 400 yards from Rasta Ranch. There we listened to some music by the Cat's Elbow Band from Ithaca.

Two cats from Cat's Elbow band
Yes, we need to expand our horizons. Perhaps tonight we will go to the Hector Wine Company. It's almost a mile from Rasta and Sheldrake!

In the meantime, I see that we have trips to New York City, Boston, Maine, Kingston (Canada) - and other places much closer - in the planning stages.

Good thing my new lightweight duffle bag just arrived.

Friday, April 5, 2013

On an island called Vashon-Maury

By Michael J. Fitzgerald
Honest Traveler

VASHON-MAURY ISLAND, Washington, USA - Some personal journalism business drew Sylvia and I from our temporary quarters in beautiful Sequim, WA to this island, a stone's throw (if you are a giant with a huge throwing arm) from Seattle's shores.

The only way onto the island with a car
The only way to visit is by ferry, a short hop coming from our direction (north), at a cost of about $20 for a roundtrip voyage, car included.

Our visit coincided with the only rainy day we have had since arriving last Sunday but even with the rain it was great visit. For one thing, it proved that my new Columbia rain jacket is up to the task of, well, repelling a pretty hard rainfall.

We paid a call at the local weekly newspaper - The Beachcomber - then headed for lunch at The Hardware Store Restaurant (LINK: Hardware Store), a wildly popular place that favors meat eaters but has vegetarian options. We had crab cakes and fish - both delicious. We did pay island prices - the total bill came to about $30 - but it was worth it.
Ray Pfortner

Photo/beeswax art
The island is home to many artists, writers and tons of other creative people. At the restaurant we ran into former New York resident Ray Pfortner who does really interesting photos-on-beeswax art. (LINK: Ray Pfortner's website) He was just putting up a display as we were getting ready to leave.

I asked him about the beeswax - would it melt on a hot summer day? Only if the temperature hit 200 degrees Fahrenheit he said.

His artwork will be quite safe even with global warming, it seems.

With an hour before the next ferry, we did a rainy-day tour with stops at various places include a coffee roasting outfit that had a young lady out front playing an accordion.

And then we made a maritime pilgrimage to the Port Robinson Lighthouse where I peered in but didn't get a chance to thrown any light switches or buy any postcards...

Maybe on our next visit.

Vashon Island woman rocks on the accordion

Port Robinson Lighthouse on Vashon-Maury Island