PENN YAN

 We went up to Penn Yan on Keuka Lake for an outing this October *(2020) to get out before the next covid surge.  It was near where Michael and Dawn Sam live, so I suggested that they meet us for a meal, and before it all was done, we had them coming for two nights in our hotel, and delightfully Robin and Bobbie joining us as well.  It was  really a fine gathering.

We all got rooms at Best Western PLUS Vineyard Inn and Suites and it was nice with plenty of room in the foyer and with a pool, although only Elizabeth and I went swimming.

We limited ourselves to six people, for easy covid restrictions, so if I missed others of you who live in the area, I'm sorry.  I'll get you next time.  When I booked, they had zero cases; when I left they were up to 12 a day.  Our last night, after the hooligans had gone home, we did not feel comfortable going to a restaurant and took a swim and stayed put, eating left overs in our room.

In preparing for our roadtrip to Penn Yan, I bought a book called Yates Chronicles.  Penn Yan is in Yate county.

Among other bits, I encountered Leon Lewis who with his wife Harriet Lewis were popular writers of the 19th century.

He built two lavish structures, one his house, and one his stable.  The stable was the most luxurious stable anyone had seen.

Harriet died young.  He mourned a bit and even started a paper in her honor, The Penn Yan Mystery.  But suddenly he decided to go to live in England, perhaps to escape debt, perhaps to be free to marry his adopted daughter.  He was 45; she was 15.  In 1913 she divorced him.  He killed himself at the age of 87.

An interesting aside is that he left a manuscript written by a sailor who was on the Essex, the whaling boat that inspired Herman Melville to write Moby Dick.  It was left in an attic of a friend until being rediscovered in 1960. 

https://lostmanuscripts.com/tag/leon-lewis/

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Another good article

https://www.ulib.niu.edu/badndp/lewis_leon.html

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I also ran into a call for manuscripts and eventually I did publish in Bluff and Vine, although not in time to celebrate that with the group.  And it can be borrowed free on kindle or bought free if you have Kindle unlimited.  

I like the book itself.  I sent copies to Robin and Bobbie, Dawn and Michael.  Also, to Frank and Susan Johnson in Florida.  Elizabeth gave me fifty dollars and honored a rather shaky bet about my becoming famous.  There is a zoom call for writers in December.

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Elizabeth and I got to go to the Top of the Lake restaurant, overlooking Keuka Lake.  

We got there at sunset and watched the birds retreat and the black water of night fill our view.  The good was grand.

With the whole group we had to settle for other places, but we found some that were generally uncrowed.

One Amish store 

a specialty food store (oakhillbulkfoods.com)

I especially liked the Dutch Delights sugar free pecan pralines.  I'm finding them hard to get on line.

The store had plenty of treats to buy and served a pretty good sandwich.  We ate there twice.  Everyone brought back tastes for gathering in the foyer in the evening for brandy and cheese and other grand foods.

We hung out in the foyer of the restaurant and told old stories and got caught up with new travels.  We were pretty loud and one night the desk clerk came and asked us to tone it down.  He said, "Okay, you hooligans" and so the name stuck.  He was worried that an older couple in a room near the foyer might be disturbed.  Well, Elizabeth and I it turned out were the older couple, in room 109.  Pretty funny.

We did walk the trail in front of the Top of the Lake and watched a hundred gulls take off.  It was grand!

We ate at one place where we sang a medley of old songs from Western TV shows of our youth.  Lots of fun.

That may have been the Keuka Diner.  I've just lost my memory of the places.  

One place we went for our last breakfast served the best steak and eggs I can remember having anywhere.

The hotel was fine.  There was always fresh coffee in the foyer and sometimes a snack.

It was a really fine time, so much a contrast to our shut in lives.  I'm hoping to go again, but I think the next trip to gather will be up North nearer to Robin and Bobbie.

On the way home Elizabeth and I stopped at a small cafe/diner in Casanovia called Latte Da.  The food and service were fine, but it was a bit too close for me, and much of the business that came for take out were from the college.  So that set off some bells about Covid.  Otherwise it was fine.

I enjoyed the ride home.  We had rain much of the trip, but this day was mostly just grey.  My eyes work better in grey than they do in bright sunlight.  We took 20, adding time to the trip, but getting a good view of many Finger Lakes along the way and also staying out of Thruway traffic.