Glass making and wine tasting.

Well, second day of freedom... and we couldn't sleep past 8, is that sad or what?? We did lounge a bit and by 10 were on the road to The Corning Museum of Glass. The museum was so much bigger than I had expected. The city of Corning is a huge glass maker in the country.. i.e. Corningware. We got to watch glass blowing, glass breaking, and flameworking. The glass blowers made a bowl and a vase. It is crazy how hot the glass is that they work with.. over 1000 degrees! And they don't even wear gloves!
Glass breaking was interesting as there are several different types of glass. The kind in our car windshield is actually two sheets of glass with a thin layer of plastic in between which holds the glass together if it breaks. The glass on the side windows is tempered glass, which isgla ss cooled quickly, therefore under a lot of stress. When that glass breaks, it totally shatters.. so if you have to escape from your car, it is easier. Pretty smart, huh?
Lastly, we saw a flameworker who basically sat behind a blowtorch and molded two tubes of glass into a simple bird, and then a very intricate moose. Muy impressivo!
There are a so many types of glass and so many neat processes that they have gone through over the years. I definitely have a greater appreciation for the glass I use every day!
After our time at the museum, we journeyed on to nearby Keuka Lake. We missed our turn, but took another route along the shore, which was beautiful. After driving up a steep, gravel at times, "seasonal" road, we made our way to the Winery of Dr. Konstantin Frank. This man was a European immigrant, a doctor of viticulture, and pioneered the introduction to European grapes to the Northeastern US. All this is to say.. this man knew what he was doing and his wine was great:). He also knew where to build his place. How about that view?:)
To end our evening, we retired to our humble abode, Glenora:) We pulled out our camping stove and made steaks on the porch... can't beat that!