The village of Wellsville, NY from one of the surrounding hills
Wellville New York is where my sister lives. She and her husband, Joe, have lived there since the late 1970s, and we’ve visited many times over the years.
It takes about 4 hours to drive from Cranberry TWP to Wellsville, through western PA and then the extreme western parts of NY State. The land is heavily forested, hilly, and incredibly rural. Gas stations and fast food joints are few and far between.
As soon as you turn west and into NY State, you will cross Chataqua Lake. Wow. This is where we stopped for a little rest, and probably the only public bathroom for miles around. There was good air up there, the wind blowing across the lake.
Every year on the 3rd weekend of July, Wellsville hosts a “Balloon Rally”. This has been going on for many years. I remember being here for balloon rally one summer when Eric was a baby and we carried him around in a backpack. We’re hoping to see balloons. If the wind is right, they go up in the early morning or evening. FA says that they floated right over their backyard on Saturday morning!
Joe and FA are on a vegetable diet now, and for dinner we had salmon that one of Joe’s patients had brought from Alaska, and lots and lots of fresh, local vegetables.
Some thunder and rain moved in on Saturday night and the balloons didn’t go up so we would have to wait for the morning and hope that the weather conditions were more favorable.
The Felsen home is a great, rambling old house up on a hill. This is the same house that Joe grew up in. Joe cuts all that lawn, himself.
Sunday morning I was up early, watching for balloons. Sure enough, they started appearing. These were the views from the pool deck. Unfortunately the wind was blowing in the other direction, so they didn’t pass overhead.
Joe, up early with me, watched for awhile and then said he’s seen enough balloons over the years, and did his morning pool laps (with the help of Jubilee).
We spent the rest of the day picking vegetables from the neighbor's garden and lounging around the pool. Joe and John smoked cigars.
Another great veggie lunch - these are the famous “kale chips”!
Left about mid-afternoon for the trek back to Cranberry TWP, mostly uneventful except when we needed to stop for a pee-break. Found a little town, Sherman, and the the bathroom was out of order at the gas station. The attendant told us that we could try another gas station at the other end of town, but that bathroom was not “public” but only for employees. Oh well, what are the woods for?!
[downtown Sherman NY]
Good visit. Good trip. Jubilee had so much fun she didn’t want to leave.
Loved the pictures--looked like Jubilee had a great time. The balloons were beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Sally.
ReplyDeleteGlad that you all -- including Jubilee -- had a great time. Jubilee certainly looked jubilant!
ReplyDeleteThere is a big ballooning festival every summer, in August, at St. Jean sur Richelieu. I used to pass by returning from retreat at the Abbey near Boston. It is a wondrous sight.
It is beautiful to watch. People say that it is very quiet once you're up there and floating, it's just when they have to fire up the propane gas to fill the balloon that it is noisy. Jubilee could hear them as they were rising, even though they were about 1-2 miles away. It was funny seeing her watch these strange things in the sky.
ReplyDelete