Travel: Canajoharie, NY

Spring is a beautiful time to travel through the Mohawk Valley, and the Catskill Mountains. The trees are budding and give the valley a chartreuse glow, as forsythia bushes add yellow highlights. My travel buddy Craig and I arrived in Canajoharie, NY, the home the Beech-Nut Factory where wholesome foods like peanut butter, and baby foods were manufactured. The founders of the Factory were benefactors to the community and created the Arkell Museum which is located next to the factory. Another unique aspect of the museum is that it is combined with the local library to form a special learning experience.

http://www.arkellmuseum.org/

   During the time that I was there, a senior citizen group was visiting and they were rather chatty and noisy. It was a little distracting. There was a very good exhibit of Homer paintings that captured the bucolic settings of the area.

My hosts for the night were our friends Alfonso and Bruce who own a beautifully restored turn of the century farm house complete with a barn and all of the out-buildings. We were joined for dinner by a couple more friends and we shared wine out in the gardens until dinner was served. Alfonso and Bruce are vegetarians so the dinner was healthy, and filling! We had pasta with mushroom sauce, corn on the cob, tomato and cucumber salad and a delicious baked beet with fetta cheese dish. For dessert, Craig brought a rum cake baked by his mother. The cake was oozing with rum. The wine and conversation flowed into the evening. I finally crashed in a quilt covered bed, as the lights from across the valley twinkled through my bedroom window.


    The next morning we were treated to a brunch of grilled cheese sandwiches, and broiled asparagus. A perfect meal to send us on the next leg of our journey.

more soon...
Preston