How many fish hatch at a Fish Hatchery in a year? Well, the one at Bath, N.Y. produced about a million and a half last year. That’s one interesting fact we learned when we stopped in yesterday on our way to The Curtiss Museum. We were camped at The Hickory Hill Campground near Bath, a lovely big park with a mixture of cabins, mobiles and many large RV sites and lots of shade trees.

Hickory Hill Campsite

We arrived there at 10:30 yesterday morning (it’s only 22 miles from Corning) and immediately got on the bike. The warm, sunny day was perfect for riding. At the hatchery we also learned that all the water used for the fish tanks comes from a natural underground spring – no electric pumps required.  Near the entrance a family was filling up several plastic jugs with water that was pouring from the spring through a pipe.  Although a disclaimer is posted it seems to be permitted “at your own risk”, and the matriarch of this family told us that she’d been getting this water for her cottage for 35 years. She offered us paper cups to try the pure liquid. Awe, it carried me back to the farm where city friends often came out to fill their jugs from our well.

That same lovely lady told us about the many vineyards in the area, and suggested a great place for lunch overlooking Keuka Lake. We took off, following her directions.  We passed many vineyards, but didn’t stop until we’d found Bully Hill Vineyard, way up at the top of a high hill, overlooking the lake and the Village of Hammondsport. The hills and twists reminded us of driving in the Kootenay area of BC. The view and the food were both worth the climb. After lunch we went into the store for a little wine-tasting (not much mind you – we were on the bike after all) and decided to purchase a bottle of their Sweet Walter’s White Chardonnay, before finally making our way to the Curtiss Museum.

Beautiful gardens surround the place

Yummy Salmon Salad

Scallops and Crab Cake on Mushroom Cap with salads and fries

As a teenager in Hammondsport, Glenn Curtiss was the ultimate entrepreneur and inventor. His main interest was bicycles and he invented several new models. By the time he was twenty he had three bicycle shops throughout the area, and eventually progressed from motorized bicycles to the Curtiss Motorcycle Company and later branched out into airplanes and boats. The museum is an interesting stop for anyone with any of these interests.

Curtiss Museum

Any early plane

Curtiss motorcycle

He also invented the first Travel Trailer!

It was another great day. We left Bath this morning and set up camp at Caledonia, before heading into Rochester, about 30 miles away. We wanted to see the George Eastman House. That’s a beautiful mansion and photography art gallery. It took us over two hours to tour it.

Eastman House, Summer Room

Stair Case

Living Room

We made a wrong turn on the way to the Museum and found ourselves in the heart of downtown where they were setting up for something. We asked at the museum and learned that the Annual Rochester Jazz Festival was starting tonight, so that’s where we headed for some dinner and a little music before returning to camp. Who knew that there was so much to see and do in Central New York!