Dansville, New York

Dansville, NY is the home of our friends, Rick and Ann Lafford. They were last seen in Colorado (see earlier posts). They met us in town, we disconnected the truck (our tow vehicle) from the RV and escorted us up the steep hills to their beautiful ridge top home overlooking Dansville and beyond. Photos of house. Tinsel met Whiskers, Rick and Ann's cat (photo), but that did not go so well as Tinsel, unfamiliar with cats, thought Whiskers was prey. Tinsel proceeded to chase Whiskers all over the three level home. Fortunately, Whiskers knew all the hiding places. Once she even pointed at Whiskers. The Laffords were kind enough to allow us to stay in their guest room, so we got to sleep in a real bed once again! The time there also gave us an opportunity to catch up on our laundry. The next day, the three of us joined Rick and Ann for a 5 mile run/walk passing through an old cemetery (tombstones as early as 1785), Christmas tree farm, and lush forests. Later, we all went kayaking at Hemlock Lake. Photos to the right. In the evening we had a wonderful pork loin dinner, with fresh picked New York corn, prepared by the Laffords. We were joined by their neighbors, Tom and Gerri Rounsville. Tinsel got to play with Willis, Tom and Gerri's dog. It didn't go too well at first, but eventually things settled down. The next day, Rick, Ann, Tom, Gerri and us went wine tasting on the "Seneca Lake Wine Trail." Photos. Along the way, we passed a huge griddle used to make the largest pancake ever made. Photo. Since moving to Paso Robles a few years ago, we have taken many of our guests wine tasting, including the Laffords. Our area specializes in reds so it was quite different tasting the New York whites. Lots of Rieslings here along with several white grapes we were unfamiliar with. There are many Amish living in this area, easily seen with their distinctive dress and horse and buggy. Photo. Upon our return, Richard, Ann, and Gerri went horseback riding through the forest. Gerri has a stable and three horses on her property. Richard helped prepare for the ride by shoveling all of the horse poop out of the stable. He hadn't ridden a horse in over 35 years, but did very well. That evening we went to town and enjoyed a concert by Tom's band, 78RPM. The band specializes in "big band" sound. Photo. The village of Dansville was established in 1795. It was the home of Clara Barton who founded the American Red Cross here. Photo of her house and the first headquarters of the American Red Cross. The next morning, Ann and Rick made blueberry pancakes (Steve's favorite) with maple syrup. Later, we were entertained by two spectacular electrical storms, one during the day and the other in the evening after dark. Living where we do, we almost never see lightning. There were continues flashes and streaks of lightning and loud claps of thunder for well over an hour each time. We sat in front of Rick and Ann's two story window for the show. Because their home is situated high up on a ridge, the view of the lightning was strikingly clear. This was particularly so for the evening storm. Photo of one of the lightning bolts to the right. Between the storms, Rick took us up separately in his two seater plane. We got to see tremendous views of the area, including lakes, water falls, a dam, the Genesse River, and very close up views of the thunder clouds. Photos to the right. In the evening, Rick and Ann made a delicious meal of scallops with basil pesto garlic butter pared with a dry NY Riesling. They are both excellent chefs. Ann has even taught cooking classes. Earlier, Richard and Ann made a batch of sour cream blueberry muffins, banana nut muffins, and citrus blueberry muffins. Yum, yum! Early the next morning, around 4AM we were awakened by yet another electrical storm with continuous flashes of light and near deafening thunder. It certainly seemed it was right over the top of us. Steve did not sleep the remainder of the morning. Flash flood warnings were up all over the area. Ann left for work, and then so did Rick, though he nearly stayed home out of concern for erosion along the side of his driveway. It seems that serious erosion has occurred before and the town has been slow to remedy the way the rain runs off. We left knowing that our time here was certainly one of the best times thus far. Rick and Ann certainly went far in making our stay enjoyable and full of activity. And many thanks to Rick for fixing the shade in the RV!