40th Birthday Celebration/ Road Trip to the Fingerlakes

As promised, here is my post where I include a few more details about my birthday weekend away plus pictures. My friend Melissa (we went with her and her husband, Craig) was the one who remembered a camera that weekend. And, she shared her pics with me via Shutterfly. After playing around with my Shutterfly account, it appears that the only way I can share the pics here is on a slideshow. So, if you'd like to see the pics, please click below


(Disclaimer - you will almost never see much more than head shot of me on my blog. Why? Because I'm very unhappy with my body size and shape right now. My whole mission to lose 40 pounds by my 40th birthday never happened. Anyway, in this slideshow there are body shots as well. This is evidence that I am feeling comfortable with you dear blogging friends.)

Click here to view these pictures larger

We left on Friday around lunchtime. We met our friends Craig and Melissa at their house and then continued on our way to Keuka Lake...about a 3 hour drive from their place. Keuka Lake (pronounced 'Cuke-ah') is part of the Fingerlakes Region in New York.


The Fingerlakes are famous for their vineyards and wine trails. And, we had tickets to go on a tour around Keuka Lake on Saturday. We discovered on Friday night that most things in the area were closing for the season. We were staying in Hammondsport (at the southern tip of the lake) and we were lucky to find a restaurant that was open for dinner that night. And, it was the last weekend they were open and then they were closing for the season too!


The room we were staying was actually an apartment suite and was a great deal for us since both couples could share it. I'll admit I was a little disappointed by the 'Inn' where we stayed. It was actually an old motor lodge that had gone through a few renovations. Renovations in our apartment suite seemed limited to fresh paint on the walls. There was still blue shag carpet on the floors & a very 70's looking kitchen.


On the plus side, the apartment suite was huge! It was 2 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, with a fullsize eat-in kitchen, plus dining room, plus living room. The one bedroom even had a walk-in closet! So, for all of that I was able to overlook the outdated decor.


Saturday we started on our wine trail tour around 10 that morning. It's a good thing we started early because by around 1:00 the different vineyards/wineries were getting crowded. We had a designated starting point on our tickets where they gave each couple a grapevine wreath and an ornament. Then as we went to each winery on the tour they each gave another ornament. Plus each one had a winter food to sample (we had stew at one, a chicken tortilla soup at another, pasta at another, etc.) and they offered tastes of up to four of their wines.


We didn't need to stop anywhere for lunch that day. The food samples we were eating along the way were more than enough to fill us up. We wrapped up our tour around 4 and went back to the inn to rest and freshen up before heading out for dinner.


We found a really cute restaurant in downtown Hammondsport. (We had actually stopped by this restaurant the night before for dessert and thought we'd like to come back and try them for dinner.) There was even some lovely music to serenade us. Two older gentleman were playing some classic jazz and big band tunes. One was on the piano and the other on the clarinet (I think?).


This is the one point in the weekend where I had a mini-breakdown about turning 40. Saturday was my actual birthday and this was my official birthday dinner. We had a younger guy as our server. And, in his defense, it was pretty busy that night. I just couldn't make up my mind as to what I wanted to order.


When my turn to order came I was somewhat flustered because I was still trying to decide. I use my hands a lot when I talk and when I'm nervous or flustered my hands really start flying around. I must have been mumbling about trying to decide which entree I was going to order plus my hands were a 'goin'. Finally, the server said, "So, do you have an order?" He really didn't say it in a mean way but he was obviously losing patience with me. I was embarrassed & I quickly gave an order.


After the server left the table our conversation resumed, but I started welling up with tears. Why??? It's really hard to explain what my feelings were, but basically it came down to this...I'm not young and cute anymore. All that young server saw was an annoying middle-aged woman who was holding him up from getting to the rest of his tables. There. That pretty well describes what I was thinking.


My husband said something to me and then asked if I was crying. I had to get up from the table and go to the ladies room to compose myself. (Honestly, this made me feel even worse, because I hate to draw attention to myself and I felt like that's exactly what I was doing.) Anyway, my dear friend Melissa came along with me and cheered me up. We were able to continue on with our lovely evening.


Finally, on Sunday before heading home we stopped in at the Glenn Curtiss Air Museum. I had never heard of this man. But, my husband, who is an aviation buff knew about him and was so excited to go. The museum had old airplanes, engines, motorcycles, etc. So, my husband was in his glory while we were there. I'm a vintage buff, so I found it all pretty interesting too.


It was an awesome weekend with my husband and our two dear friends. It almost makes me eager for another milestone birthday so we can go enjoy ourselves like that again. Hmmm. Next year is our 10th wedding anniversary. Maybe then...