Penn Yan, NY

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Wednesdays are typically a work / school day for us when we’re traveling. Andi usually stacks all his work meetings into one day so we travel and adventure the rest of the week. While he’s working, the kids and I catch up on schoolwork. We do school everyday while we’re traveling, but on Wednesdays we really take our time and do all the extra parts of a lesson. Truth be told, we all dread Wednesdays for this reason but it helps us stay on top of our responsibilities.

We didn’t have a great Starlink internet signal at Watkins Glen State Park thanks to the tree cover, so Andi offered to go into town to work at the library while Tory, Aden, and I stayed in the RV. That meant we’d be stranded at the state park all day without a vehicle, but I’d much rather be cooped up in the RV than have to schlep all our school books to the library and then find things to do to entertain the kids for the remainder of the day. Andi definitely took one for the team by being the one to find somewhere else to work today.

We had planned to camp at Watkins Glen State Park for a second night, but around Noon Andi text me asking if I wanted to move to camp at a winery tonight through the Harvest Host RV membership program. I was up for a change in scenery after staying put in the campground all day. Plus, one of the reasons we came to the central Finger Lakes region in New York was to check out the wineries.

When Andi returned to the campground around 4:15pm, we hooked the Jeep to the back of the RV and set off for Penn Yan, New York — a community about 30 minutes away from Watkins Glen. We arrived at Rooster Hill Winery a short time later, and checked ourselves in as Harvest Hosts guests. In exchange for free camping, RVers are typically expected to make a purchase to support the business so Andi and I each ordered a flight of wines to drink as we sat on the winery’s outdoor patio. It was a gorgeous, sunny evening to sit outside and admire the lake.

The New York wine we tasted was … not our favorite, but it was fun to try nonetheless. No place really holds a candle to the fabulous wineries we visited in Argentina.

A few minutes after we arrived to the winery, another RVer pulled in next to us. The couple happened to be from Minnesota originally, so we struck up a conversation with them. We ended up sitting on the patio for several hours enjoying conversation and wine from Rooster Hill.

There ended up being two other Harvest Host campers parked at the winery with us, but it was still a quiet night of sleep in the winery parking lot. Tomorrow we’re heading toward Niagara Falls.