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Tag Archive for: containers

Road Trip: A Wet Morning, Fattening Food and Wine Country,

Road Trip

Our road trip is going very well.  We encounter both the expected and unexpected each day, which is part of the adventure.

We spent a very wet morning, visiting Niagara Falls.

Niagara Falls

The falls are truly magnificent and pictures do not adequately describe the beauty and power of the falls.

Niagara Falls

And, no – we didn’t fall in 😉

We visited the Canadian side, which has a better view of the falls.

Niagara Falls

The ground was so wet from the mist generated from the falls.

tulips

These tulips didn’t have a chance with the sopping wet soil.

I also had to be careful with my camera because of the mist.  I would take a photo quickly and then cover up my camera.

After spending the morning at Niagara Falls, we headed toward the Finger Lakes region of New York, which is in the central part of the state.

On our way, we saw a sign for an Amish swap meet.

traditional' flea market stuff.

So of course, we had to stop by.

There were many different vendors and we saw some very nice items along with the more ‘traditional’ flea market stuff.

I had fun seeing all the food choices there.  It reminded me of ‘fair food’.  Here is a sampling of what we saw…

Gramma's Butterflied Potatoes

“Gramma’s Butterflied Potatoes” are basically a huge mound of freshly-fried potato chips covered with cheese.

My favorite food

My favorite food in the whole world is bread and when I saw this sign, I must admit that I was sorely tempted…

Road Trip

But, I resisted the temptation.

Road Trip

The Belgian waffle also looked good.

Next, we headed to the plant section…

beautiful container combinations

Spring is in full swing and there are beautiful container combinations everywhere you looked…

beautiful container combinations
beautiful container combinations

It was a hot day…about 89 degrees and a bit humid, so I took the opportunity to sit for a few minutes on an ‘Adirondack’ chair.

Adirondack' chair

I admired the fresh vegetables…

fresh vegetables

Before leaving, we stopped to buy fresh bread from an Amish woman and her little brother….

Amish woman

We bought a inexpensive foam cooler for the car where we keep some fresh Amish cheese, fruit and bread for snacking on.

We arrived in Geneva, which is in New York’s wine country.  Geneva is located right on the shore of Seneca lake.

Because there were many different wineries, we stopped by one to buy some wine for my youngest sister and her husband.

While my mother tasted the wine and made her selection, I headed out to a small garden I saw next to the store…

Wine Country

Wine Country

Wine Country

Wine Country

Prickly Pear

Did you know that there is a species of Prickly Pear that is native to New York?  According to the sign above, there is.  

succulents planted

I just loved seeing succulents planted in an old pair of boots.

Dicentra

I love Dicentra, don’t you?

poppies

The poppies were huge…

Road Trip
Road Trip
Wine Country

Wine Country

Grapevines and the beginnings of grapes…

Wine Country

The water from the lake helps to keep the vineyards warm enough to grow grapes.

Wine Country

As we left the winery, we spotted a red fox trotting by the roadside.

He was awfully cute and since we don’t have foxes where I live, we stopped by the road to watch him.

He didn’t care that we were nearby – he was concentrating on catching dinner…  

Road Trip

He did catch dinner while we watched and swallowed it in one gulp.

We had a fabulous day 🙂

Our next stop is to the historical places and picturesque towns of upstate New York.

https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/145-001.jpg 424 640 arizonaplantlady@gmail.com https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/AZ-Plant-Lady-Logo-small.jpg arizonaplantlady@gmail.com2012-05-21 02:11:002021-02-07 03:36:03Road Trip: A Wet Morning, Fattening Food and Wine Country,

Road Trip…College, Tiny Town and Containers

Road Trip

We are more then half-way through our road trip and are having a fabulous time.

We have encountered great food, not so great food, interesting tourist destinations, beautiful plants as well as some over-hyped destinations.

Our typical road trip day begins with breakfast at the hotel and then we head to our car, turn on the GPS and get on the highway.  We have brought some audio book CD’s which are fun to listen too.

We try to stay off of major highways because you cannot see much besides trees on either side of the road.  To experience more of each area we visit, we travel on minor highways.  BUT, our GPS is always trying to get us back onto the major highways.

We visited Washington Jefferson College in Washington, PA – the second oldest college in the US, after Harvard.  

interesting tourist destinations

interesting tourist destinations

 Both my grandfather and great-father attended this college.

After visiting the college, we walked up and down the main street of Washington.

interesting tourist destinations

interesting tourist destinations

There was some pretty Clematis growing underneath a Gingko tree…

interesting tourist destinations

Roses were in full bloom as well….

interesting tourist destinations

Before we left Washington, we drove up to my great-great-great-grandfathers farm.  Or, where it used to be.  It is now filled with beautiful homes.  I tried to imagine what it used to look like and felt a connection to standing on land he used to farm.

Later, we headed up to New York state.  On our way, we stopped by the tiny town of Volant, which is located in Amish country in New York.  

interesting tourist destinations

Don’t you just want to sit on this porch?

I found an antique colander, which I will turn into a planter.

The weather has been warm….in the 80’s.  I must admit that it is a bit too warm for me. I know, I know….I live in the desert.  How can it be too warm for me?

Well, I am a wimp when it comes to humidity – I like dry heat 😉

interesting tourist destinations

This tiny town was hosting a progressive tea party.  Each store was hosting part of the meal.  Over a thousand people were expected.  Thankfully, we came the day before.

Blue Lobelia, White Bacopa, Sweet Potato Vine, Geraniums and Marigold

Blue Lobelia, White Bacopa, Sweet Potato Vine, Geraniums and Marigold.

Spring has arrived and colorful containers are filled with beautiful flowers.

Lupine

Lupine

I fell in love with the Lupine, above.  

Road Trip.

 Guess where we went the next day?

Niagara Falls

We visited Niagara Falls, on the Canadian side, which has a better view.

Tomorrow, I’ll share with you our visit to the falls and then our travels to the Finger Lakes region with its wineries and hidden garden I found.  

https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/1.jpg 560 640 arizonaplantlady@gmail.com https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/AZ-Plant-Lady-Logo-small.jpg arizonaplantlady@gmail.com2012-05-20 01:35:002021-02-07 03:41:51Road Trip…College, Tiny Town and Containers

Roadtrip – Three States in One Day

Road Trip

We woke up this morning in Amish country and couldn’t wait to get started exploring some more.  As we drove through the countryside, we noticed an unusual amount of Amish buggies out on the road.

Amish country

Amish country

As we passed some of the farms, we noticed a huge gathering of buggies and horses…

Amish country

Amish country

Horses gathered together while their buggies were parked in a row.

Amish country

Horses play a huge part in Amish life.

Amish country
Amish country

As we drove into one of the small towns, I was on the lookout for the one Amish delicacy that I love…

Amish soft pretzel.

You have not lived until you have tasted an Amish soft pretzel.  They make them from fresh dough and bake them in a convection oven.

As I sat in the sunshine eating my pretzel, it was just a small piece of heaven.

There are also other Amish delicacies….

Road trip

Some of which, I have no desire to try….

I forgot to mention an incident from yesterday…

We were in the parking lot of Target, having picked up some essentials, when we heard a long siren go off, warning the city about ???.  We didn’t know what the signal meant.  There were clouds off in the distance, but they didn’t look too threatening.

My mom went and asked the lady who worked at Target what told us that it was the tornado siren that is tested every Wednesday afternoon.

So, we obviously stuck out as tourists – but seriously, we don’t get huge tornadoes in Arizona.

Road trip

For lunch today, we ate slices of fresh Amish wheat bread and some of our Amish butter.  It was delicious.

McDonald

McDonald’s has designated parking for trucks, buses, Amish buggies and RV’s.

Fairy Gardening

Fairy Gardening is quite popular in this area.  I like to imagine tiny fairies living in the garden.

The Amish countryside is so beautiful – I had so much fun taking pictures…  

Amish countryside
Amish countryside

As we left Ohio for Pennsylvania, we had to drive through a small part of West Viriginia.

Road trip

Super cute town.

Road trip
Road trip

Our goal this afternoon was to visit the grave of my grandfather along with my great-grandparents.

father's grave

My mother sprinkled some of her mother’s ashes on her father’s grave.

Then it was time to visit another cemetery where my 3rd great-grandparents were buried.

father's grave

We had a hard time finding this cemetery.  First of all, it is small and has not had any new burials for years.  As a result, there was no address for this cemetery.  I did follow the directions, but they made no sense..  My mother and I were ready to give up and drove into a parking lot to explore our options.

As we got ready to leave, I looked u AND there it was!  Right across the street!

It is always quite humbling to me to walk through a cemetery and see how long ago someone passed away.  I imagine what kind of life that they had.

father's grave

Both of my 3rd great-parents are buried underneath this marker.  The dates are beginning to fade.

Many of the grave stones showed that death occurred for many in the 1800’s.

Road trip

You will be proud to note that the trunk of our rental car is quite neat and clean, except for my Diet Dr. Pepper.

The same cannot be said for the interior of the car, however…  

Amish butter cheese

The backseat is filled with our cooler that containers our fruit and Amish butter cheese. Bags are filled with homemade Amish wheat bread and of course, we had some leftover pizza from tonight’s dinner.  The remaining bags are full of the results of our shopping.

We are having a fabulous time.

Tomorrow, we are off Niagara Falls!  

https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/1531.jpg 519 640 arizonaplantlady@gmail.com https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/AZ-Plant-Lady-Logo-small.jpg arizonaplantlady@gmail.com2012-05-18 04:16:002021-02-07 06:33:07Roadtrip – Three States in One Day

Day in the Garden….

az plant lady family, Garden Travels

I love school holidays…

I don’t have to get up early to get kids ready… 

I don’t have to worry about helping getting their homework done…

And the kids are happy!

Last Monday, while my wonderful husband was busy nailing wooden planks for our new vegetable garden fence, I spent the morning outside with my youngest daughter, Gracie in the garden.

dried sunflowers

First, we took down our regular bird feeder and hung dried sunflowers for the birds.

We grew sunflowers last summer and saved the flower heads for a winter treat for our birds.

vegetable garden

Then we turned our attention to our older vegetable garden.

Gracie planted some new sunflower seeds while I planted cucumber and basil seeds.

I have been working on a new project.  I am growing vegetables and flowers together in pots.

vegetable garden

All my pots are in the ‘in between’ stage.  This one has red and green leaf lettuce and dianthus.

I also just planted a small cucumber variety in front of the small trellises and there are also some newly germinated cosmos as well.

nasturtiums

The nasturtiums are beginning to bloom.  They make great companion plants in the vegetable garden and help to repel damaging insects.

sugar snap peas

My sugar snap peas are also beginning to bloom.

We had a great time in the garden, enjoying our warmer then usual February weather.

How about you?

Have you gone out in your garden lately?

https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/DSC_0138.jpg 640 426 arizonaplantlady@gmail.com https://www.azplantlady.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/AZ-Plant-Lady-Logo-small.jpg arizonaplantlady@gmail.com2012-02-24 14:00:002025-08-11 06:52:18Day in the Garden….
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noelle-johnson-az-plant-ladyNoelle Johnson: AZ PLANT LADY®

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