Corning, NY

What a day...we went to the Corning Museum of Glass today. It was something of an "adventure" getting there, though.  Josh got tickets online for us to take classes and learn how to make our own glass flowers and wind chimes.  We decided to walk to the museum because it's only about a mile from our hotel. So we ate breakfast and were on our way with about twenty five minutes to spare.  I went out to the FJ to grab some stamps for a postcard to my residents and there was a guy poking around the trailer. Needless to say, I was a bit nervous. I thought we might be either getting a ticket or robbed. Turns out, he just really liked the trailer and has been looking all over the world (literally) for this kind of trailer. So it was all good but we lost about five minutes in this exchange.  As we were headed to the footbridge over the Chemung River, Josh got a flat tire....in front of a bike shop...a closed one.

But being the whiz kid he is with all things mechanical, he fixed it with a...um...it was green? Well i don't know exactly as I'm, er, less mechanically-minded.  At this point it's time we were supposed to be there (we thought)...we made it to the bridge only to find our next obstacle:

The whole bridge was covered in about a foot and a half of leaves! So we went off-roading and FINALLY made it to the museum. Then told to go to another building. Got our tickets. Turns out we were two hours early. Yup, for the first time in our lives, we were early for something. But we really busted our tails to get there on time.

Oh well...

So we spent the time in the museum looking at some of the exhibits.  Here were some of our faves:

Monty Python, anyone?

Look really closely at this one.  It's a tree! Made out of recycled glass bottles! So green :)

Those are glass knives hanging over a neighborhood. Not a good time to live in Surburbia...

And this one...Josh said my mom would like this.  Looks like Alien, Sigourney Weaver style.

We checked into wind chime-making first:

Rockin' the safety glasses

Josh's finished product

And then we made flowers! So much fun! I think we decided that glass blowing would be a pretty kickin' career.

The glass being reheated in the furnace for the next step.  You can see all the colors swirling together!

We stopped by the gift shop on the way out. It's my daddy and me: muscle car and vw bug :)

 This is the footbridge we crossed to get to the museum.  It's pretty awesome because the whole thing is a maze. We took the opportunity to go through it since we didn't have time on the way there.

Corning is a really picturesque little town. Very Stars Hollow-ish. Most everything is closed on Sundays and the bread bakers put their carts full of freshly baked bread half way out the door so that their wafting scents tempt you inside. But even though it's a tiny town, they still have girls scouts...

Just for you, mama!

Market Street, Corning, NY