Friday —Forage harvesting for dairying involves a mower, forage harvester, dump trucks, and a packing tractor at the feed storage bunk. All of these machines have a closed cab and a passenger seat. The farm owner to whom we rent our ground seemed amenable to giving everyone a ride in at least one of these machines. Probably not many of our group have experienced that sort of thing. Of course there is the milking operation and herd management. They also convert manure into methane into electricity. They get involved with green energy credits, for the environmentally politically astute of Thai 9!!!

On the simpler scale is the Amish who do lumbering, construction, furniture making, vinyl window assembly, farming, etc. They are not into the tourist thing like the Amish in Lancaster, PA, but the Amish ladies will put on a family style dinner.

Saturday —There are several wineries in the grape belt along Lake Erie. We could tour one or two of them and perhaps observe grape harvesting. An Estate Winery has to grow the grapes on the property where the wine is made. Then around the county other possibilities are:
Lucille Ball museum—she grew up in the county (I hope most of us grew up a little more than she did!!!)
The Jackson Center—Robert Jackson, supreme court justice and Chief Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials
Roger Tory Peterson Institute—American Field Guide of Birds, foremost ornithologist Chautauqua Institution—but most of the culture has departed by October Drake’s Well in Titusville, PA—first oil well in North America Obviously we can’t do all of these, and there are other possibilities.

Saturday evening —dinner cruise on “The Summer Wind”, a paddle wheel boat on Chautauqua Lake. It runs through mid-October and has curtains on the lower deck, where the buffet is, in case of unfavorable weather. The upper deck has a roof, but open sides.

Sunday Morning —breakfast buffet at The Dutch Village Restaurant, which has an extensive gift shop. There are a variety of churches available.

Now about the logistics: Fly in to Buffalo, Erie, PA or Jamestown, NY and rent a car. Buffalo is 1 hr. 40 min, Erie is 50 min. and Jamestown is 40 min.

People can expand the schedule on their own to include Niagara Falls or Peekin Peak Resort and Spa, where they have golf, skiing in winter, etc

Lodging—TeCroney Dairy Apartments converting dairy barn into apartments

Our goal is to complete the exterior work—siding, roofing, stairways—and the 6 first floor apartments by this fall 2008. A reasonable goal is to complete the upper 2 floors into 9 apartments by the fall of 2009. It would be an honor to have Thai 9 christen them. (Maybe we can find some reed mats like in Waipio—or perhaps air mattresses). If this doesn’t work out, available are Holiday Inn Express, Bed and Breakfast, Chautauqua Inst. Peekin’ Peak Resort .

Top

Home