It also turns out that as we should now come to expect, that the unexpected encounters we experience along the way tend to be the most rewarding and enriching.

Background: We knew Ithaca and Albany to be moderately to slightly (respectively) more Eco-conscious, easy-to-get-to-the-woods versions of where we reside currently. We thought we should explore them further as a potential fit for our familial years….hence the pilgrimage.

While Ithaca and the surrounding wine areas were both laid back and welcoming, the substance of the visit materialized in the dreams and the people. On the dream side, we have Dano’s, a restaurant that brings a vision of Austrian/Hungarian wine garden (search the Austrian word for wine garden).  With its homemade wursts with grape must mustard and celeriac salads, we were right at home with the small bites philosophy of our European friends.  Then they dropped the bomb on us….the stuffing bomb.  On the menu it is designated as Knoedel (assuming I knew how to put the ‘dot dot’ over that first ‘o’ in the word.  It is a baseball sized ball of sourdough bread stuffing with all the aromatics that Grandma put in hers, but is is served in a soup bowl with a healthy ladle of a rich, brown duck stock that was transcendent.  The whole reason for going to Dano’s was that our first choice of Wagner Brewing and Winery (or winery and brewing if you exclude our predetermined preference) had their restaurant CLOSED for the offseason.  Win for us.  Dano’s was enlightening.

A short drive to Ithaca, a speedy check in to the hotel, and we were ready to roam the downtown with one mission in sight.  Brussel Sprouts.

Yes.  I said Brussel sprouts.  Roasted in olive oil with garlic to a nutty brown crust and topped with toasted pecans.  This is what you will find at Just a Taste along with fluffy salt cod fritters, assorted olive plates and almost any Spanish Tapas gone North Eastern USA that you could wish for.  A nice wine bar with wines by the carafe or sherries by the flight is also welcome.

Perhaps the best example of the unexpected came at a local sports-based watering hole in Saratoga Springs.  We had been inundated with Penn State coverage  of the Sandusky/JoePa issues for the entire trip and determined that regardless of where we were, we needed to find a place to view the game and the extra curricular items that came along for the ride.  We scoped out a nice sports bar close to our hotel (by nice, I mean it had 50 TV’s so we were bound to get some coverage without fighting for it) and sauntered up to the bar.  After having just eaten Hattie’s Fried Chicken on a whim, we asked for nothing more than a hummus platter, a few rounds of Guinness and some good company.  The game was good, the company was better.  We happened to be sitting beside a gentleman who I will not call by name only because I do not have his permission to do so and not that he would not grant it.  Let’s just say he has ties to an athletic department to a collegiate program in the North East and is also a parent so he had excellent insights into both the game and the surrounding story.  He also was more than gracious with his time and his ear to listen and lend perspective.

All the rest is pretty mundane.  We had some nice food, some decent accommodations (minus the 4am gun shot wake up calls) and a beautiful drive by of the Occupy Albany encampment.

It wasn’t the trip that stands out.  It was the experiences….