Fiber Changed Everything

Earlier this week we hung out with this crowd:

The kids with Kelly, Albert, Kevin and Hobbes.

These guys live in a little town called Horseheads, NY.  And just next to them, is the town of Corning, NY.  Corning is also the home of the world headquarters for Corning, Incorporated where 3 of my family members also work.

Corning, Inc was originally a producer of glass for things like automobile windshields as well as the consumer cookware of both CorningWare and Corelle.  And while these may be the things that they (at the time) were most well known for, they also later were the inventors of silica glass that was used to create and develop what is now known as fiber optics.  With the invention of fiber, copper cable became obsolete and the transfer of data for phone and the internet ushered in a new age.

Why am I telling you all of this? If you visit Corning, NY you can also visit the Corning Museum of Glass.  The museum is pretty cool with demonstrations about glass breaking, fiber optics and lots of interactive activities for the kids to try. In addition to all of that, you can enter a workshop to make your own ornament by glass blowing, or some other glass object by sand blasting or build a mosaic.

Diego and Kevin decided to try glass blowing and make their own ornaments:

       

The girls decided on something a little bit different.  Olivia made a nightlight and Ana made a mosaic:

   










Very close to Horseheads is also a little place called Harris Hill, the soaring capital of the world.  Soaring is where a small bi-plane attaches itself to a soaring, motorless glider via a cable. The bi-plane takes the glider up into the air, removes the cable from the glider and the glider uses the air currents to tour the hills and valleys in and around the southern tier before returning to Harris Hill for landing.  For Kelly's 40th birthday, I gave her a certificate for a ride in one of the gliders.  In case you didn't know, Kelly is terrified of heights and all rides.  After watching the gliders in action, I gave a little chuckle for the pilot of the glider that was with Kelly.  I wondered what kind of commentary was made during her ride....!

In addition to the gliders, there are also cute little rides, golfing and parks here.  The kids rode horses and road a couple of the "original" rides that have been here since the '60s:

Kevin and Diego on the airplanes.

Ana and Olivia on the tilt a whirl.

The bad news?  Our time in Horseheads and Corning was waayy too short. 

The good news?  Kelly and Kevin will be coming to North Tonawanda to spend another 6 days with us before we return to California.  We are looking forward to it.