Kim's Thoughts
Just a few thoughts I feel worthy of jotting down!
While I’m Here…
Alternate Title: There’s Always Room For Jell-O!
Today is the second Tuesday of the month, so it is the day that a bunch of ladies from our church get together for our monthly luncheon. We go somewhere different every month and, when the weather is nice, we try to go out of town to places we might not normally get to just pop in for lunch. This month, we went to the D&R Depot in LeRoy – about 40 minutes or so from here. It was a lovely lunch – good conversation, great company, and delicious food! The Depot is a quaint little restaurant, nicely decorated with train themes and purple cloth napkins (you know I love purple), and is located in a former B&O train depot right on the railroad tracks in LeRoy – just south of Brockport on Rt. 19. Check out their website and give them a try for lunch or dinner, sometime — well worth the drive! The following photos are of the outside of the restaurant and of the amazing dessert I had today – homemade cream puff with Bavarian cream and hot fudge sauce……YUMMO!!!
Since the weather is getting better, I’ve started thinking about what kinds of adventures I might want to make plans for. With that in mind, I remembered that LeRoy is also the home of a local attraction that I have on my “things to do and see” list! So, while I was there, I decided to take the time after lunch to cross that one off the list. The attraction? Well, the Jell-O Gallery Museum, of course! LeRoy is the birthplace of America’s most famous dessert – Jell-O! In 1897, Pearle Wait, a LeRoy resident was making a cough remedy in his home and through his experimentation with the use of gelatin, created a fruit flavored gelatin dessert. His wife named it Jell-O! It didn’t go over very well in those days, though, so in 1899, he sold the recipe and his inventory to Frank Woodward for $450. Woodward also had difficulty selling this new product and offered to sell it for $35 to get rid of it! After a successful advertising campaign, door-to-door offerings of samples and recipes, it finally “took off” and became popular as the wiggly jiggly dessert we know and love, today! Click here to read more about the history of Jell-O and the museum.
I really enjoyed my visit to the Jell-O museum – it was very interesting and a fun, unique thing to do on a chilly Tuesday afternoon! Through the exhibits, I learned the history of Jell-O……the celebrities all through the years that were in radio, TV, and print ads – from Jack Benny to Lucille Ball to Andy Griffith to Bill Cosby and more……that, overall, America’s favorite flavor is usually Cherry, but in Utah, the favorite flavor (and state dessert) is Lime……that there are a TON of different shapes of collectible Jell-O molds…..and so much more! Then, after touring the gallery, I went downstairs to the Transportation Exhibit, where I saw buggies, sleighs, carts, and bicycles from the late 1800s and early 1900s — they even had a really cool 1908 Cadillac!!! When I was downstairs, I also learned that LeRoy was quite the industrial town in its heyday!!! It truly was an enjoyable, fun, and educational day! Here are some photos from my tour:
On the way to LeRoy, I noticed a sign for the Genesee Country Museum, which is also on my “things to do and see” list! I had hoped to also pop in there on the way home, but missed the sign on the return trip……probably just as well – it was getting late in the afternoon and I’m thinking this is a place that I’ll want to spend more than an hour or so to really look around. So, I’ll save that for another day!
But, I did take a moment to stop in Bergen for a couple quick photos. I haven’t been in Bergen in years – I used to have friends who lived there and we used to hang out there a lot. It is a sweet little rural town between Brockport and LeRoy on Rt. 19. I stopped for photos because I thought the flag lined street was pretty and I noticed a very interesting mural that boasts the Village’s history on the side of one of the buildings.
Before heading home, I stopped in the Lowes in Brockport to pick up an ornate trellis – I’m getting a purple clematis for the corner of my shed and needed one for it to climb! What a day, it was, and what a great adventure to stick in the memory books! I now have one less item on my “things to do and see” list! Now, on to the rest of the list…….. 🙂
Kim's Thoughts 
Kim,
The Jello Museum also is on my to do list. The Genesee Country Village Museum is on my yearly to do list and I checked it off last month. I normally spend 5 to 6 hours at GCVM. Rarely do I get to Bergen, even tho I have a niece in Elba. I collect photos of murals so I should head west to Bergen; the train is an added bonus.
Tom