Monday, January 18, 2010

Richfield Springs and Van Hornesville, New York Day Trip October 19,2009
















On this date, my friend Carol (Coopercar on geocaching.com) met in Oneonta around eleven a.m. We had a quick lunch at Taco Bell and then headed out for town of Richfield Springs, New York. It was a gorgeous fall day, warm and sunny and we just wanted to be out and about and in the fresh air. Geocaching in Richfield Springs offered us a perfect opportunity to do that.

Upon arriving in Richfield Springs, we started looking for a geocache. We drove in a huge circle, ending up back on Main Street. We noticed an interesting shopping center which had a dollar store. Carol wanted to pick up something at the supermarket, so I told her I would go into the dollar store, look around a bit and ask directions to the park where the cache was hid. I purchased a few items and asked the cashier and it turned out we were very close to the road leading to John D. Cary Park. There is a good parking area and after parking we set out. The cache was not far away and involved a short downhill walk in the woods before Carol found it. It was a large, well stocked cache.

Then we located the other park where a cache was hidden, it is right on Main Street. The clock in the picture is at this park. Click on that picture to go my flickr page for the clock, where there is a little bit of information. The park is aptly named Spring Park because a natural mineral spring is located there. I never knew about this spring. We walked around the park a bit and then started looking for the cache. This one was a micro, and micros are small and usually a bit harder to find. Carol found it in the same spot I had already put my hand, she just reached in deeper. When we sat down on a bench to sign the log, we noticed a guy watching us. He came over and offered to take our picture, and at first I said OK, but then I had a funny feeling and I pretended the batteries in the camera were dead. I just had the feeling he might take off with my camera. While not an expensive camera, its all I have and I did not want to take any chances. I took some pictures of the park, which are up above.

Carol noticed a consignment shop across the street from the park (she LOVES consignment shops) but it was closed. We decided to head for Van Hornesville to look for the Amish area. Carol had been to it before, when she had a harness repaired by an Amish man who has a shop there. On the way we stopped and found another geocache, this time just outside of a cemetery.

In the Van Hornesville area, just off of Route 20, we noticed some dining room table chairs for sale and Carol wanted to stop to look at them. I saw the old washing machine at the same location and took a picture. Then I noticed the old library across the street. Unfortunately, my picture does not show the year that was on the building.

Carol was able to tell me where to turn on Route 20 to get to the repair shop. We found it, but it was closed and a sign gave a new address. The picture way up at the top shows the sign for the original repair shop (before it was moved). Unfortunately, it was starting to get dark, so we decided to put up off exploring the Amish area until another time. We headed back to Oneonta where Carol had left her car. We agreed to return to the Amish area sometime soon and do some more exploring.

Unfortunately, as of today, January 18, 2010 we have not been able to work out a day to do that and I think we may have to wait until spring.

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