Two Adventures in One Day!

Oneonta Landmark
Originally uploaded by JuneNY

It was a beautiful and fairly warm spring day today. This morning Leslie and I met up in Oneonta to try to find four new geocaches. The theme of the four seemed to be "alternative cache containers". We found three out of the four which is pretty good for us. The one we did not find is hidden somewhere on or in the Knight in front of Popek's. We think we actually did touch it, but we had some concerns about fooling around with it too much, since the statue is old and rusty. We found the other three fairly easily. One of them was in a HUGE culvert. Finding it was easy, but getting it down was a challenge and returning it was even more of a challengem but we managed to do it. It was a fun couple of hours. Of course, its always fun when you are successful!

Later on in the day, I met up with Carol in Morris and we headed over towards Gilbertsville. We had toured some historical houses one night in December, 2009. Since it was dark, it was pretty hard to see the outside of the houses. We wanted to get a look at them in daylight. We didn't have any problems finding them since I still had the printed material with the addresses. Then we spent some time on "The Gilbert Block". There are several shops that are very interesting. The Country Store still has the original counter and shelving behind it. At first the clerk was a bit irritated that we were sightseeing rather than shopping, but he loosened up after a minute or two and gladly showed us around and told us what he knows about the history of the place. Before leaving, I purchased a fresh tomato ($1.50!!!). The quilt shop next door is interesting and full of beautiful quilts and antiques. The owner was happy to answer any of our questions. We also went into the post office (the original wood facade is still there) and the hardware store. The picture way up at the top is of the Country Store (on the left) and the Quilt Shop from the front.

I took a few pictures of the MAJORS INN. I hope sometime I can go inside, when they are having some sort of event there.

The fish dinner at Christ Episcopal Church was outstanding! I don't think I ever had such fresh tasting fish, and it was only lightly breaded, not the thick breading you usually get when you order fried fish. One of the workers told us that the fish indeed was truly fresh, it had never been frozen. What a difference!

Oxford Adventure with Terry

Hoppie's: Oxford, New York
Originally uploaded by JuneNY

Carol asked me to go to her daughter in laws art show in Oxford. It was today. When it turned out that Carol could not get off of work early so that we could go early and explore Oxford together, I asked Terry if she was interested, and she was.

I picked Terry up at two p.m. in Morris and we headed over towards Oxford. Unfortunately, my STREET FINDER decided today was a good time to act up, so we wasted some time finding our way.

Along the way, we went through South New Berlin. I decided to stop and take a picture of Toby's, a junk shop right on the main drag. Carol, Terry and I had stopped there last fall when we went to a church supper there, but I did not have my camera with me at that time. Toby had told us that he would be moving to a new place soon. Well, the old place is still there, nothing has changed (except maybe it is in worse condition now) and a new guy was running it. Terry saw a beautiful cut glass dish and said she wanted it. She got it for one dollar! I think it is worth a LOT more than that.

We headed on towards Oxford, well we hoped we were going in the right direction, my navigation system seemed to have some really strange ideas about turning in the wrong direction, so we ignored it. My mapquest cut off the last part of the route, so we were on our own. We wasted a few minutes driving around Norwich, but then we saw a sign for Oxford, so we knew we were heading in the right direction.

We made it to Oxford and got a parking spot right in front of the art gallery (Six on the Square). Off we went to explore. First we went to the Clachan Coffee House . The 1914 building is built from a former horse-drawn lunch wagon, which was carted to road, railroad and canal work sites. They serve coffee, tea, other drinks and snack items. The owner showed us some old photographs of the place.

Then we stopped in the drug store to see if we could find some postcards. We found some, and we heard the cashier talking to another customer about SKY BARS...........a treat from my childhood. Terry and I each bought one.
Then we went geocaching. There is a cache hidden on the bridge on Main Street. Terry found it and she was excited to find her first geocache all by herself.

We walked around the square a bit and I took some pictures of interesting buildings. A little after four, we went into Hoppie's which sure is a cool place.It is made up to look like a 1950's soda fountain, complete with an old jukebox. Terry and I split a "Dagwood" sandwich. Its a good thing we split it because I could barely finish my half. Terry played some songs on the jukebox, and I took some pictures.

It was five p.m. by then so we went to the art gallery and met Jill Kraft, Carol's daughter in law. We looked at her work and talked with her a bit. I took a bunch of pictures. Carol was supposed to meet us at five but she was late. We waited until she got there at 5:30, talked a few minutes and the headed back home.

Sunday, March 7th, 2010 Adventure

The Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, New York closed several months ago due to financial reasons. I saw in the newspaper that this weekend they were allowing the general public to come in (at no charge) to see the exhibits before they are moved. I asked my friend Terry if she wanted to go and she said yes. We decided to make a day of it. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day and some of the time I didn't even wear a jacket.

We met up at the SOCCER HALL OF FAME at ten a.m. I bought several small items for my grandkids in the gift shop since they were all fifty percent off. Then we toured the museum. My camera was acting up. I was not sure if it was the camera or the batteries. I kept switching batteries with little success but I was able to get several pictures.

After that we went to DOLLAR GENERAL and I bought some new batteries and found out that it was a battery problem, nothing wrong with my camera.

We headed out to Fly Creek, New York to try a restaurant that neither one of us had ever been to before: Heckman's Harmony House Cafe. It has been opened a couple of years, I think. We took back roads to get there.

While going through Mt. Vision, I decided to take a few pictures of an old empty store that I have passed by many times. While in Hartwick, I stopped to take pictures of another old store that closed up not too long ago.

We found the Harmony House Cafe to have a delightful rustic atmosphere. I was happy to see a picture on display that showed the building to be a general store in a former life.

Before leaving Fly Creek we drove around a bit. I noticed a ghost sign and stopped to take a picture. Then I noticed that right next door to the sign, there was a interesting building that looked like it might have been a shop in a past life, so I took a picture.

We headed back to Oneonta, stopping for about a half an hour to
go to Wood Bull Antiques in Milford, New York. This is a wonderful, huge antique place in a huge barn, right on the main road. I had been there once many years ago. It hasn't changed much over the years.

Before going back to the Soccer Hall of Fame, we stopped at McDonalds for a shamrock shake. Once back at the Hall of Fame, I took a couple more pictures of the outside.

It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Gerster Family Market

Sign at Gerster Family Market
Originally uploaded by JuneNY

It was such a nice day. Connie and I wanted to get outside and take a walk. We met up at Price Chopper and then went to the Charlotte Creek Fishing Access. That road was not plowed out, so we parked at the outside end of it, and walked in the residential area just outside it.

Then Connie wanted to show me a modular house that has been open and on display for a while. Indeed the house was totally open with a huge OPEN sign out in front. We walked through it and discussed the pros and cons of the layout.

Right across the street, there is a huge convenience store. It had a GRAND OPENING sign in front of it. I know I have driven by it many times, but I don't think I ever stopped. We decided to check it out. We found that it is HUGE with a very nice lunch section. We decided to stay and have a snack.

I noticed this sign outside and decided I had to take a picture for flickr.com Unfortunately, the batteries in my camera gave out before I could take a picture of the outside. But, Connie and I liked the place so much that we decided we need to go again soon.

I stopped by the FIESTA to get some money Christa owes me and while there I ordered seafood paella to take out. It was expensive, but absolutely delicious!

Mystic Forest/Hamden New York Adventure: June 19th, 2009

I picked Leslie up and we headed out to the small town of Hamden, beyond Delhi, New York. I had never been to Hamden, but my friend Connie had become acquainted with the owners of the Lucky Dog Farm Store, when she attended an earth day event. She and I talked about going out to Hamden together but she was never available when I suggested it to her, so I decided to ask Leslie.

We had found some information about a couple of very interesting sounding geocaches hidden at West Branch Nature Preserve located between Walton and Delhi on Route 10. We found the area easily enough, it was past The Lucky Dog on our right hand side and there is a small parking area. We had just starting walking the trail when we disturbed a family of wild turkeys. We found START YOUR JOURNEY HERE. There is an absolutely incredible HUGE old tree right near to this geocache. Attached to this entry is a picture of that tree.

Then we continued UPhill to look for the Mystic Forest. My asthma kicked in and I was only able to walk slow, so Leslie got to the cache first. The Mystic Forest indeed is something to experience. Its hard to explain. I will try to get a picture on a day when my asthma is not acting up. We signed the log and headed back down to the parking area.

We went to the Lucky Dog next. It is in a circa 1870 classic general store building. We looked at the merchandise before going to the rear of the store for lunch at the Lucky Dog Cafe. The dining area has several very old porcelain topped kitchen tables, like the one in my house when I was a young child. We had soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. The food was very good.

The HAMDEN INN is across the road from The Lucky Dog. It appeared to be closed, but hopefully I can return and have lunch there someday.

We then headed back towards Oneonta, stopping to see the eagles nest that is on some protected property. Without binoculars, I could just make it out. On the way back to Oneonta, we looked for possible places to hide future geocaches. We may go back to an interesting old cemetery we saw on the road between Delhi and Oneonta. All in all, it was a short trip, but interesting and fun, and it included a nice lunch!

Main Street Oneonta Adventure

According to the weather channel, today was going to be the only nice day this week, with temperatures in the mid thirties. As soon as I heard that, I vowed to get outside for a while. Before I even got to the phone my friend, Connie, called with the same idea.

We decided to meet at STELLA LUNA for lunch at eleven a.m. and decide what to do after lunch. The STELLA LUNA is a nice restaurant in an old train depot. They offer several lunch specials for six dollars, including soup. We declined desert because a new bakery/sandwich shop just opened in town. After we were finished with lunch, we went to an art gallery on Main Street. In spite of a huge OPEN sign on the front door, it turns out that they are between shows and did not have any art on display. We went in long enough to look at the items for sale in the gift shop (mostly jewelry) and sign up for the mailing list.

Then we went to Neahwa Park and took a long walk on the road between Neawha and Catella Park. Then we went to the new sandwich shop on Main Street. It is run by TWELVE TRIBES, and they have been working on the interior of this place for close to two years. The inside is just gorgeous. We each had a piece of cheesecake, which was very good.

I suggested to Connie that we might go to STEVENS, since it is just across the street from the bakery. STEVENS is a very old store, well over one hundred years old. They sell sporting and camping items. They have not updated their cabinets and display cases over the years and it has a real old time feel to it. The owners said I could take pictures and post them on the internet. I took a lot of pictures! Where else can you buy a weathervane? Honestly, I am pretty sure this is the only place in Oneonta that sells them. STEVENS sells a lot of items that you could not find other places. We spent a half hour or more in STEVENS and the owners answered a lot of our questions.

The picture at the top is the Stella Luna Ristorance (former train depot) where we ate lunch. Beneath that is the old cash register in Stevens, and then there is a picture of the tin ceiling at Common Ground. It was taken out of another old building and moved to Common Ground.

It was a great day!

December 4, 2009 Night Time Adventure

Tianderah
Originally uploaded by JuneNY

My friend Carol heard about a self guided tour of historical homes in Gilbertsville, New York called DRESSED UP FOR THE HOLIDAYS. It was a fundraiser for the Gilbertsville Free Library. She and I made arrangements to go and she asked her friend, Sarah, to join us.

We met up in Morris for supper at the pizzeria. Then we headed to Gilbertsville and we met Sarah at the library. There was a very long and slow line. When we got into the building, we could see why it was so slow. They were making copies of the itinerary and map one at a time on a copy machine that was acting up. We finally paid our admission price and got the information. We spent a few minutes looking around the library and then headed on our way.

We decided to check out the EMPIRE first, which is an old inn that has been restored. They have an interesting huge old safe which they have not been able to open yet. They offered us refreshments and told us about the history of the place. They are in the process of getting the rooms upstairs ready to rent out.

There were four houses on the tour. We walked to two of them. Then we drove to Tianderah, which is a small mansion. This place was just gorgeous inside and the owners were there, greeting guests and answering questions. Later on I found out that this property which has a lot of acreage, is for sale for three million dollars. This small mansion is an example of Queen Anne Romanesque Mansion. It was designed by Architect William Ralph Emerson and built in 1887. Pictures I took of the inside of this home can be viewed here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/juneny/sets/72157623469889042/

After that we went to the last house, which was a smaller modest stone home.

All of the homes were decorated for Christmas and had refreshments available. Since it was dark, I did not get pictures of the outside of the houses. I will go back someday soon during the day and take pictures of the outside.