Black Friday 2010 ADVENTURE

The Columbia Hotel: Sharon Springs, NY
Originally uploaded by JuneNY

The day after Thanksgiving this year(two days ago), Dad, Peggy and I headed towards Sharon Springs, New York. We discovered this town about five years ago and I have returned about once a year to explore. Formerly a HUGE tourist town, it then declined to the point where it was called a ghost town (not sure why, since several hotels were operational during that time), and now it is gradually being revived.

The main goal of this days trip was to attempt to go inside THE COLUMBIA HOTEL, one of the old hotels which closed around 2005. I had taken pictures from the outside during previous and had heard that it was easy to get into now.

Indeed it was easy. We had to do some serious bushwhacking of some overgrown bushes along the side of the building to get to the back door, which was indeed wide open. We walked right in!

We were surprised that there has not been vandalism........no spray paint or trashed items. I think it probably looks much like it did on the day the hotel was closed. You can tell that people have been there (empty wint bottles, etc.). We quickly walked through the first and second floor, but did not go up to the third floor. The KINGSTON LOUNGE still has the piano. At the front desk, keys still remain in their appropriate boxes. After we came out the back door and went around to the front to take pictures of the outside of the building, we noticed NO TRESPASSING SIGNS on the front doors. YIKES!!

It was a cold day and we were shivering when we left the hotel, and Peggy suggested we find a place to eat lunch right away. We went to THE BLACK CAT. Peggy and I shared a Lebanese dish and a Reuben and Dad had Lebanese potato salad and a goat cheese sandwich. I was somewhat surprised that he was so adventurous regarding his order! While Dad and Peggy had desert(Dad thoroughly enjoyed the carrot cake and tried to talk me into making one when we got home). I went to the new mercantile in THE ROSEBORO, owned by the Beekman boys. It was a bit of a disappointment, being small and not offering a whole lot at this time.

We had heard that THE IMPERIAL BATHS could be accessed by an open door in the back, but it appears that door has been sealed up again. That was a disappointment. We drove by THE ADLER, noticing that the driveway/road going up to it is a real mess. A few years ago, we drove right up it to the front of the hotel, but that is not possible now.

The day would not have been complete without finding at least one geocache. We drove a few miles outside town into a backroad area with some farmland and found THE GRASS IS GREENER. Actually, Peggy found it and I did not even get close enough to get a good look since I was on the wrong side of a maze of small trees and bushes, and I had already managed to NOT get wet and muddy in the huge tractor ruts, and wanted to stay clean and dry. Here is a picture of Peggy at the geocache site.
http://junenysadventures.blogspot.com/2010/11/black-friday-2010-adventure.html

We headed for home, going a different way, Route 20 to 80 to Cooperstown and then the back route through Hartwick to my house.
Dad and I were exhausted and immediately took a nap, but Peggy
went into Oneonta to take a walk and do some shopping. After all, it WAS Black Friday!

It turned out to be a great day, but I still have not seen all of Sharon Springs. I need to return in the spring and drive some of the back roads and see more of the current revitalization.

My pictures for this day can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/juneny/sets/72157625350062537/

MISSING IN ACTION: Doc Branta Adventure

Team-Ducky hid a series of geocaches at Gilbert Lake State Park for their halloween bash. I missed that get together, which is too bad, because it sounds like it turned out to be a whole lot of fun.I think the theme of the series is mythical animal/creatures that have been spotted, but never found.....or something like that.

Anyways, Luckless wanted to do the series so she suggested we go to Gilbert Lake on Friday, November 12th. It was a beautiful fall day and we met up at my house around ten a.m. in the morning and headed for the park.

Once arriving, we attempted to find a good place to start. This took a while, but we ended up on Gilbert Lake Road. We could not locate a trail, but we knew where to go, so we did some bushwhacking to find T-D C.C.U. - Chupacabra. When we got to the area, both Luckless and I headed to the same exact spot where our GPS's were pointing and indeed it was the spot. This is a picture of the geocache, which was hidden in a really neat spot.

Geocaching 11/12/10
Originally uploaded by JuneNY

We signed the log, got the clue (written on a piece of fur) and headed back to my car.

After that we decided to go look for T-D C.C.U. - Beast of Montauk. Luckless had previously found it, but she thought maybe she wrote the clue down wrong and wanted to check it again. This took us to another area of the park but this time we used the trail, which made it a lot easier. The geocache was hidden in an area with a LOT of cut down logs and it took me a while to find it. We retrieved the clue (Luckless had looked at it upside down) and headed on our way.

We decided to try for one more: T-D C.C.U. - Werewolf This one was near the large pavilion. Unfortunately, we did not find the trail ahead of time, so we had to bushwhack up hill about a third of a mile or a bit more. And unfortunately, a half hour or more of searching was not sufficient and we gave up, but we did find the trail during that half hour and were able to take it down to the road. While walking back to my car, I noticed that the lake was a beautiful shade of blue, and I took this picture:

We decided to call it a day and head for home. We took a different route back to Route 23.

ANYWAYS, when I got home, I logged my two finds and then checked the logs for the one we we were unable to find. A previous finder mentioned getting some help from another finder which made it possible for her to locate WEREWOLF. I emailed artfullybare and I was given some interesting information...........that Team-Ducky moved the geocache from its previous spot and I was also given a new clue, which will be very helpful when Luckless and I return to look for it.

THE NEXT DAY, SATURDAY the 13th, we met up at my house again around ten a.m. and headed to the park, with Luckless driving. We took the same route there as we took home the previous day: 23 to Potato Farm Road, and staying straight until we got there. Along the way we saw something very interesting.........kind of a replica of Stonehenge in a field. It was not at all close to the road and it did not appear to have a road leading to it, so we did not stop for pictures. BUT, I will go again some day and try to get closer so I can take pictures.

Once at the park, we returned the Gilbert Lake Road and went to look for T-D C.C.U. - Big Foot. We walked into the woods close to the spot where we started yesterday and kept walking until we found the trail. The trail took us right to the area where Big Foot was hidden. There are a couple of abandoned trailers and outbuildings there (which I saw as an opportunity for urban exploration), but we didn't check them out. Luckless did not want me to tell her the hint from the cache page, so I didn't, but when I saw a certain something that I was sure was in the hint, I asked again and she said OK. I told her and then we both started looking. It took Luckless a couple of minutes before she located it.
Here is a picture of BIG FOOT GEOCACHE. She pulled it out, we retrieved the CLUE, signed the log and we headed back, this time we took the trail all the way to the road. On the way to the next search, we stopped at a tiny fenced in cemetery. It is right on Gilbert Lake Road, close to some campsites. Here are pictures:
I love old graveyards!


Then it was time to look for T-D C.C.U. - Hodag. We drove to a parking area and located a trail and got to the area. Luckless found this one fairly easily. Here is a picture.

We decided to call it a day and headed for home. We will return another day soon and find the last two in the series.

UPDATE: November 22, 2010. It turned out to be a great day to be outdoors, so I called Luckless and suggested we go to Gilbert Lake to look for Doc Branta. We had noticed that some of the caches in the series were disabled due to hunting season,
but not this one. We found it without benefit of the clue that is in the werewolf geocache. It was a great cache, in a neat spot. Actually, we were in the exact spot last week. After that I found GONE FISHING, and then Luckless and I did a bit of what I shall refer to as "backroading"..........hoping to find a way to get close
to something that resembles Stonehenge that we had noticed last week. We found the neatest farm stand named "Foolish Farm" and I purchased some gourds. We saw a woman outside working in her yard at the farmhouse we thought the stonehenge replica might be associated with. We talked to the owner who told us that it is indeed a replica of Stonehenge, which her husband and friends made out of slate. She gave us permission to walk on her property to get closer to it....we will do that another time when I have my camera with me.

BOOK VILLAGE ADVENTURE

Terry and I took advantage of the warm fall day to go to Hobart, New York. I had read about it being called a BOOK VILLAGE because of the number of bookstores they have, and wanted to visit.

We met up in Oneonta around 9:45 a.m. and headed towards Stamford. Once in Stamford, we stopped at the old Rexmere Hotel and went inside for a few minutes to see the exhibits regarding the old hotel. Then we found a geocache and then we drove around a bit and I pointed out some of the old hotels I have seen during past visits.

Then it was on to Hobart, about three miles down Route 10. We arrived shortly at Hobart's Main Street and were struck by how quaint and interesting it was. Our first stop was at one of the bookstores. I purchased a paperback copy of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. I read it when I was a teen and want to read it again. Then we visited another bookshop right across the street. By this time it was getting close to noon so we went to THE COFFEE CUP.

The Coffee Cup: diner in Hobart, NY
Originally uploaded by JuneNY

We had a great lunch, and we enjoyed the memorabilia on the walls and shelves.
I don't recall Twinkies with this type of frosting, but Terry remembers them. Maybe they were only available a short time, or in certain areas.
After lunch (I had a reuben and Terry had her usual Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich) we went to more bookstores. Terry found a book for her friend in the nursing home. By then it was close to one p.m., the time I had agreed to phone the woman who had agreed to open the Historical Society for us. I called her and we met up with her. Here is a picture of the Historical Society. The building used to be a Masonic Temple.
We were taken upstairs to see the room where the masons used to meet. You could just picture the "grand poobah" sitting on that throne at the head of the room!


After that, we drove around Hobart a bit, before heading back to Oneonta. Terry wanted to stop at the Davenport Garden Center to purchase a butternut squash so we did that.


Later that day, Terry and I met up at her place in Otego and went to a ham dinner at a church in Unadilla. Yummy!

Apple Adventure

Middlefield Orchard: Middlefield, NY
Originally uploaded by JuneNY

It was a gorgeous INDIAN SUMMER DAY, and five of us set out for a STAFF FUN DAY.

First stop: Middlefield Orchard in Middlefield, New York. This was my first time ever to go apple picking and it was delightful. The apple farm is beautiful. We parked and met up with the owner in the shop where he sells apples and other fruits and vegetables. He offered us samples of "Honeycrisp" apples............he cut them in half with a machete!

Then we were off to pick our apples. The trees were all small and we were able to choose the ones we wanted. Then we picked some raspberries in an adjacent field.

After leaving there, we headed over to Fly Creek Cider Mill in Fly Creek, New York.
We sampled many of their items before having lunch at their outside stand.

Mary suggested we all go to her club (Otsego Sailing Club) and relax a bit and maybe walk over to Brookwood Gardens. So that is what we did. I put my feet in the water and it was so refreshing.

We all walked over to Brookwood Gardens. They were setting up for a wedding which must be tomorrow. I thought that since it is so late in the season, that the flowers would be gone, but there are still a lot of beautiful flowers to see and take pictures of.

One last stop before heading back to Oneonta: Stewarts in Cooperstown. We stopped there and had ice cream. Then we split up, so Mary and carol could go pick up an item for an upcomng chinese auction, and Geneen, Kim and I headed back to Oneonta. We stopped at a roadside stand in Milford and Kim purchased a couple of pumpkins for her kids.

Reservoir Adventure

We are having some glorious pre-fall weather and Connie and I wanted to spend some
time outside this afternoon. Leslie had mentioned in an email that there was a new geocache hidden at "the reservoir" in the Laurens/Mt. Vision area. At first I did not know what she was referring to, but I realized I have been there before, but that I did not know it was a reservoir. I just knew it as Wilber Lake, a place I geocached at a couple of times in the past.

Soooooooooo, after work, I met up with Connie in the parking lot at the corner of Winnie Hill Road and Chestnut Street. Connie drove and we ended up at the parking area on the Airport Road side of the lake.

A minute or two into our hike we noticed this interesting structure:
We went into the woods and checked it out. We do not have any idea who built it or what it is for. It appears that a log was hung up in the middle to be used as a place to sit.

We continued walking until we got to the lake. I asked Connie if she wanted to find a geocache and she said OK. So we followed the trail to the left and then went into the woods. It was fairly easy to find. Connie and I both signed the log and I took a piece of a WW2 bullet that the owner or one of the previous finders left. COOL!

Then we went back to the main trail and crossed the bridge to the other side of the lake. We saw a tiny snake on the path, Connie said she thought it might be a baby rattlesnake.

The neat thing about this trail is that it used to be a road, and the signs are still up. Here is a picture of one of the signs.

We reluctantly headed back to Connie's van. We met up with a college student who was taking some pictures for an assignment and we told him about the "mystery structure". It was a great afternoon! What a treasure a nice day is!

OLD PLANES and GARLIC Adventure

My friend Carol M. and I went to the Old Plane Fly-In at the Cooperstown-Westville Airport today for the OLD PLANE FLY-IN. The last time we went, it was cancelled due to the weather being to windy, but we lucked out today as the weather was beautiful. We really enjoyed seeing the planes fly in and out. Not all of them were old though, many were more contemporary. Apparently, the pilots fly in for breakfast (they were serving pancakces) and they they fly out. While walking around looking at the planes "parked" along the runway, we saw three very old cars, here is a picture of one of them:
Here is a picture of one of the many planes we saw, I think this might be one of the old planes:

After we left the airport, we went to the Susquehanna Valley Garlic Festival at Wood Bull Antiques in Milford. There were booths set up by various vendors and they offered products and food items to eat on the spot.

Garlic Festival at Wood Bull Antiques in Milford, New York
Originally uploaded by JuneNY

I had pasta with garlic and tomatoes at one spot. It was really good. We sampled garlic and garlic products.
Carol went inside the huge barn where Wood Bull has most of their antiques. I had never walked around the outside, so I took that opportunity today.
I was surprised at how many items they have bedind and to the side of the barn.

I had geocaching information with me, but Carol was having a hard time with the sun, so we skipped it today. Back in Oneonta, we stopped at BROOKS so I could purchase some BBQ sauce, the library and at FSA.

It was a great day!

AFTON MUSEUM ADVENTURE on 9/11/10

AFTON MUSEUM: Afton, New York
Originally uploaded by JuneNY

It was a gorgeous September day and my friend Terry and I set out for Afton, New York. Terry loves to go to museums and historical societies and they agreed to open the museum up for us today, even though normally they are closed on Saturdays. We arrived a few minutes before eleven a.m. (the agreed upon time) and went inside. Nobody seemed to be around, so we signed the guest book and started looking around. A few minutes later, Charles (an elderly man) showed up. He walked through the rest of the museum with us and explained several items and answered questions. The house is full of amazing stuff. You can see pictures I took here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/juneny/sets/72157624934799554/ We also spent some time in the bar behind the museum, which holds a lot of farm and household equipment, some dairy farm items and some Mormon artifacts. After we left the museum, I took a picture of a small abandoned laundromat right next door to the museum.

Then we drove a few miles towards Ninevah to see the homestead of a man (Josiah Stowell)who housed and employed Joseph Smith (of Mormon fame). Here is a picture of the homestead:


After that it was back to Afton where we had lunch at the Afton Grill and Bakery, a very nice small restaurant on Main Street.
The food and service were really good! Then we located a private residence across from the Afton fair grounds that used to be a schoolhouse.
Then we headed down Route 7 to Bainbridge, where we went to the FROGPOND. With the pumpkins and the plants, it is very colorful there now. Here is a picture.
I spent eleven dollars and got bananas, potatoes, onions, carrots, plums, pears, a tomato, grapes and a couple of apples.

Then we did some geocaching, finding a geocache behind the Scout Cabin in Bainbridge.
On the way to Wells Bridge for more geocaching, I noticed some old cars parked in front of a shop and we stopped to take pictures.
We were successful in Wells Bridge, finding the geocache hidden in the middle of the old foot bridge. Its a good thing I had a tetanus shot in July, because I scraped my leg up on the rusty bridge. While there, I checked on my geocache hidden on the Route 7 side of the bridge. It was intact and in good shape.

I dropped Terry off at her apartment in Otego and returned home. I recorded my two geocache finds, downloaded pictures to flickr.com and started this blog!