Another OTESAGA Adventure!!!

Carol K. and I met up at my house this morning and then headed out to Richfield Springs, where I dropped off some books, games, craft items and some fabric to Olivia.  Then we went to Price Chopper and the dollar store in Richfield Springs before heading towards Cooperstown.

We had the Friday lunch buffet at The HAWKEYE GRILL at the Otesaga.  As usual, it was just great!  The Chicken Coq au Vin was delicious!  Todays deserts were not as lavish as the deserts they had a few weeks ago when I went.  Carol had never been to the Otesaga, so we wandered around a bit after lunch so she could see the main dining room, and some of the other ornate items such as the gorgeous fireplaces and the chandeliers.  I think she was impressed.

We stopped at SPRINGBROOK (St. Mary's) so Carol could drop off some paperwork and then headed to my house.  It was a nice, but a bit tiring day.

ALBANY ADVENTURE

Peggy and I headed to Albany on Monday March18th, in order to attend NEW YORKERS FOR CONSTUTIONAL FREEDOMS Legislative Day at the capital on March l9th.  We went a day early in order to spend a leisurely afternoon at the New York State Museum............however when we arrived, we learned that it is closed on Mondays!!

We quickly found some tourist information and set out to do some exploring.  Our first stop was at the historic PALACE THEATRE, and then ALBANY'S FIRST CHURCH.  We were able to take a self guided tour, but then a church worker joined us and pointed out various things, including a Tiffany window.  and then we located HISTORIC CHERRY HILL (another place closed on Mondays or maybe they are doing renovations.  )
and then we went to ALBANY RURAL CEMETERY and drove around and found President Grover Clevelands grave. We had a nice afternoon.  I think the self guided tour of the church was the highlight.  On the way to our lodging we saw a huge old abandoned factory, I think part of the name is FIRST PRIZE, and we stopped, but there was too much surrounding activity for us to even try to enter it.  (Peggy had seen pictures posted by urban explorers on the internet).

 There was a bit of a mix up in the room they gave us at THE RAMADA  (only one bed), but they quickly remedied that for us, and we immediately headed to Troy to have supper at DINOSAUR BARBEQUE.  I had heard about it on the Travel Channel and wanted to try it.  It was worth the 12 minute drive and we enjoyed our meal.  After eating, we spent about ten minutes driving around downtown Troy.  It has a HUGE downtown area, lots of old buildings and some vacant storefronts.

Tuesday morning, we enjoyed the free buffet breakfast provided by the Ramada and then headed to the capital building for LEGISLATIVE DAY.  The main speaker was fantastic.  She survived a saline solution abortion in l977.  She is a great public speaker and told her story well.

We left around 12:30 because of poor weather, arriving back in West Laurens around 3:30 p.m.

"pi(e)" day

I met up with Leslie in Oneonta.  After picking up a few groceries at HANNAFORDS, we went to the Neptune Diner for a piece of pie.  I had chocolate cream and she had banana cream.  Then we went to look for DOWNIE ON THE FARM......I zeroed in on it but we could not get it out........it seemed to be iced in.  Then we went to FoxCare where I found the nano.....SLY FOX.  We went in and walked around for about fifteen minutes before heading to Southside to look for SOUTHSIDE TB RESORT, which is hidden in a great spot!

Return to THE PLAINS

Connie and I have been trying to get together for lunch for a few weeks, but never finding a time that worked for both of us.  Today seemed to be a good day for it.  She stopped by work and we agreed to meet at 12:40 at THE PLAINS, which is an assisted care place on Route 7 that has a cafe that non residents can go to.

They gave us a table in the main dining room, which is very elegant.  I ordered a bowl of soup (some sort of potato chowder) and a half a chicken salad sandwich and a side of fruit.  Connie ordered a roast beef sandwich on toasted ciabatta.  We were both satisfied with our meals.  Connie wanted desert, but they do not offer any except for candy bars!!!  We passed on the candy bars.

We had kind of planned on taking a walk in the woods behind the main building, but I had a lot of small errands to complete before meeting up with my daughter for a medical appointment.  It was a bit on the cold side, too.

Mini-Solo Adventure

TWISTED ART COMPANY, a photo by JuneNY on Flickr.

well, it was not supposed to be solo! Joyce called me yesterday and we set a time to meet up at her apartment in Sidney, with pretty vague plans just to get together and go out for lunch. However, when I arrived at the agreed upon time, she was not home. I waited a bit and then decided that things were just not going to work out for her and I today.

I decided to check out the village or hamlet of Sidney Center. I had been there before to geocache, but my camera was acting up that day and I had been unable to get pictures of the old train depot.................I found the depot easily today.  I stopped at the post office to mail a package, and I also went into a store called THE STORE.  Seems like it is mostly a sub shop now, with a few grocery items.  On the way back to Sidney, I followed a sign that  said YOUNGS, which turned out to be a tiny berg or hamlet.

By this time I was getting hungry, but as I drove down Main Street I didn't see any place that appealed to me.  I took Route 7 back to Oneonta, and stopped at the PARKVIEW DELI before I got to Unadilla.  I had a burger and a Snapple. As I was leaving, I noticed an interesting small building next door to the deli so I decided to check it out.  Thats it at the top.  It seems to be a small workshop in which someone does some artistic work in metal.  I noticed the ghost sign for DUKES DINER propped up just inside the doorway on the right hand side.

I stopped at the Variety Store in Unadilla to get some dish liquid and then I headed for home.  I still haven't heard from Joyce, I hope everything is OK.

DOUBLE BIBLIOBARN ADVENTURE: 2/23/13

Round Barn, a photo by JuneNY on Flickr.

This morning I met up with Linda and her Aunt Penny in Laurens and we headed towards the Bibliobarn in South Kortright, New York.

Once there, H.L. looked through the three boxes of books I took in and bought a few. Penny found three or four books by her favorite authors that she purchased. H.L. drew us a map of how to get to the BIBOLIBARN in Margaretville, where his wife, Linda, is working today.

We headed towards Margaretville. Along the way, still on Roses Brook Road, I spotted this former church and stopped to take a couple of pictures.

right next to the church is the tiny Roses Brook Cemetery, which I want to explore someday.  

When we got to Margaretville, we located the BIBLIOBARN but decided we needed a drink and a snack before going in, so we found a COUNTRY STORE.  I got a red velvet/cheese muffin......it was very good.  At the Margaretville Bibliobarn, Penny bought a few books and I found two books in the "dime wheelbarrow".

After leaving Margaretville, I noticed this round barn and stopped to take a picture:

Penny and I talked about literature all the way home, most likely Linda was bored to tears.  Penny thinks that my favorites TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, THE GRAPES OF WRATH,  OF MICE AND MEN are very dark........the kind of book she only reads once!

PARK AND GRAB ADVENTURE

PARK and GRAB Adventure

Leslie and I met up at KOST TIRE this morning in order to do some local geocaching.  All the caches we chose were the "park and grab" type which do not require any walking and searching in the woods (which we both enjoy a lot).

The first one was Kiltlifter Scotts INFINITY CACHE.  Our GPS's were not working well in this parking lot so we had to lift a few skirts before getting the one right.  Then at the other end of the same mall we found
TAP THE SAP, another quick and easy micro.  Then we drove up Swart Hollow Road so I could find
ONEONTA: CITY OF THE HILLS.  Another quick and easy one.  Then we headed to the other side of
Oneonta to look for DOWNIE ON THE FARM.  We were not successful with this one.  I suspect that we did not dig deep enough into the snow at the bottom of the posts holding the guard rail up.  And then we
headed to Munsons and parked and found TO GRANDMOTHERS HOUSE.

We then had lunch at PONDO'S 2.  We ordered a fourteen inch supreme pizza, which was VERY good.
After that we drove to the Cooperstown Junction area to look for one that we could not get to on New Years Eve Day.  When we got there, we realized that neither one of us had the coords, and we couldn't
even remember the name of it, but we remembered where the coords were and found it quick enough.
PULL OFF IN THE WOODS was the name of it.

After a quick stop at PRICE CHOPPER so I could use the restroom and pick up a flier, Leslie dropped me
off back at KOST.