HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR SO FAR Adventure

According to this evenings news, today was the hottest day so far this year, and probably will end up being the hottest day of the entire year 2013.

This morning, my co-workers and I set out for Cooperstown. Our first stop was at THE COOPERSTOWN CHEESE FACTORY. Even though a sign on the door said they would open at ten, and it was already eleven a.m. when we arrived, it was not open. We explored the outside premises, in hopes that someone would show up and open it up for us, but that did not work.

I mentioned that there is a geocache hidden in the purple and yellow cow in front and Mark, Eileen and Mary went to look for it. Mark (who had never even heard of the sport) got down on his back and found it. Mary explained the game to him.

Then I suggested we go to WOOD BULL ANTIQUES, which is almost right across the road. Nobody in the group (Mary, Eileen, Geneen and Mark and I) had been there before besides me. Its a great place, kind of like a huge vintage museum. I think we were there a whole half hour, and I took many pictures.  I never noticed all the the mannequins before:  

Then we headed to Cooperstown for lunch at the OTESAGA RESORT HOTEL. 

This photo of The Otesaga Resort Hotel is courtesy of TripAdvisor

The lunch buffet is $17.00 and includes drinks and desert. Its really quite a bargain when you think of it. I paid $15.00 for lunch at Applebee's yesterday!!!

The entree was turkey and stuffing and I had two helpings of that. As usual, the desert table was magnificent, and this time a young fellow was making crepes on an individual basis. I had one, and it was outstanding!!!

We stopped at the Cheese Factory again on the way back to Oneonta, but it was still closed.

Anyways, it was a great day!!!!!  My complete set of pictures taken today can be seen here http://www.flickr.com/photos/juneny/sets/72157634713275724/

BEAT THE HEAT ADVENTURE

We are in the middle of a July heatwave here in the Oneonta area.  On days I work, I automatically spend a half a day in a/c so those days are more maneagable, but today was not a work day and I was determined to
BEAT THE HEAT.  I decided to try to find someone to go to the movies with since the movie theatre here is air conditioned.

Leslie was busy with her parents, Linda had to work today, and so did Carol, Connie does not go to the theatre but Terry was very happy when I mentioned it to her.  After running a few errands and getting gas, I met up with her at the mall. We had lunch at Applebee's.    We had the lunch special combo......a sandwich and a salad, but that turned out to be kind of a small meal so we both ordered the TRIPLE CHOCOLATE MELTDOWN.

It was delicious, but it turned a cheap meal into an expensive lunch, since the desert was over five dollars.  But it was good to try it ONCE.  

The movie we chose was WHITE HOUSE DOWN,  and it was VERY good.  

When I got home, it had cooled down a bit, with the threat of 

rain.  It was a good day!

Madison County Fair ADVENTURE

Carol and I met up in New Berlin this morning in order to go to the MADISON COUNTY FAIR in Brookfield, New York  A geocacher had mentioned to me that it is very much like an old time fair, and that turned out to be true.  We took our time and looked at the 4H projects and all of the products offered by various vendors. There were some historical booths, also.  Most interesting to me was the table set up by a woman who metal detects  When I expressed interest, she offered me a seat and told me about her hobby.  It ounds interesting and I am thinking about getting started.   This man was offering free walking sticks if we would take the time to listen to him explain the basic story of  Christianity. 




The food carts and trucks were not open, so that was a disappointment.  I really wanted a blooming onion!  Carol and I had lunch at the FAIR DINER. Prices are reasonable and service is good.  We had burgers and fries.

We watched a bit of a riding competition.  It was teenage girls jumping over barriers with their horses.  After that we headed out.  I stopped in Morris for a twist frozen custard cone.
    My complete set of pictures taken at the fair are here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/juneny/sets/72157634615611686/

Otego and Unadilla ADVENTURE 7/8/13

After running some errands this morning and having lunch from Subway, I met up with Leslie at her house, and we headed out on 88 towards Otego and Unadilla.  Our first stop was at the OTEGO'S HISTORY ROOM (I guess this is just another name for historical society).  We enjoyed this small museum, and were there about fifteen minutes. 

 After that we went on to Unadilla to the  UNADILLA HISTORY MUSEUM in a building that was forrmerly a Catholic Church.   where Leslie wanted to do some research about the Unadilla turnpike.   Although their website says it is open on Saturday afternoons for four hours, and we arrived during that time period, it was closed.  As we were walking away from the museum, a woman who was driving by stopped and asked if we wanted to go in.   She is the UNADILLA TOWN HISTORIAN, Nancy Burnett, and she offered to try to find someone with a key so that we could go in.  She returned a few minutes later and said that she did not have any luck.

  She suggested that we might want to go to the library to look at a book that has pictures and narrative about historical buildings in Unadilla.  She gave us a ride and the book was located and Leslie and I looked through it.  Turns out Nancy wrote the book!!!   The library closed at two p.m. and Nancy invited Leslie and to her house, so she could show Leslie a map of the turnpike.   We agreed and she drove us to her place.  She showed us the two barns behind her house, both which were moved to that location.  One of them was originally a blacksmith shop.  Here is a pic:

 Nancy offered us cold drinks and we visited for a while and she made a copy of the Unadilla turnpike map for Leslie.  Leslie told her about her historical walking tour geocache in Cooperstown and the three of us agreed to get together to do this geocache sometime soon.

  Then we went to the consignment shop in Unadilla.  I am in the process of looking for an item to put in a bare spot in my side garden.  No luck at this store.  It is a very interesting and large shop with LOTS of items at reasonable prices.  On the way back towards Oneonta, we stopped at another place, I think it is called P.D.'s and I looked again but was not successful.  Out last stop was at at PIE IN THE SKY for ice cream.  I had pie a la mode (apple raspberry with chocolate ice cream) which was very good, and I purchased a small teacup for to add to my colored glass collection. .  

  We had planned to look for a geocache that we did not find the first time we looked for, but we got so caught up in other stuff that we totally forgot!    Except for the extreme heat, it was a great afternoon.  Pictures taken today are here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/juneny/sets/72157634514655153

INDEPENDENCE DAY 2013Classic Car ADVENTURE and more

Terry and I decided to go to Norwich to the Classic Car Museum   We met up in Morris and took my car and drove to Norwich.  

This museum is wonderful. It does not look like much from the front, in fact it looks small, but it is HUGE. Cars are displayed in various rooms by various themes, with spots to sit and watch informational videos along the way.   We split up and took our time going through it.  There are five rooms, each themed, and the presentation is really good.  There is also a guide available to answer questions.

In the gift shop, I purchased some postcards to send to my grandkids for their postcard collections.  I asked the clerk in the gift shop if she could recommend a good place for lunch and she said BILL"S DINER which was just around the corner on Route 12.

It does not look like much from the outside, but inside it is just fine.  They have a pretty big menu, and they offered a lot of specials for Independence Day.  Terry ordered the steak sandwich, and I ordered the Greek combo.  (three Greek items).  My meal was delicious and it included a cup of soup (I chose Pasta Fazoole) and a salad for a reasonable price. Our waitress was a bit "out of it", but another waitress responded when we needed refills on our water, etc.

We drove to the Coventry area to see if I could find the old general store that someone posted in flickr.  I found the road, and had a choice to turn left or right onto it, and I chose right, which was a mistake.  It was a dirt/stone road, very narrow and when I got to the end of it, I was relieved to be off of it, but no store, so I had made the wrong choice.  But now I know where the road is and can return sometime and go in the opposite direction.

From there we got on 206 and drove to Bainbridge, and got on Route 7.  We stopped for ice cream, and again at an antique/consignment store in Unadilla, which turned out to be closed.  After dropping Terry off in Morris, I stopped by the farmers market behind the fire hall, in hopes of purchasing a fresh tomato, but they did not have any.  It is probably too early.   It was a great day but very tiring (I think because of the high temps).  I am glad the a/c in my car was working good!!!

Todays photographs are here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/juneny/sets/72157634513332495

Little Bit of New Hampshire Adventure, LOTTA Vermont..........

After free continental breakfast at the Super 8 (which was pretty good, but not spectacular) Terry and I headed into New Hampshire.  My goal was to find one geocache and then head back to Vermont and eventually back to New York.  I found the second one I looked for, hanging from a tree near a trailhead.  I tried for a couple more, but they were DNF's for various reasons.  While geocaching, we drove through the Village of Chesterfield, New Hampshire, which has several beautiful cut stone buildings.  This is their Post Office:

Back in Brattleboro, we chose a different route to take.  We stopped at the GRAFTON VILLAGE CHEESE COMPANY just north of Brattleboro.  
They offer a lot of samples!  I bought some cheese spread (Asiago Cheddar) and a small bottle of coca cola.

The back route we took led us to East Dover, Vermont where we found a great old store. I noticed that the East Dover Post Office either is or WAS located in this building.   I forgot to ask the owner if it is closed permanently or if it was closed because it was a Sunday.   The new owners have only been there two weeks.  We also saw this covered bridge: THE WILLIAMSVILLE BRIDGE.After leaving the East Dover area, we headed south to Wilmington, Vermont.  We drove through it yesterday and it looked real interesting.  We had lunch at JEZEBEL'S (we shared The New Englander and the Jezebel sandwiches) and went into a few of the many shops.  This display is in front of one of the shops (the one right next to Jezebel's) 

Then we continued to drive west until we got to Bennington.  We stopped at a Visitors Center and got directions to the covered bridges.  This was at the Visitors Center!  I love all this color!

 We only found one.  After that, we headed back to New York.  We stopped in Hoosick again to go to an auction house/flea market right across the road from BIG MOOSE.  Both Terry and I purchased a couple of items.

Our last stop was in Cobleskill for a chinese buffet supper, which was very good.  It was raining when I got to Terry's place.

My pictures taken on this two day trip are here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/juneny/sets/72157634437380700/

VERMONT ADVENTURE Day One

Before leaving this area to move across the state, I thought it imperative to go geocaching in Vermont and New Hampshire.  This weekend turned out to be the time to do that.

I picked my friend Terry up at nine a.m. and we headed to Vermont.  We took I-88 until its northernmost end and then headed east.   Our first stop was at an interesting gift shop in HOOSICK, NEW YORK. The guy working the deli gave me a huge OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIE as soon as I went through the front door!  Terry and I looked around for several minutes, and purchased a few postcards.  Then we kept going east towards Vermont.

Once in Vermont, we went to Bennington where we went to the Bennington Monument and Old First Church and then we stopped at an abandoned business which appears to have been a car dealership and we had lunch.  Then we went to HEMMINGS MOTOR NEWS which is really cool.  Its an old time gas station with a building full of old cars on display.and then we went to North Bennington where we were able to locate a covered bridge.  After that we headed east on Route 9.  We stopped in Wilmington and did some geocaching.  One success and one DNF.  We had ice cream at Yazoo's. (this was the location of the geocache I could not find).

Then we headed to Brattleboro and our lodging.  Our room at the SUPER 8 turned out to be very nice, and after resting a bit (Terry fell asleep and she snores terribly)  we went out to dinner at the ROYAL DINER in North Brattleboro.  It is a very neat place, with good prices and our meals were very good.  Terry and I split a piece of carrot cake for desert.......absolutely delicious!!!

We stopped at a Hannafords so Terry could look for PRODUCT 19 cereal (no luck) and I went into a Rite Aid and got some earplugs.   Lights out around 9:30 p.m.  I was glad I had the ear plugs and I had a pretty good nights sleep.