Lockport November 17-21, 2011

Early afternoon on November 17th, I headed to Lockport in my "new" Pacifica. I arrived in Lockport just in time to join my sister at her churches annual THANKSGIVING DINNER. It was a great meal, complete with all the traditional Thanksgiving foods and a lot more! I left right after I finished my meal so that I could visit with Dad at Briody's before it go too late. Then I went to Dad's apartment where I got settled in for the long weekend.

Friday morning, I went to Tom's Diner for an early breakfast. I had FLAT STANLEY with me. My plans were to take him to a couple of picturesque spots on and near the locks, but it was so cold and windy, that Stanley had to settle for looking at the locks from a window at the rear of Tom's.
I spent all morning with Dad, and then went to his place and fixed myself a light lunch and then returned to Briody's. Dad was awake so I spent the afternoon with him. I took about an hour break late in the afternoon and went to find two geocaches. That night Peggy and I went to MOE'S SOUTHWEST GRILL out on the transit. MOE'S is a kind of do it yourself Mexican place. You choose your taco or burrito or whatever, and then you decide what kind of fillings you want on it. Peg and I had THE HOMEWRECKER Burrito and it was huge and delicious.
They offer a free salsa bar and unlimited chips. We stopped at Andersons for a frozen custard on the way back to Lockport.

Saturday, when I went into Briodys, Dad did not seem to be doing well. He spoke about feeling as if he had developed asthma and said something was different in his throat. He spent quite a bit of time cleaning his mouth out with swabs. My brother Mike came out, at my request, after Dad asked for him a couple of times. As soon as Mike arrived, Dad perked up and seemed to feel fine! Go figure! My nephews Marty and Andrew arrived and we all visited in "the great room". Peggy and I had tentatively planned to go out geocaching a bit in the afternoon, but that did not work out. But she and I did go out to supper at a bar type restaurant on the transit. I don't recall the name, but the food was pretty good.

I skipped church on Sunday because it was my last day in Lockport. I spent the morning with Dad. He went to the exercise group. After church, Peg and I met up at Briody's. Dad settled in for an afternoon nap and Peggy and I went to PIZZA KITCHEN and I bought us pizza for lunch which we had at 17. After lunch, we both took naps. I got up early and went back out to Briody's. Peggy met me there at 4:15 p.m. and we took Dad for a walk. Then she treated us to supper at TACO BELL. After that we drove to Lewiston to see a Festival of Lights at a Catholic shrine.
It was VERY nice. I bought a couple of postcards. It was while at the festival that I realized I did not have a memory card in my camera. I was able to take a couple of pictures and store them in my camera.

Early Sunday morning, I packed up my car and headed across the state. I snacked my way across the state: pizza, donuts, french fries, a cookie. I stopped in Canastota and found one geocache. I had looked before, and then realized where it was, so it only took me a couple of minutes.

I arrived home around 2:15, hoping to find Christa here, but she had not arrived yet. Ryan dropped her off around 4:15.

Back Roads Adventure

I went to Westford to spend some time with my friend, Judy. She wanted to go out to lunch and I agreed. She suggested a newly reopened restaurant in Richmondville, so we headed out Route 7, however, we never found the place we were looking for so we hopped on 88 and headed back to Worcester where we ate at Ardy's which is one of our favorite places.

After that I suggested we look for an old schoolhouse that I recently heard about, and Judy agreed. However, it appeared that the road leading to it (the road my GPS took me to, anyways) was closed for repairs. Judy said that it was probably damage from the recent flooding which caused the closing. So we just kept driving and ended up in South Valley. Judy wanted to show me the South Valley Womens Club which is in a former church.

She said that most months they offer a free will meal on one Saturday afternoon a month. Also, I noticed this storefront and this monument.



So, Judy and I did not make it to the schoolhouse, but after I dropped her off, I decided to see if I could find it. I did find it, but there is nothing about the private dwelling that resembles a former schoolhouse, so I didn't take a picture.

I took a couple of pictures in Westville, and on the way back to Oneonta, I found a really small, very old, very uncared for cemetery.
I took a few pictures and hid a geocache. When I got home, I looked in my cemetery map and found out that it is the Platt Hollow Cemetery.

11-11-11 Geocaching Event and FLAT STANLEY!!!

Monet37 hosted a gathering of geocachers at the Neptune Diner in Oneonta to celebrate 11-11-11. The event started at 11:11 a.m. today. It was a lot of fun. Each geocacher donated eleven matching pieces of swag,
and we all took turns picking out eleven pieces to take home. There were a few door prizes. It was fun to be able to match up some faces with nicknames. Monet was in charge of keeping things rolling:

El Fartero was unable to be there due to his job, but the rest of his family came and they gave out information about a new geocache he just hid. Luckless won "first to find rights" to the geocache. dnnsgps, both halves of artfully bare and Luckless and I decided to go together to get it. dnnsgps and a couple of other geocachers arrived first
and found it before Luckless and I arrived.

After finding el fartero's geocache, I took FLAT STANLEY around Oneonta and took his (or her) picture at some interesting spots.

I also stopped at the GREEN TOAD bookstore and picked up the book I ordered for Dad.

Bloomville Adventure

Luckless and I met up at her house mid morning and headed towards Bloomville to find some geocaches. Our first stop was at a cache called ROOM WITH A VIEW. Luckless found it rather quickly, but the terrain spooked me a bit, so I didn't even locate it on my own. The view really was nice from this spot way out in the middle of nowhere.

We arrived in Bloomville and I noticed a very interesting old building which must have been a former creamery, so I took several pictures

and then we went to the site of NANO,NANO, IT ALL STARTS HERE. Even with a very good clue, we were unable to find this nano (a very tiny geocache). So, we headed to another one called HUMMER HAVEN. Again, Luckless located this one, but I was able to located it on my own after she backed away. This is a very interesting spot along the trail, but I wish we had seen the hummingbirds nest that is somewhere close to the cache. After that, we found the Bloomville General Store so that we could use their restroom.
We decided to purchase a sub and split it. This store is not much to look at from the front, but is very interesting inside. I took some pictures.

After that, it was time to find BLOOMVILLE WALK, which was not too far away from NANO, NANO. On the way to it, we saw the remains of a turntable for the former railroad that ran through Bloomville years ago.
Once again, Luckless was the lucky one, but there was no way that I would have tried to climb up that rocky bank. After that, we went to find OSPREY,YOU SPRAY, CAN YOU FIND THE CACHE TODAY? I really should have found this one because I looked right at it, but eventually Luckless DID find it. Then we went on to look for X-TRA TASTY WATER. Finally!!! I found this one, right across the road from a natural spring.

On the way back to Oneonta, we stopped to look for X-AHEAD. I had tried for this one before without success and was pretty much convinced that we would not find it today, but Leslie found it, and she managed to get it down from a very high hiding place, we signed it, and she replaced it.

It was a good day!

Pennsylvania Dutch Adventure: October 7,8 and 9th, 2011

My sister and I had a week long trip (in September) planned to the Catskills and Pennsylvania Dutch Country, but we cancelled it when my Dad had complications following his July 5th surgery.

We really wanted to see the play JOSEPH at the SIGHT AND SOUND MILLENIUM THEATRE, so while I was in Lockport for the month of October, on the spur of the moment, we planned a very short trip to Lancaster County October 7th, 8th and 9th.

Friday morning the 7th, we visited Dad at Briody's and then headed south. We pretty much drove straight there, barely stopping to eat the picnic lunch I had packed. I think we arrived at our lodging (Motel 6 in Gordonville) around four p.m.
We took our stuff in and headed out.

Our first stop was at a small farmstand. A young Amish boy was running it. He was so cute. When he found out that Peggy and I are from close to Niagara Falls, he had a million questions. I finally offered to send him a picture of the falls. Then we headed to Intercourse, PA. Once there, we did some geocaching (not all successful) and located the new STOLTSFUS MEATS store, which had moved. We found the INTERCOURSE CANNING COMPANY closed. As it was getting dark, we started to look for a place to eat and found THE BIRD IN HAND FAMILY RESTAURANT. This place is very good! This is a photo of my FIRST plate of food.


The next morning, we headed out early for Intercourse, PA. We parked near KITCHEN KETTLE, but I was not interested in those shops, so Peg and I split up and agreed to meet in a half hour. I decided to use my time to go to two small museums:
and a quilt museum. I enjoyed both of them. I met up with Peggy after a half hour and we went to STOLTZFUS MEATS and THE INTERCOURSE CANNING COMPANY. I made purchases at both places. On the way out of Intercourse, we noticed a small flea market, so we stopped. Some of the vendors were Amish, and I bought a couple of items.

Then we headed to Leola, via back roads. On the way we saw a sign CRAFTS SOLD HERE, so we drove down the long driveway and located the small shop of an Amish man. He mades things out of wood and has them for sale. Peggy and I both purchased a small item or two, and he gave us permission to take pictures of his farm. Here are a couple: the shop is on the right hand side in this picture
inside the shop

inside the barn

and then we headed towards LEOLA. LEOLA is the real reason I go to PA Dutch Country. There is this wonderful farmstand right across the road from the HAYLOFT CANDLE SHOP. Once again I purchased two cases of relishes and a few other items. This year they had something new, they were barbequing chicken and selling chicken dinners in front of the farmstand. Peggy and I decided to buy some chicken and have lunch there.
It was really good. The goats were cute, too!
After lunch we headed back to our lodging so we could freshen up for the play, which
was at 4:15. On the way we stopped at another Amish farmstand
and I bought a few items.

Back at our hotel, we freshened up and headed to the theatre. We allowed some extra time on the way there to do some geocaching, and we found two out of the three we looked for. At both of those sites we met up with other geocachers. This particular site is at Hershey Farms, right next door to the theatre:
AMOS used to be in front of Zinn's Diner. I guess the diner closed and he was moved to Hershey Farms.

The play JOSEPH was absolutely wonderful. Since we ordered our tickets very late (a day or so before) our seats were in the last row, in the balcony, but they turned out to be fine.

After the play it was time to decide where to have supper. I suggested MILLERS SEVEN SWEETS AND SEVEN SOURS, and we headed there, but when we got there, we were told it would be something line an hour and a half wait. NO WAY. I called HERSHEY FARMS (which was back at the location of the theatre) and was told that if we arrived before eight p.m. we could be seated. We arrived in time and were given a table within a few minutes. However, we were a bit disappointed. We had eaten there before, but they had changed things, the atmosphere was not nearly as homey. And the price was ridiculously high. But the food was good.

The next morning we decided to do a bit of geocaching in Strasburg before heading north towards New York. We were successful in finding some Strasburg geocaches and we also found a neat old cemetery alongside a church on the Main Street in Strasburg.

Altogether we found eleven geocaches in Pennsylvania Dutch Country which is pretty darn good considering we were so busy doing other things during our brief time there.

On the way back to NY, we stopped at a lookout point and I took this picture which shows some PENNSYLVANIA COLOR.
We had an uneventful drive back to Lockport. We stopped for a picnic lunch at a park someplace in Pennsylvania.

Back in New York, as we got close to Lockport, I noticed that we would pass an interesting site I noticed while geocaching a couple of months ago. I pointed it out to Peggy and she was off and running. This site is in Corfu or Darien Lake and apparently someone started to build a miniature golf business but never completed it. Peggy was just about to open the back door of the "castle" when she noticed somoene inside. Apparently, the first floor of the castle is rented out. The young woman was very friendly and not at all put out by our "urban explorations". Here are a few pictures:




It was a short, exhausting trip, but we had a lot of fun. Best of all, I have enough
Amish relishes to last me at least a year! The rest of my pictures of this great weekend can be seen here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/juneny/sets/72157628074010964/with/6292546370/

Halloween Adventure

Leslie and I met up at my house this morning to go do some geocaching. It was my first "adventure" with my new car. First we went to the hamlet of Schuyler Lake so I could do some maintenance on a geocache I hid at the cemetery. Leslie had not found this one, so after she found it, I replaced the old damaged cache with a brand new one.

Then we headed towards Hartwick to look for some of Irish Tala's geocaches. The first one we found was CROAKER CABIN, which involved trekking in the woods through some very wet spots. But, we were successful. Then we went right across the road so that Leslie could find my geocache HARTWICK FOREST TREASURE. I also found the "other" geocache I originally placed, but someone moved to across the trail. Now there is only one geocache there. Then we found CONTRARY MARY, another of IrishTala's hides. This is actually the only one that I found today, Leslie found the other four. This empty school sits just down the street from that cache site.


Then we headed into Hartwick to get a bite to eat at the convenience store. We each had a slice of pizza, which we ate in my car and then we headed out to find some caches hidden by Irish Tala right in the Village of Hartwick. We found one at the cemetery and one at the Cooperstown Bat Company.
Then we walked down the street to see if the Historical Society was open. It was and we went in and looked around.
It is right behind (and attached to) the small public library.
There we met Orrin Higgins who told us about the South Hartwick schoolhouse. Also, I signed up to be notified if the Historical Society does another "trolley tour".

Then we headed out of Hartwick to find a couple of more geocaches. We did not find the first one CRUSOE'S RITE OF PASSAGE. We did find the next one SOUTH HARTWICK GOT SCROOGE. Then we went to look for the South Hartwick Schoolhouse which Orrin Higgins told us about. We were successful in finding it. Here are some pictures.
And here is a picture of my new (used) Chrysler Pacifica near the old schoolhouse.
You can see Leslie's red hat!

After that we decided to head home. We took some backroads that Leslie mapped out, they took us right through Gilbert Lake State Park. Altogether, I found five geocaches and Leslie found seven. It was a great way to spend Halloween day!!

Bufffalo Central Terminal ADVENTURE (10/24/2011)

Peggy mentioned to me that the Buffalo Central Terminal (a huge old abandoned train station) was going to be open to the public today, at no charge, and I jumped at the idea of going to see it.

I spent the morning with my Dad at the nursing home and then we headed out when she was done with church, stopping at a Quizno's on the Transit for a quick lunch. We stopped at Salvator's Italian Gardens for a couple of minutes, so I could take some pictures since it was too dark for that a few nights ago when we went to the CareNet Banquet.

I thoroughly enjoyed THE CENTRAL TERMINAL. It is in the process of being restored, but it looks like it will take YEARS to complete it. Here are a few pictures.






After that we decided to look for a couple of geocaches. The first is hidden near this museum (IRON ISLAND MUSEUM)
which has been featured on one of the ghost hunting programs on television. We did not have any luck. The second is hidden around the railroad area, but we could not figure out how to get to the right spot.....we kept being blocked by dead ends and railroad cars. So we gave up and headed back to Lockport. We had one stop along the way NIAGARA COUNTY PRODUCE,
where I purchased a couple of items for supper.