Monday March 31st Drive Back to Oneonta

I left Lockport around 8:40 or so and headed east.  I made a few early detours just for the heck of it.  Albion, Holley and Brockport, in Brockport I found the former Christian Center building....it seems to be unoccupied.

On Main Street I noticed this neat restored ghost sign:

.......and picked up a snack at a great Arby's.  The Arby's in Brockport is like a blast from the past (1950s) and I took several pictures.

From there I headed to Rochester and drove the "can of worms" successfully and located THE LIBERTY DINER.  I tried to reach Terry A. by phone, without any luck, so I found her house but she was not at home.  I returned to the diner, hoping to find her there, but she wasn't.  (when I go home, I found a message from her saying she was at the diner, waiting for me).  I suspect that I was there too early for her.

I continued on my way towards Oneonta, stopping to  take a few pictures of a museum and one room schoolhouse in Pompey Center.  I have driven by the museum several times, but I don't think I ever noticed the schoolhouse before.

Sunday March 30th in Lockport

Woke up to several inches of snow, had to shovel and clean my car off before Peg and I left for church.  Craig gave a GREAT sermon and a guest speaker spoke about her organization that helps get Jews to Israel.

Peggy and I had lunch at the Hong Kong Buffet with her fiancee David.  It was very good.  David commented that I ate too much and then he said my Pacifica is ugly!!!  rofl      Both Peggy and I rested during the remainder of the afternoon.

We invited Betty over for supper.  We had pork cassoulet, winter squash, tossed salad and bruschetta.  Betty offered to take Peg and I out for desert, but it was almost time for the new
season of CALL  THE MIDWIFE to start on PBS, so I declined.

 I don't think I took ANY pictures today!!!!!

Saturday March 29th in Lockport

This morning Peggy and I headed out  to do some errands.  The main purpose was to go to Lowes and get a few items for my apartment.  We accomplished this and also stopped at theNew Niagara Produce....it is just fantastic!  We also stopped at an interesting shop that sells vinegars and oils and then we went to GROVERS BAR AND GRILL for lunch.  This restaurant was featured on DINERS, DRIVE-INS and DIVES!

The CHEESEBURGER SOUP was absolutely delicious!!!!!

We worked on the apartment a bit that afternoon.

We went to Mike and Janies for supper  they had  Pizza from Pizza Oven (or is it Pizza Kitchen)
Peg took a salad and I took a gallon of cider and desert.  Dave joined us.  I took a picture of Dave and Peggy together.     I gave the boys small
Christmas gifts.

Mike told us about the book he plans to write: MURDERS IN LOCKPORT.  He brought out his research notebook and we discussed several murders.

Friday March 28th in Lockport

During the day, while Peg was at work, I cleaned and unpacked and organized a lot of stuff in my new apartment.  Finally completed one bedroom and the closet in there.  It is ready to move a bed into!  Peg arrived home around 2:45,and by that time I was totally wiped out, but she and I worked together for close to an hour.  Then we took a break.

We picked Peggy's friend Bev up and took her out for her 60th birthday.  We went to the COUNTRY COTTAGE in North Tonawanda. I had the fish fry, and it was very good.

After supper, we went to a talent show at Peggy's church.  It was very good, but Peggy and I were pretty worn out and did not stay for the full show.  We did enjoy their great refreshments, though, before we left.

DRIVE ACROSS THE STATE ADVENTURE March 27, 2014

After a long winter of hibernating in West Laurens, I headed to Niagara County for the first time this year, to spend some time with my sister and to do some work on the apartment I plan to move into soon.

I left around nine a.m.  My first stop was to get gas in Bridgewater, and then I headed west on Route 20.   I stopped briefly at the Pine Woods rest area, since there is a cache hidden there  that I have not found yet.  I opened the car door and got a blast of cold wind and decided NOT to look for it today.  I had another geocache in Morrisville programmed in but I may have programmed it in wrong, since following the coords did NOT bring me to the Morrisville campus.

 I continued on a bit, and then headed north to go to Peterboro.  Once there, I stopped at a bakery that I have passed many times.  I purchased two donuts, and then headed to the library, where they allowed me to hook up to their wifi with a guest pass.  I didn't really need to do anything online, but I wanted to see if I could do it!  I was successful.  There is a geocache hidden outside the library, but it looked like I would have to dig apart an old hill of snow, so I skipped it.  My donuts (one peanut, one plain were calling my name, and I thought they would go great with some milk, so I stopped at a convenience store just before I got onto the thruway and bought a half gallon of milk.

I stayed on the thruway until Exit 48A and then got off.  When I got to Chestnut Ridge Road in Niagara County, I took some time to look for a geocache in an old forlorn cemetery known as GILBERT CEMETERY.  I was successful.

I arrived at 17 about 3:45 and took all my stuff in.  I was able to connect to a network........it kinds of likes like I am connected to my own router, all the way across the state..........is this possible?

For supper Peg and I  met up with our cousin (on my mothers side) Becky at the CUP AND SAUCER.  The C and S is owned and operated by our my cousin Vicky, daughter of my Uncle Norman (Dad's brother).    I took this picture of Uncle Norman with his great grandson Blake (Vicky's grandson).  Blake was helping out at the Cup and Saucer tonight.

Maple Weekend in the Catskills and Geocaching March 22, 2014

Leslie and I met up at her house this morning for some geocaching.  The first one we headed to was RVMAGNUM's 100th find Tribute Cache.  We had tried to find this one before, last fall, without any success and thought we would give it a second try.  We searched every possible spot on both sides of the road, but still no luck.  After that, we headed towards Franklin where we went to the Ouleout Valley Cemetery and found a geocache hidden by meandmykid.  

Then we continued on 357 until we got to the North Franklin Maple Syrup Company which was having an open house as part of MAPLE WEEKEND IN THE CATSKILLS.  .  

We met the owner and his partner and they showed us the REVERSE OSMOSIS Machine!  They were sponsoring their pancake breakfast at the Ouleout Creek Golf Club just down the road.  Since it was noon, we stopped and had that for lunch: pancakes, sausage, bacon, fried potatoes and scrambled eggs.........orange juice and hot chocolate all for $7.00.  

Then it was back to geocaching.........we found a few more cemetery caches before heading back to Oneonta.  I think my favorite cemetery today was the Houghtaling Hollow Cemetery 

Once back in Oneonta we went to the Huntington Library to look for LOCKED OUT WITHOUT A KEY.  Leslie had a pretty good handle on where this one was, and she was correct.  We called it a day after the library cache, which was our fifth.  It was early so I decided to go over to BJ's and activate my free 60 day membership.  I also went to Aldi's and Daddy Al's and Rite-Aid. 

Legislative Day 2014

Started the day out with the Ramada's continental breakfast which was very good!   Then Peggy and I headed to the Capital.

We arrived and checked in and found a table.  I met a man who knows Pastor Yarborough!  He was with a few others from his church or organization (something Patriot Ministries).  The morning speakers were great!  I took a break and took some position papers to my Senators office.

Peg and I were happy to find a CAPITAL Q SMOKEHOUSE in the food court, so we had lunch there.

It was good, but kind of small (thats only a slider) so we bought a couple of desert items at a bakery in the food court.  

We left at 2:15 p.m. when the group broke up so  that participants could try to speak with their reprsentatives, but since Peggy and I had already done that, we left and headed for Oneonta.  It was a nonstop trip since Peggy was driving back to Lockport today.