Main Street Oneonta Adventure

According to the weather channel, today was going to be the only nice day this week, with temperatures in the mid thirties. As soon as I heard that, I vowed to get outside for a while. Before I even got to the phone my friend, Connie, called with the same idea.

We decided to meet at STELLA LUNA for lunch at eleven a.m. and decide what to do after lunch. The STELLA LUNA is a nice restaurant in an old train depot. They offer several lunch specials for six dollars, including soup. We declined desert because a new bakery/sandwich shop just opened in town. After we were finished with lunch, we went to an art gallery on Main Street. In spite of a huge OPEN sign on the front door, it turns out that they are between shows and did not have any art on display. We went in long enough to look at the items for sale in the gift shop (mostly jewelry) and sign up for the mailing list.

Then we went to Neahwa Park and took a long walk on the road between Neawha and Catella Park. Then we went to the new sandwich shop on Main Street. It is run by TWELVE TRIBES, and they have been working on the interior of this place for close to two years. The inside is just gorgeous. We each had a piece of cheesecake, which was very good.

I suggested to Connie that we might go to STEVENS, since it is just across the street from the bakery. STEVENS is a very old store, well over one hundred years old. They sell sporting and camping items. They have not updated their cabinets and display cases over the years and it has a real old time feel to it. The owners said I could take pictures and post them on the internet. I took a lot of pictures! Where else can you buy a weathervane? Honestly, I am pretty sure this is the only place in Oneonta that sells them. STEVENS sells a lot of items that you could not find other places. We spent a half hour or more in STEVENS and the owners answered a lot of our questions.

The picture at the top is the Stella Luna Ristorance (former train depot) where we ate lunch. Beneath that is the old cash register in Stevens, and then there is a picture of the tin ceiling at Common Ground. It was taken out of another old building and moved to Common Ground.

It was a great day!

December 4, 2009 Night Time Adventure

Tianderah
Originally uploaded by JuneNY

My friend Carol heard about a self guided tour of historical homes in Gilbertsville, New York called DRESSED UP FOR THE HOLIDAYS. It was a fundraiser for the Gilbertsville Free Library. She and I made arrangements to go and she asked her friend, Sarah, to join us.

We met up in Morris for supper at the pizzeria. Then we headed to Gilbertsville and we met Sarah at the library. There was a very long and slow line. When we got into the building, we could see why it was so slow. They were making copies of the itinerary and map one at a time on a copy machine that was acting up. We finally paid our admission price and got the information. We spent a few minutes looking around the library and then headed on our way.

We decided to check out the EMPIRE first, which is an old inn that has been restored. They have an interesting huge old safe which they have not been able to open yet. They offered us refreshments and told us about the history of the place. They are in the process of getting the rooms upstairs ready to rent out.

There were four houses on the tour. We walked to two of them. Then we drove to Tianderah, which is a small mansion. This place was just gorgeous inside and the owners were there, greeting guests and answering questions. Later on I found out that this property which has a lot of acreage, is for sale for three million dollars. This small mansion is an example of Queen Anne Romanesque Mansion. It was designed by Architect William Ralph Emerson and built in 1887. Pictures I took of the inside of this home can be viewed here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/juneny/sets/72157623469889042/

After that we went to the last house, which was a smaller modest stone home.

All of the homes were decorated for Christmas and had refreshments available. Since it was dark, I did not get pictures of the outside of the houses. I will go back someday soon during the day and take pictures of the outside.

February 15, 2010 Geocaching and more!

Luckless and I set up a short geocaching expedition for today. We met up at her house at ten thirty a.m. and headed out. Our first stop was at Riddell Park, where there is a new geocache hidden just outside the entrance gates. We could not look for it because there was a guy sitting in his car facing the area of the hide. So, we left and drove to Fergusonville to try again to find THE SECRET SWIMMING HOLE geocache. This was our second try, and we were unsuccessful again. I think I know where it is, but I would risk sliding down a bank into the creek if I tried to look in that particular spot. Maybe in a couple of months when the snow is gone...........

As we were leaving that area, I suggested that we drive to Buttermilk Falls to see how it looks in the winter. We found it easily and here is a picture. It is really beautiful frozen over like this. You can still hear water moving, but you cannot see it.

From there we headed out towards West Kortright to look for AKIVA'S MUSIC MAN CACHE. It turned out that this geocache was hidden in the yard of a beautiful old Presbyterian Church. We found this one easily. I was particularly intrigued by the outhouse that was also in the church yard. So, I took a few pictures.

From there we headed back into Oneonta to try again at Riddell Park. This time we were the only car parked in the parking area, and we found this geocache easily. It was full of travel bugs. Luckless took one or two, but I didn't take any. It was almost one thirty p.m. and I suggested getting something to eat. We went to Pondo's 2 in Colliersville and had a nice lunch ,even though the cold breeze everytime someone opened the door was torture!

Exploring Tahawus: September, 2004 A NEW YORK GHOST TOWN ADVENTURE!!

National Lead Mine: Tahawus, NY
Originally uploaded by JuneNY

I saw pictures and read information about an abandoned above ground mine in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State on www.ghosttowns.com If you want to read about it, go to that site, choose New York State and then look for Tahawus.

My sister and I decided to go up there. Tahawus is on the map, its in Essex County. I drove to Rome to meet my Dad and sister, Peggy, at Dad's cottage at Delta Lake Bible Conference. I arrived early, I was tired and I was sleeping on the couch when they arrived. The picture way up at the top is Dad's cottage.

The following morning, Peg and I left for Tahawus. I think it was a two hour drive or maybe a bit more. We stopped briefly at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, but we decided to go directly to our lodging and then to Tahawus. We had a room reserved at the Shamrock Motel on Long Lake. (picture is up above, third from the top). We dropped off our luggage and headed out. We found what we thought was the location. We were a bit nervous, afraid we might be trespassing. Peg walked ahead, while I waited at the car and turned it around so it was in the "getaway position". After a minute or two, Peg called out that we were at the right place.

We walked a bit and there it was. Huge old abandoned mining buildings. Piles of what looked like coal. We wandered around a bit taking pictures.

But then we ran into a bit of what could have become trouble. We were walking by a newer, one story metal building. I just commented to Peggy "there is a sound coming from that building" when we saw a bunch of motorcycles come around the corner of the building. The bikers got off and went into the building. We did not wait around to find out what was going on. We turned around and hightailed it back the way we came, to my car.

We drove back to the main highway. We stopped at a Visitors Center and picked up some historical information. We mentioned the old mines to a woman working the front desk, and she said that she did not see any problem with us going in and walking around the buildings. She said the buildings were owned by "the conservatory". We didn't tell her we had already been there.

However, we headed back with the printed information in hand. We found the old blast furnace and an interesting swinging bridge. Then we located the old Main Street of the ghost town of Tahawus or Adirondak. We went into a couple of the buildings, but the floors looked as if they might give out anytime, so we were not able to explore much. We took a lot of pictures.

We noticed that there were a lot of parked cars just beyond the old buildings and walked up to see what was going on. We discovered that there was a trailhead to a popular uphill hiking trail. A ranger mentioned to us that he saw us near the buildings and asked us why we were interested in them. I think I told him that we were just interested in looking at old buildings.

Back in Long Lake, we had supper at an Irish restaurant and pub. I had "bangers and mash".......mashed potatoes with sausage. I don't recall what Peggy had. I remember that they had some great biscuits and I asked about them. The waitress said they got them from a bakery in a nearby town.

The next morning we went to an area known as Buttermilk Falls. Then we went to the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake. We had been before, many years earlier, probably in 1980. Its a great museum. After that we headed back to Rome. We stopped for ice cream somewhere along the way. We probably went out to supper with Dad that night in Rome.

A couple of years after our visit, I read that the buildings have been torn down, all except the newer building that may still be doing some mining operations. Boy, am I glad we got to see them before they were taken down!

Little Falls and Inlet NY trip October 2008

Moss Island: Little Falls, NY
Originally uploaded by JuneNY

Mary and I wanted to have an "adventure" together. We set aside the weekend of October 18th and 19th. I met her Saturday morning in Oneonta . We filled up her gas tank and took off.

First stop: Little Falls where I dropped off a vacuum cleaner for repairs. Then we went on to Moss Island to look for a geocache. We saw some current locks, some ruins of old locks, huge rock formations and found a geocache. But what interested me the most were the eerie ruins of some huge old building or buildings that we saw on the other side of the highway when we were looking for the geocache. There actually was one small abandoned building associated with the geocache, but it was kind of boring compared to what we saw across the road. Mary is not interested in urban explorations, so I had to shelf that idea for the future. A picture of that potentiol urban exploration site is up above. The picture at the bottom is of some rock formations on Moss Island.

We headed up to Dolgeville, stopping to look for a cache along the way. No luck. However, there was a huge antique store right there, so we spent a few minutes looking around there.We didn't have any luck looking for a geocache in Dolgeville, nor did we find the one in Salisbury Center so we continued on our way north.

We stopped in Old Forge and got to the hardware store about five minutes before closing. Mary wanted a glass topper for her coffee pot and a worker was able to find it for her immediately.

We arrived at our lodging at a place known as Mary's Place in Inlet. We had a huge room with three or four beds. We went out to eat at the Hard Times Cafe in Eagle Bay. It was a pretty good meal. Then we returned to our lodging. Both Mary and I relaxed with a book for a couple of hours until we bedded down.

Saturday morning we found some delicious pastrys and donuts set out in a "common room". While Mary relaxed with her book, I set off to explore Inlet and to look for a pair of hiking boots. Mary had suggested a place to look for hiking boots the night before. I found a great pair of boots and took a few pictures. We found one "earthcache" in Inlet and one large cache full of books (hidden at the Woods Inn) but we were unsuccessful in our attempts to find two more. One of those involved hiking up a very rocky hill, the other had some huge old fallen down trees.

Early afternoon we decided to head back towards Oneonta, taking a different route. We stopped near Blue Mountain Lake and found two geocaches near Durant Lake. One was easy. The other one was, well shall I say........interesting........ We were just about to give up after about twenty minutes of searching and then I looked UP! It was over my head, hanging off of a tree limb. I had to climb on a huge rock next to the tree and I was able to push it off. I had Mary take a picture of me and thats it up at the top. I was not able to replace it on the same branch, it was just too far for me to reach, but I put it on another branch closeby. I noticed recently that the Durant Lake Loop geocaches have been archived.

We stopped for subs. I think that was in Speculator. We found two caches not far from there. I think we got back to Oneonta much later than we had planned on.

It was a great weekend! I got my new boots! We had a great meal, and some great donuts! We geocached and hiked and had lots of fresh air.

All Saints Chapel: Morris, NY

All Saints Chapel: Morris, NY
Originally uploaded by JuneNY

This is an account of a past adventure.

In July of 2009, Connie called me and told me that there was an upcoming guided walk (on a Sunday afternoon) starting at All Saints Chapel. I told her that I have always wanted to see the inside of the chapel, which I have seen from the road several times. She signed us both up.

We met up at my house, but took two vehicles. After a bit of driving around, we found the elusive parking area for the chapel. There were a lot of people there. We spent some time looking around in the cemetery, where a lot of Morris's are buried. Things started out with everyone going into the chapel and we were given a brief history of it. The Episcopal Church in Morris uses the chapel for an occasional service. The inside of the chapel is beautiful.

After that we divided in groups and were given a "guided walk" along Dimmock Hollow road which goes along the Morris Creek. Several times we left the road to go beyond the fence and look around. Some people in the group related tales of when they were kids and how they hung around the creek and tubed down the many small waterfalls.

I was particularly interested in the huge old BBQ pit that our guide referred to jokingly as "The Morris Crematorium". I think it would be a great place to hide a geocache. Hopefully, I will go back someday and find the bbq pit and do that. I actually already do have a geocache hidden
in the little park area across the road from the chapel.

After the walk, several participants went for a gourmet lunch at THE EMPIRE in Gilbertsville. We passed on that.

I was so glad that Connie found out about this guided walk. The pictures are of the chapel itself and of some stained glass windows inside the chapel. I don't recall if they were on the wall behind the pulpit or in the ceiling. I love the blues !

Sunday Adventure

Normally I go to church Sunday mornings, but this morning I decided to skip. In all the years (23) that I have lived here, I have never gone to the Cooperstown Winter Festival. I have always wanted to see the ice sculptures and I decided this was the year to see them. I asked my friend Terry if she was interested and she was. After talking to Terry, I thought of Yvette and Terry tried to reach her by phone but was unable to.

We met up at Price Chopper at ten and headed to Cooperstown. First thing, we went down to Lake Front Park to see the sculptures. There were only four this year, and while they were small, they were very good.

From there, we went to an information booth and purchased our pins that were our ticket into free activities. One of the free activities was admission to the Baseball Hall of Fame. I had been years ago, before the renovation and so had Terry, so we decided to do that. The price for adults is $16.50 and we only paid three dollars for the pins, so it was a good deal, and it was interesting.

In the gift shop at the Hall of Fame, I noticed a book about Otsego County and I leafed through it. I had always wondered what that huge building on Route 28 in Hartwick is, and I opened right to a picture of it. It used to be associated with a grist mill.

After the museum, we had lunch at the COOPERSTOWN DINER (picture attached to this blog). We had chicken and biscuits, their Sunday special, and it was delicious. I could not even finish mine......you should have seen the HUGE pile of REAL mashed potatoes.

After that, we went to a quilt display at the Cooperstown Library. It was great! I took a ton of pictures. Then we headed home. We stopped for a few minutes to visit Terry's friend who is in THE MANORS, a nursing home just outside of Cooperstown. We also stopped to take a picture of the old gristmill building. Its the one at the top.

It was a great day and I was tired when I got home. I fixed a very tasty fish/corn/potato chowder for supper.

Today

This week has been pretty low on adventures! But today my friend Connie and I decided to get together for a few hours. She is looking to purchase an old sink, so a couple of weeks ago we went to New York Salvage. Its located right in Oneonta on Otsego Street. However that day, there was too much ice in the driveway leading to the warehouse where the "plumbing" is stored, so we decided to return. Today we did that.

We met there and one of the guys showed which warehouse had the old sinks and tubs. It was like a walk back into time. We spent some time in another warehouse that has a lot of different kind of old stuff. In the front building, they make picture frames out of old molding, etc.

After that we went to FoxCare and walked and talked for a while. When we were done there, she went home and I went to the Fiesta to drop something off for Christa and then I picked up supper at the Undercover Eggplant.

October 5, 2007 Trip to Saugerties, New York

While going through old pictures today, I was reminded of a past day trip.

My friend Judy and I wanted to take a ride into the Catskills to see the fall colors. I thought this day was our best opportunity to do that. I chose Saugerties as our destination and went to work online to see if there were any neat places to eat there. I found information about Miss Lucy's Kitchen, a popular restaurant in that town.

I picked Judy up in the morning and we headed east towards Saugerties, going through Grand Gorge. Along the way we stopped at a stand that offered "fresh home grown garlic". Judy bought a garlic holder and we both bought a bag of onions. (a few days later, I found out that most of the onions were rotten in the middle). We stopped at St. John the Baptist Ukranian Catholic Church near Hunter, New York to stretch our legs(picture is on the top left). The church is beautiful and we both took a few pictures. We continued heading east and along the way, we stopped in a small gift shop where interesting food items were sold. I purchased some flavored honey.

We finally made it to Saugerties and to Miss Lucy's where we had lunch. It has a nice atmosphere and we had apple pancakes for lunch. After that we went to a candy store (I think it was Krause's Chocolates) where we each purchased some chocolates.

We took a different route (Route 28) home. We stopped at a huge gift shop attached to the Kaatskill Kaleidoscope in Mt. Tremper, New York. (picture is on the right at the top) We decided that the color along Route 28 was really better than along our other route.

I think Judy and I started a fall tradition that day!

Note: I could not seem to get my pictures sized right so that they could be downloaded. The two pictures up above are from websites about those attractions.