New Years Eve (day) ADVENTURE: December 31, 2010

Terry suggested the idea that we might go to the Otesaga Hotel for the lunch buffet on New Years Eve day. I liked that idea, but when I called the Otesaga, I found out that they would not be open for lunch on Friday, December 31st. I called around to the other restaurants in Cooperstown and found a couple that would be open and we decided to continue on with our plans to have a fun afternoon out on New Years Eve Day.

However, when I met up with Terry in Oneonta, she said she would like to go to Worcester instead. She wanted to have lunch at Ardy's. I told her I was pretty sure Ardy's would be closed since the owners go to Florida for the winter, but we decided to go anyways and have lunch at THE WORCESTER INN (also known as THE WHITE HOUSE INN).


Our lunch was great, soup and sandwich(I had cabbage/keilbasa soup) and pumpkin pie for desert and the final bill was less than twelve dollars for the two of us.

Terry suggested that we do some geocaching, but since I had planned on going to Cooperstown, I didn't have any Worcester geocaching info. with me.

After lunch we went inside the old mom and pop type store just down the street. Here is a picture of it.
Terry has shopped here before, since she used to live in Westford, and she said the shelves used to have a lot more items on them. This small store really has that old time feel to it.

Then we crossed over to the Worcester Historical Society. It was closed, but there were phone numbers posted on the door and Terry called one of them and a woman agreed to come over and open it up for us. We walked around Main Street a bit while we waited, stopping in CASH OIL to pick up a couple of calendars. We also drove down County Road 39 towards South Worcester, but we did not have time to go all the way, since we needed to be back at the museum at 12:30. County Road 39 is a very well maintained (smooth) dirt road.

The museum was great! We spent about a half hour there, looking at all the displays. Our "guide" told me that if we continue a bit further on Route 39, we will come to an old school house owned by the historical society. I particularly liked the old signs from former businesses and the old safe from the old post office. Here are pictures:


A picture of the old fire hall (seen in the museum) led us to go find the old building which was very close by. Here are those pictures.


It was a great afternoon. I am not sure why it tired me out so, but I skipped picking up groceries when we got back to Oneonta.

Into the Woods and MORE Adventure: December 30, 2010

It turned out to be a sunny and fairly warm late December day and Carol K. and I decided to go "out" for several hours to enjoy the sun. We met up in Morris and headed for SCOUT IT OUT a geocache hidden on the state lands. We found the parking area pretty easily and bundled up and headed "into the woods". I think it was a little less than a half a mile when we came to the cache site. I am pretty sure I found the hiding spot, but the geocache may be buried under ice, and I could not find it.

Our feet were really cold from walking in the snow, so I suggested we stop in Morris and have a piece of pizza and maybe warm up a bit in Nina's. We had Sicilian pizza and got warmed up. Just before leaving, I noticed this clock on the wall above our table.
The next geocache was PITTSFIELD STEEL ANGEL, hidden in a retired snowplow at the town garage in Pittsfield. I was not very hopeful since I have not had much success with this type of geocache in the past, so I was really happy when we found it. Here is a picture of the plow.


I showed Carol the book LANDMARKS OF OTSEGO COUNTY and we started to look for a couple of historic buildings that were in Pittsfield, but we got sidetracked when she mentioned that a friend had told her about several Amish families who are now living in the Parker Road area. We located Parker Road. We saw a bunch of Amish children ice skating on Parker Road. We also saw another Amish property, which was distinguished by the Amish clothing on the clothesline in their yard. I did not take pictures, but hope to return sometime soon.

We were able to locate one historical building in HOBOKEN CORNERS..........a curremt residence that may at one time have been used as the factory store for the Arkwright Cotton Mills which stood nearby. Here is a picture of the house and the sign.



We were both a bit tired by this time so we decided to call it a day. We decided that we MUST do it again and soon, but next time we will get an earlier start.

HO HO HO Adventure and more!

Today was the Ho! Ho! Ho! A season of caching 2 get together at Our Town Cafe and Pub at the Holiday Inn in Oneonta, New York. It was a holiday gathering of local geocachers and the local geocaching group STUCK IN THE MIDDLE GEOCACHERS. It was not a huge group, but we had a great time. Most of us had breakfast, and everyone brought a wrapped Christmas ornament and names were drawn to exchange for another one.


After the event, Leslie and I went geocaching. We looked for three, but only found two. One of them will probably have to wait until spring, since it is "dirty down low" and to get to it now would involve a lot of digging around in the snow.


Leslie headed for home and I ran a couple of errands before meeting Linda at the Foothills Performing Arts Center for the opera AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITOR. Before the play we looked at all of the trees in the FESTIVAL OF TREES and we each voted for our favorite. I experimented with taking some close up pictures of some of the decorations on the trees.
The opera was one act and both Linda and I enjoyed it. This was the first time I saw a production at the new facility. Many of the performers were kids and they did a great job.


After it was over, we went to Pondo's 2 for a late lunch, we had salad and cheesy bread.

Afternoon in Cooperstown ADVENTURE

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T.J.'s Restaurant in Cooperstown
Originally uploaded by JuneNYYvette, Terry and I were planning on going to the lunch buffet at the
Otesaga, but Yvette could not make it due to car trouble. Terry and I were going to go without her, but I remembered that T.J.'s Place in Cooperstown offers a five dollar fish dinner for lunch in the winter. I suggested to Terry that we go there instead, and she thought it was a great idea.

This gave me an opportunity to drive my new (used) Subaru wagon, which I picked up yesterday@ We met up at Price Chopper at 11:30 (by this time I had been to two grocery stores and purchased over a hundred dollars worth of food) and headed to Cooperstown. We quickly located T.J.'s and went in. What a delightful atmosphere.......I LOVED the statue of ABBOTT AND COSTELLO and had to take a picture. They have lots of COKE memorabilia around.



The five dollar fish lunch special was great. I had the beer battered fried haddock and Terry had the broiled haddock. The mashed potatoes were the real thing, and very good. The vegetable was corn. It was very filling!

After lunch, we walked around Main Street, Cooperstown a bit, stopping at Schneider's Bakery where Terry bought some donuts and I bought some rolls. We went into a Christmas store.
and a great book store.
On the way back to Oneonta, we stopped at the BEAR POND WINERY to look around and geocache. There was too much snow on the ground to look for the geocache, but we went inside and looked at the merchandise.

Back in Oneonta, we decided to go to FoxCare and walk around a bit. They had some new artwork up, so we looked at that. It was a great afternoon!

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Otesaga and Glimmerglass Adventure

The Otesaga: Cooperstown, New York
Originally uploaded by JuneNY

When my friend Terry heard about the Festival of Christmas Trees at Glimmerglass State Park, she said she wanted to go. I suggested we combine a trip up there with a buffet lunch at the Otesaga Hotel in Cooperstown. The Hawkeye Bar and Grill is offering a lunch buffet every Friday during the holiday season. I had eaten in the main dining room (upstairs in the Otesaga) a few times, but never eaten in the Hawkeye.

I met up with Terry at Price Chopper and we headed to Cooperstown. We located the Otesaga and the grill and ordered the buffet. It was wonderful. The soup was "She Crab" and it was delicious. The entrees were talapia with a lemon sauce and turkey with stuffing. The deserts were incredible. I was tempted to take more than one, but I settled for a piece of Red Velvet Cake, which was delicious.


This was Terry's first time in the Otesaga so I suggested we walk around a bit. It truly is a grand hotel. She was even impressed by the ladies rest room! I have to admit it is very nice.

Then it was on to Glimmerglass State Park to the Festival of Tress. It was a nice drive up the east side of Otsego Lake. We arrived and found the building where the festival was set up, and spent a half hour or so looking at the trees and taking pictures.
Terry noticed a lot of birds on the beach and we went down and took a few pictures.

We started to look for a geocache hidden near the entrance to the park, but it was so cold and there did not seem like a good place to park near it. We decided to come back in the spring when it is warmer.

We headed back to Cooperstown, taking the same route. I stopped to take a picture of the historical sign for NATTY BUMPO. Once back in Cooperstown, we looked for two geocaches, finding one of them. We stopped at the Fenimore House to take a picture of the totem pole in front.
I pointed out the Indian Mound to Terry, she had never seen it before. Then we headed back to Oneonta.

It turned out to be a great day, in spite of the cold.

Birds and Butterfly Adventure

Joseph L. Popp Jr. Butterfly Conservatory
Originally uploaded by JuneNY

My friend Linda and I finally got together. We met up at my workplace and then drove to Colliersville and had lunch at PONDO's 2. It is a little log cabin right on the main highway, and mostly they offer italian food. Today we split an antipasto salad and an order of cheesy bread. Both were very good.

Then we went to the Joseph L. Popp Jr. Butterfly Conservatory. Both of us had been before, a few years ago when it was newer. The butterflys seemed to be few and far between today, or maybe they were in spots where we could not see them. Their were a lot of beautiful birds to see and take pictures of.

We took our time and walked around and looked around. It is indeed a great place.
The gift shop has a lot of very nice items. Linda plans to return to purchase some
Christmas presents.