Geocaching, history and exploring under the viaduct ADVENTURE!

Under the viaduct: Oneonta, NY, a photo by JuneNY on Flickr.

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day and Leslie and I met up at her place in Oneonta and headed out to Otego for some geocaching. Our first was a multi/puzzle cache that took a while but was very enjoyable and held just the right amount of challenge! The second one was a bit of a challenge, too, because it required a stepladder to get to. But anyways, we were successful with both geocaches.

We headed back to Oneonta, debating a bit about whether or not we wanted to do anything more. Leslie asked me if I wanted to do one of her historical walking tours. She has been working on putting together short pamphlets that have pictures and descriptions of historical walks in Oneonta. This sounded great, so we went to her house so she could print out the materials.

We picked up sandwiches at Foti's and started out on the "walk" which really turned into a driving tour with brief walks at various places. Our first stop was at the Stella Luna, an old train depot which is now a restaurant. We stepped inside and the owner was gracious enough to show us around a bit, pointing out the items which are original (mainly the walls and parts of the ceiling). He has been unable to locate any pictures of the inside of the depot.

We continued on our way, stopping to eat our sandwiches in Neahwa Park. We went to several of the monuments in Neahwa (which was originally known as Neahwah) and then we parked at Stewarts on Main Street, and talked about the sites that formerly were on that site.

We walked down under the viaduct and explored for a few minutes before continuing onto more historical stuff.  I thoroughly enjoyed this outing.   After picking up some milk at WalGreens, I came home and took a nap and then met Carol K. at Christ Church in Gilbertsville for their monthly community dinner.

BIBLIOADVENTURE TWO and more: May 21, 2012

I decided to take another batch of old books to the BIBLIOBARN in South Kortright today and I asked Carol M (not to be confused with Carol K) if she wanted to ride along. I met up with her at the library in Oneonta at 9:30 a.m. and we headed out.

On the way there, I noticed two old buildings in Doonans Corners.  This old store

and this old school:  

I did not turn on my navigation system, I tried to rely on my memory of my last drive to S. Kortright, which was a mistake, since I really did not remember well! Anyways, we arrived at the Bibliobarn around 11:00 a.m. 

We quickly went through my books and H.L. found several which he purchased and I donated the rest to the "dime shack". 

Once again H.L. had a few stories to tell including one about how his wife Linda learned to use a pistol after someone broke into their place down south, and when she was attacked, she had an opportunity to use it. He also told about how they were on a vacation driving up to New England to look for a place to relocate and their car broke down in this area, and they fell in love with it and decided to relocate to the S. Kortright area. 

After leaving the Bibliobarn, we drove around and explored a bit.  We went to Sackrider Cemetery (where we ate the lunch I had packed) and then we found another old schoolhouse on Betty Brook Road.    We saw an interesting private residence that appeared to have been an old, small mill.  We were going to go to Stamford to look at the old hotels, but it started to rain, so we decided to head back to Oneonta.  Along the way, we stopped to see this old train depot in Davenport
Center.  

Former Train Depot: Davenport Center, New York, a photo by JuneNY on Flickr.


It was a great day!  

Friday Geocaching Adventure

I met up with Leslie at her house this morning so that we could do some geocaching.  The tentative plans had been to go out looking for old cemeteries for my 500 finds milestone cache.  But, she had already taken care of that and she handed me the unpublished cache page when I arrived.  We changed our plans to go to the Edmeston/Pittsfield area to find a bunch of geocaches.  I had already found most of them, all except for two that I expected to find today.

Our first stop was at CEMETERY WITHOUT A NAME just outside of Garrattsville, New York.  This is my geocache, but Leslie had never found it.  The cemetery does have a name, though, and it is Glendhill Cemetery, but I did not know that when I first hid the cache, because there is not a sign.

Along the way, between caches we just happened to find another two very old cemeteries, which we stopped to explore.  My favorite one today is this one:

This cemetery is narrow and deep, with some very old stones, and some very old trees. Notice that while the name in the middle is QUAKER CEMETERY, it has two a/k/a's. WOOLLY HILL CEMETERY and CHASE CEMETERY.  If I am correct, my OTSEGO COUNTY CEMETERIES map lists it as Quaker Cemetery, and it is on the southern border of the Town of Burlington.  Here is a picture of part of the cemetery.  

Not too much further along the way we came to another old cemetery, which was somewhat more maintained than the Quaker Cemetery.  Here is the sign for it: 

Here is one of the many pictures I took at GROSS HILL CEMETERY.

After that, Leslie found a couple more Jeopardy Caches and then we had lunch in Edmeston.  I know I was going to have a large meal (buffet) with Connie, so I only had an ice cream sundae for lunch.  It came from this place (MooMoo's) and it was delicious!  I plan to take my grandkids here this summer.  

Then we headed towards Burlington to look for a few more caches.  I think altogether, Leslie found eight geocaches and I only found one because I had already found the others.  

We made it back to Oneonta with just enough time for me to get to Gerster's to meet Connie.  The buffet tonight was very good even though they did not have a REAL desert, we had to settle for watermelon.  We joked with the waitress, asking her if we could have a substitute desert like APPLE CRISP, and saying that we belong to The Society Against the Early Harvest of Watermelons. It turned out that the watermelon was especially sweet and delicious and we appreciated it!

Leslie did not want to tell me WHERE to go to look for my 500 Finds geocache, the only clue she let out was "go to Sidney".  I have to admit that I cheated and typed in the coords and brought up a map showing where it is!  

Horses, Amish and more ADVENTURE!

I met up with Carol at the Waltzing Horse Farm at 10:30 this morning so that I could take videos of her riding Mystique.  Unfortunately, it was a VERY busy day at the farm, and the "farrier" (the guy who takes care of the horses feet/shoes) was there and Carol's horse had to be taken care of before she could ride, so I was there a couple of hours before Carol rode.

Unfortunately, when I got my camera out to take my first picture of Carol grooming Mystique, I realized that my memory card was falling apart, and I would not be able to take pictures.  While Carol finished groomng, I ran up to New Berlin, hoping that the drugstore had memory cards, but they didn't.    It was interesting watching Howard work on Mystique and another hourses hooves.  Also, the "horse dentist" was there, and I got to watch him work on Lois's horse for a minute or two.

I used Carol's camera and took several videos and lots of pictures. Here is one:  Then she and I met up in New Berlin at

THE COUNTRY KITCHEN, a new diner which opened up a few days ago.  We both had the SENIOR SPECIAL, half a sandwich, bowl of soup, coleslaw and a pickle, for five dollars. Our lunch was reallyl good.  It is a very nice place, very colorful, and some Amish made furniture is on display.

Then we decided to go geocaching (I just happened to have info. with me) and headed out of New Berlin to go to MILLBROOK PARK to find GONE FISHING, which we had looked for unsuccessfully almost four years ago, but we got sidetracked before we got there. .  On the way there, we decided to look for a small nursery that Carol went to last year.  We did find a nursery, where Carol bought some tomato plants.  The owners have a 1929 Ford Model A Touring Car (three window), that they recently purchased.  I asked if I could pay them to take me for a ride and was told that they will do it for free sometime when the nursery is not open!   It turned out that this was NOT the nursery we were looking for.  But , we have their phone number of the owners and hope to call them sometime about taking a ride in the Model A.  .

 We also stopped at a small winery, but nobody answered the door.  Also, we stopped at an Amish farm/sawmill.   Carol asked about purchasing some fence posts, but the Amish guy was not really interested in doing business since he has to start planting corn in a day or two.   Then it was on to the park where GONE FISHING is hidden.  This time we found it quickly and easily.  Carol said "its too easy."

We thought about looking for another cache, but decided against it.  Carol wanted to try to find another Amish sawmill, so we headed for Parker Road.  We saw a few definitely Amish farms and passed one horse and buggy, and a few places looked as if they might sell lumber, but they did not appear to be doing business.  We went to an Amish home that Carol purchased baked goods at a while back, but nobody was home.  We also went to the feed store in New Berlin so Carol could find out more information about an upcoming  pulled pork dinner.

It was a great, and somewhat tiring day!

Dave's Birthday Surprise

My co-workers husband, Dave, turned 44 this past Sunday.  Because it was Mothers Day, their kids kind of ignored his birthday.  Kim set up an impromptu lunch get together for her and Dave and her co-workers (who all know and love him).  We all went to The Golden Guernsey.  The surprise was a specially made sundae brought to the table and we all sang "Happy Birthday".  Unfortunately, I forgot my camera but here is a picture of the Golden Guernsey which I took a couple of weeks ago.    It was a fun lunch!

A BAINBRIDGE Adventure

This morning Terry asked me if I have been to the FrogPond yet this year.  I said no, and then started thinking that maybe I could go this afternoon.  I suggested that to Terry and she agreed.  So, after work, I picked her up at her place in Otego and we headed towards Bainbridge.

I asked Terry where she wanted to eat and she said that someone told her that a new place opened up on Route 7 between Sidney and Bainbridge.  So, we looked for it, but did not see anything.  We decided to eat at the JERICHO INN, but when we got to Bainbridge, we saw that it was closed and for sale.  We decided to eat at Rosa's.

We had a great meal!  As usual, I brought most of my food home with me.  I had eggplant parmigana with spaghetti.   After that we went to PINE RIDGE GROCERY (better known as the Mennonite Store), and I purchased several items.  Then we went to the FROGPOND, where I purchased tomatoes, parsnips and peppers.

When we got back into my car, I looked at the map and told Terry that I was trying to figure out a different route back.  She said she knew a route, so I had her navigate.  It turned out to be nice back roads, coming out by the old foot bridge in Wells Bridge.   It was a nice afternoon.

Backroading, Exploring and a Geocaching Event ADVENTURE!

Morning Dove, a photo by JuneNY on Flickr.

Today was truly an adventurous day!  Leslie and I met up n Laurens and with my CEMETERIES OF OTSEGO COUNTY map in hand, we set out, hoping  to find an old, small cemetery in which she could hide a geocache to celebrate my reaching the milestone of 500 geocaches.

We headed down 205 to Airport Road and attempted to find a cemetery from the map.  NO LUCK.  Then we headed to Mt. Vision and tried for another cemetery or two.  NO LUCK.  We didn't want to be late for Softball's spring event at Neahwa Park in Oneonta, so we quit looking for cemeteries and headed to Brooks house of BBQ so we could pick up our lunch.  Leslie treated me to a checken dinner and a piece of pie, which we took to Neahwa Park with us.

     This is a picture of the LOG for the event!

 and this is one of several pictures I took of the participants in this great event!  That's Mr.Science in the shorts and light blue T-shirt! 

The event was pretty well attended.  Leslie and I seemed to be the only people there who brought lunch!  We socialized and talked about geocaching for over an hour.  Attending the event brought my cache finds up to 500!

Then Leslie and I headed out to continue our search for a small, old cemetery.  This time we headed towards Gilbert Lake, were we continued to use the map and continued to have NO LUCK!  We did eventually find a very small family plot on Potato Farm Road (at the location of the replica of Stonehenge), but it was not a suitable place to hide a geocache, but I did take a few pictures.  Here is one:



Further searching in the Town of Laurens continued to be disappointing.  The strangest thing was that the map shows an absolutely HUGE cemetery right on Brewster Hill Road, but we could not find any trace of it. So once again it was NO LUCK!!!

Before heading back to the convenience store in Laurens to get Leslie's car, we stopped at KNAPP PARK in Laurens to eat our strawberry-rhubarb pie, which was very good! It was neat to see this dove protecting her nest in the rafters of the gazebo.  We were successful in finding the nano geocache hidden in the little park.


It was a great day in spite of our inability to achieve our goal!  My full set of pictures taken today are here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/juneny/sets/72157629696732244/

MOSCA'S PIZZA Adventure

Sign at THE DEPOT, in Oneonta, NY, a photo by JuneNY on Flickr.

I have wanted to try the pizza at THE DEPOT for a long time, so today when Connie suggested we meet up for lunch there, I jumped at the opportunity. I left early and ran a few errands befor meeting hre there at one p.m.

I ordered a pepperoni pizza and Connie ordered a reuben sandwich. The pizza fell somewhere between two opinions that I had gotten ahead of time: 1. That it was awful, and 2. that it was like pizza heaven. It was pretty good but certainly not sensational. Connie did not enjoy her sandwich, she said the meat tasted "off."

After leaving the Depot, we went to New York Salvage and looked around and then we went to FOXCARE and walked for a while, stopping to look at the art displays set up by area students.

It was a nice afternoon.

Weekend away: May 4-7, 2012

Friday morning, May 4th I headed across the state to Lockport, New York to spend the weekend with my sister.  We are in the process of cleaning out my recently deceased fathers apartment, which I plan to move into in about a year.  It's a massive project

As usual, I planned to take my time driving to Lockport, doing some geocaching and flickring.  I had planned my first stop to be in West Winfield, New York, but I happened upon a few interesting places along the way.  The first was between West Burlington and Burlington Flats.  I noticed an Amish woman with her children selling baked goods!

, so I stopped and purchased  a blackberry pie.  Then while going through the village of Burlington Flats, I noticed some old mill ruins along Wharton Creek, right under the bridge.  I had heard about them before and had hoped to see them someday.  Here is a picture:  

I guess I had never driven through the Village of Burlington Flats before, but I found it to be a quaint and interesting place.  There was am Amish fellow on a ladder doing some work on an old storefront. I took one or two other pictures and continued on my way up to Route 20 top West Winfield.    There was another Amish bakesale taking place right on Main Street, and I stopped and purchased some peanut butter cookies.  I also found a neat small diner, which I hope to go to for lunch someday.  I found a geocache on a bell in front of the W. Winfield fire station, and then continued on Route 20 a bit before turning north to find TROYER'S COUNTRY STORE...an Amish owned and operated grocery store that I recently found out about.

I purchased a couple of items at Troyers and then looked for a couple of nearby geocaches.  The one in the bell in front of the church in Perryville was missing, but the one in the cemetery was there, and in a very neat place.  After that, I got on the thruway and headed towards Buffalo, but I got off at the Pembroke exit in order to look for another cemetery geocache.  This one was not as interesting as the one near Perryville.  And then it was on to Lockport.  I stopped at TOPS and purchased some food for the weekend (mainly ice cream).

     I had eaten so much along the way including a meal at Roy Rogers on the thruway, that I was not hungry for supper, but I did have a piece of blackberry pie with ice cream.  

     On Saturday morning, Peg and I attacked Dad's bedroom and we made a lot of headway.  We went out around lunch time to eat at REID'S and to the book sale at the Lockport Public Library.....I purchased two books and also was able to use a computer to log the previous days three geocache finds.  In the afternoon we worked in Dad's family room closet and we made some progress there.  We went out to supper at Buffalo Wild Wings and it was a great mea

    On Sunday, we went to Peg's church and she was having a Senior Saints Luncheon after church, so I attended that and helped her clean up afterwards.  It was a good way for me to meet some woman who may end up being my friends after I move to Lockport.  I really enjoyed the luncheon which was my very first offical seniors event!  After church we went to 17 and rested a bit and changed out of church clothing and we went out exploring later on.  We returned to the ruins we saw the last time.  Here are a couple of pictures!

We put a new geocache near these ruins, and hopefully it's not too close to any other geocache, so that it will be published.  We looked around the canal area and found another spot for IN HONOR OF DAD, and Peggy is going to

try to do a coords check to see if that spot is available.  Peggy and I had supper at BUFFALO WILD WINGS and really enjoyed it.

     That night, Gail and Mike came over and we dealt with some details of Dad's estate.  I headed for home early Monday morning.  I drove down the west side of Seneca Lake,stopping to geocache and go to the tiny hamlet of Himrod.  I had lunch at the CROSSING DINER before I got to the Himrod area. 

Watkins Glen, New York, a photo by JuneNY on Flickr.

The last picture I took was of this old warehouse type building that has been made into a restaurant/bar.

 Watkins Glen looked like it had a lot of interesting places to explore, but I just did not have time to look around. Maybe another time.............. I arrived home around 5:45.........very exhausted.  

TABLE ROCKS ADVENTURE: May 1, 2012

My workplace closed at noon today so that all staff and our spring interns could spend a fun afternoon together and show our interns how much we have appreciated their help in the past few months.

Eleven of us (Mary, Geneen, Eileen, Carol, Kim D., myself, Vera, Kiehle, Jaycee, Jaclyn and Kim met up at Brooks House of BBQ and we had a great lunch! I had the sampler platter, and brought most of it home with me. After lunch, we went into the gift shop. This old truck is parked outside of the shop, it was once owned by Frank Sinatra!!!

Upon leaving Brooks, we headed to Hartwick College to hike the trail up to TABLE ROCKS. We drove in four vehicles! 

We stopped at the safety office to get a permit and then we had a hard time finding where we wanted to go.  After driving around circles and up and down hills for a while, Mary stopped and asked a student and he told us how to get there. We parked and walked to the entrance and then proceeded to hike to the to a fork in the path. Unfortunately, we chose to go to the right instead of the left. The left hand pathway took us away from TABLE ROCKS and up to a huge fenced in field, maybe they play soccer or football there. There were a few workmen there and Eileen suggested that she would pay them to drive her down the hill. Here are some pictures I took. While there, Eileen found the geocache TO THE BATCAVE. She and I had found it before about two years ago and I wanted to return the joke book to the cache. 

Here is a picture of Mary under an interesting rock formation.  

 Here is another picture I took.  You really get a good view of Oneonta from Table Rock!

On the way down the hill to the parking area, we saw this salamander:  One of the interns thought it was fake!  

After leaving Hartwick, we went to THETFORDS, so Kiehle could show us her car which is there for repairs.  She was in an accident on Chestnut Street this past weekend.  Then it was on to the Golden Guernsey where we all had ice cream.  

Then we called it a day and I headed for home.  It sure was a fun afternoon.  I felt a bit high from the fresh air, exercise and good company.
TableRocksEtc5_1_12 048, a photo by JuneNY on Flickr.