Mini Lewiston Adventure

I had a few free hours this afternoon and it was not really hot and humid, so I decided to drive to Lewiston to look around and check out DiCamillo's Bakery (a place my friend Arlene told me about).

On  the way there, I stopped to take pictures of TWO historical societies.

The Town of Lockport  Historical Society and the Cambria Historical Society.  

 They were not open, but now that I have the names and locations, I will find out WHEN they are open so that I can visit.

I continued driving towards Lewiston and  I drove past Hibbards and DiCamillo's and all the way down Main Street to where it ended at a very interesting park along the river.  The park has info. and statues representing the FREEDOM CROSSING MONUMENT.

At the other end there is an interesting eatery THE SILO, which has been featured on MAN VS FOOD.  This is a place I must eat at and SOON.

Then I headed back up Main Street, stopping at DiCamillos where I bought a piece of pizza bread and an Italian Lemon Cookie.  Then I went to HIBBARDS and had a small frozen custard.  One last stop in Lewiston at a small Visitors Center where I picked up a bunch of brochures, etc.  

Closer to home, I noticed an interesting old cemetery, so I did a quick U-Turn and checked it out.

 I am going to try to find out the story behind all of these "flat" grave markers.  A few of them look like the one up above

FINDAGRAVE.COM has this to say:  

Lower Mountain Road Cambria Center Niagara County New York  USA

Cemetery notes and/or description: Lower Mountain Road (south side of road), about 0.25 miles east of Thrall Road Junction.

I saw another small, old cemetery closer to home, but did not stop (hopefully I will check it out someday soon).

MURPHY ORCHARDS, GORDY HARPERS BAZAAR and REIDS

This is the last free day Wendy and I have before she leaves and returns to New Berlin,  After breakfast, I asked her what she would like to do.  She thought about it for a while and could not come up with anything, so I suggested MURPHY ORCHARDS and she agreed.  I have wanted to go there for about 15 years (mostly for its connection to the Underground Railroad) but never had an opportunity to do so during my trips to Lockport, so TODAY was THE DAY.

When we arrived, it looked small and I was a bit disappointed,

but it turned out to be really interesting.  They have set apart a portion of the barn and turned it into a museum that tells about the farms history and spotlights the Underground Railroad.  You can look down and see a portion of an underground room which MAY have been used by the UR.

  There is a short video that tells the story.

In the "country store" portion of the barn they offer mostly jams, jellies and other canned items.

There are many old items on display including many small items for sale.  

I purchased some sweet pepper relish and some jelly (sugar free).  As we headed back towards Lockport, I suggested that we stop at Gordy Harpers Bazaar.  I thought Wendy would like it and she did!  She made a few small purchases.

We stopped at REIDS and I purchased some food for our lunch (I thought it would be too chilly to eat outside at Reids)and we took it back to the house where we had lunch.  

LEWISTON ADVENTURE

After lunch today,  I really craved some Hibbards frozen custard.  I asked Wendy Hopper if she felt like going and she jumped at the chance, so we headed out around 12:30 or so, with Carrie Simmons.  My in car navigation system took us right there, via Route 104.

I ordered a medium waffle cone with CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CUP, and I shared it with Carrie.  She was enjoying it so much  that I went up and bought a dish of black raspberry and shared that with her.  After that I got a dish of toffee crunch, and we all shared that!  I would be hard pressed to choose a favorite flavor from those three!

There are some interesting statues in front of Hibbards.  They have something to do with how the Tuscorara Indians defended Lewiston against a British attack.

Then we found two geocaches closeby.  And then we went to the NIAGARA POWER PROJECT.   It has a lot of displays and some good viewing areas of the Niagara River and the project itself.

 Carrie seemed to enjoy riding in the wheel chair lift to get to the other two floors of the project!

After we finished up there, we headed back to Lockport, but driving on Route 31.  When we got back  to 17, I took a nap before meeting up with Peggy and Betty for supper at BURRITO BAY.  Betty showed us the pictures she took on her recent trip to Florida.  

MEDINA ADVENTURE 7/12/14

On the way to meet up with Peggy at her house in Middleport, we stopped at a few yard sales.  I found a china rooster (I have been looking for one for a few years) and a great pair of capris and some other stuff.  Once we got to Peg's place we looked through several boxes of decorations  that Peggy needs to get rid of.  Wendy and I each took several items and then we headed to Medina to have lunch.  We checked out three places  and decided on the SHIRT FACTORY CAFE.

 We took an outside table. We  thoroughly enjoyed our lunch of sandwiches, salads and fruit smoothies.

Then we explored a little bit on Main Street.  Medina's Main Street is kind of like a "return to the fifties" since urban renewal did not go to Medina.  All of the old buildings remain, and many of them have not been updated.  We only had time to go into a few of them.  One is a flea market type of place

and the other is a bakery.

Take note of the very old shelving on the right hand side.  

 We checked out the chinese buffet, but were not very impressed with it.  I took pictures of the old opera house, etc.

After that we headed to MILLERS BULK FOOD AND BAKERY (an Amish/Mennonite grocery store).  Then we said goodbye to Peggy and found our way back to Lockport.

July 10, 2014 ANOTHER trip to "the falls"

During our last trip to Niagara Falls, it was SO crowded and so hot that we left after visiting the Horseshoe Falls.

This morning I asked Wendy to find a phone number for a visitor center at the American falls and to call and find out where is the best place to park,  that is closest to the American falls, and not a real long walk to push a wheelchair.  She did that and came up with an address to drive to, and instructions where to park.

Using my GPS (car navigation system), we drove to Niagara Falls, USA and located the parking area.  Just as we drove up, a guy put up a PARKING LOT FULL sign but we stopped and told the guy we had a wheelchair and he told us to go ahead in. Once inside, we found all of the handicapped spots full, so we took a regular one, and indeed it was a short walk into the park (through a building) and to the falls.

We looked at the falls from the walkway and then decided to go onto the observation deck ($1.00 a head) for a better look.  It was indeed better!

 this one is a view of the Horseshoe Falls from a distance.

and this is the American falls from the observation deck (with the Horseshoe Falls on the right hand side way in the back).

It was lunch time by then so we checked out the prices in the nearby building (close to $9.00 for a hotdog and more for a burger) but decided to skip it.

We headed towards home and since we did not pass any interesting looking eating places, we continued on towards home and had a bit of a late lunch there.

July 4th ADVENTURE

Wendy and I decided we needed to do SOMETHING for the 4th of July.  She and I do NOT like crowds.  I suggested geocaching and she said yes.

I baked a butternut squash and put a whole chicken into the crockpot and then the three of us (myself, Wendy and Carrie)  headed out.  Our first stop was at the 30 Mile Point Lighthouse near Barker, NY.  
 There is a virtual geocache hidden there, so I took the required picture and Wendy looked around.

Then we started geocaching in earnest.  The first two were DNF's.  Most likely I programmed incorrect coordinates into my GPS.  Then we found BROWN BUG AND COIN BUNGALOW and then we headed towards MARJIM MANOR.  At first I thought I had programmed in wrong coords, but I followed my instinct and tried a different route (I am not sure we should have driven where we drove) and we found it.  It was a large ammo box, with a glass of wine painted on it, BUT it was locked.  That was when I figured out that I should probably go into the winery and ask someone there to answer three questions that were on the geocache page.  I did that and was given the answers.  Armed with the answers, Wendy and I trekked off to the location of the cache and tried to open the box using the answers, which were 3, S and 3.  We tried several times to open the combination lock using those, but we were unable to.

By then it was one p.m. so I told Wendy to head west since I had seen a sign for an ice cream place and maybe it offered real food.  We were in luck and ended up here:

at BAEHR'S ICE CREAM COTTAGE.  I purchased two italian sausage sandwiches with onions and peppers, a grilled cheese sandwich, an order of fries and an order of onion rings, as well as drinks and we sat down to lunch, which was VERY GOOD.  

It was close to two p.m. when we headed out and towards home, driving through Olcott Beach.  We stopped at a lawn sale along the way and then at TOPS so that Wendy could purchase items to make a cheesecake and a dish she refers to as PINEAPPLE BAKE.  

It was a good day!  I am sure it was much quieter than Wendy's usual 4th of July celebration, but she seemed to enjoy it.  

NORTH TONAWANDA Adventure

Last night, Wendy and I decided that today Friday, July 3rd would be a "fun day".

 

 We looked over the tourist info. that I have accumulated and decided to go to North Tonawanda to go to the Hershel Carousel Factory Museum.  

First we went to CVS in South Amherst so Wendy could pick up a "disk" that she uses as kind of an inhaler for her asthma/wheezing.  Then I set my GPS for the address for the museum and headed out on our way.

The museum was very interesting.

This is the oldest carousel.  It was raining a bit so we did not get to go into the small kiddie park.

We headed downtown and located the RIVIERA THEATRE and the historical museum.  We enjoyed the museum which is in a former MURPHY'S Five and Ten.  We then had lunch at a tiny cafe just down the street.

This evening I met my sister Peggy and my cousin Becky at THE CUP AND SAUCER for spaghetti.   My Uncle Norman was there and he sat with us for a while.  After supper, we went to a nearby farmstand for ice cream.