Shawnee Antique Co-op Adventure

My sister, Gail, and I headed out mid morning for the Shawnee Country Barns Antique Co-op.

 Gail had been there before, but it was my first time.  The main barn (above) has many vendors on both the first and second floors.  I bought a few small toys and a red clear glass shoe.   Upon leaving, we noticed that there were other buildings.  This particular one was closed.

This one was open:  

So we checked it out.  We also checked out this building which has a restaurant in it.  

We decided not to eat there.  Gail suggested the Country Kitchen or Country Cottage, saying we used to go there when we were kids.  I vaguely remember it.  However, we got a bit lost and then she did not know how to get there.  We ended up at ZEBB'S (I think in Amherst).   

I was a little disappointed because my fish fry was so small and  the fries were limp, they did not seem freshly made.  But I would try it again since I like the atmosphere, prices are good and OTHER peoples meals looked really good!

It was a great day!  

Geocaching, Sand Pits and more: October 28, 2014

What a great day Chickie and I had today It was a gorgeous fall day, with temperatures in the 70's....a perfect day for outside activities.  I picked Chick up in the morning and we headed out and found four local geocaches:  CLOSE TO HOME (at the Kenan Center, DEER CROSSING (at Kibler Park), CONIFERINAE I (along the canal near Widewaters) and JUST ONE MORE (also along the canal, involving a .4 mile hike each way to get to it.

After that hike, Chickie asked me if I was familiar with the Sand Pits.  I had heard of them, but never been to them, as far as I can recall.  She showed me how to get to them.  We found them and parked outside the entrance and walked in.

 We had barely made it in when a guy in a huge piece of excavating equipment drove up from one direction and a car entered where we parked  and came towards us from the other direction.

 Both vehicles stopped right where we were!  Apparently, they didn't care that we were there.  The guy on the huge piece of equipment owns the property, and we all chatted for a few minutes before Chickie and I walked out.

By then it was lunchtime and I asked Chickie for suggestions.  She suggested Scapelleti's.  At first,  I was disappointed to see that it was nothing more than a large  convenience store, but it turned out to be a nice spot for lunch.  We shared a steak sub, which was very good.  I would not hesitate to eat here again.

After that I suggested that we locate the TOWN OF LOCKPORT NATURE TRAILS

on Slayton Settlement Road.  Chick knew how to get there BUT we were talking and we  passed it and drove several miles out of our way in the direction of Gasport, and had to turn around and look for it again.

It was a glorious day for a hike in the woods (along nice trails).

 Unfortunately, there were not any trail maps available and the red, blue and yellow trails were not marked, but we took our chances.

It was a good thing we met up with a family who was also on their way out, because we were not exactly sure which turn in the trail we had taken to get to where we went!

Before leaving, we hid a geocache outside the entrance to the trails.  Then we headed back to Chick's house where I dropped her off.

Saturday and Sunday (October 24 and 25th, 2014) with my grandkids

Saturday  morning, we baked our own hot pretzels (from a tube).

We enjoyed making and eating them for breakfast.  

Our next project was painting faces on

my pumpkins.  I have had these four small pumpkins on my front steps for a few weeks

Here are the kids working on them:

For lunch we had grilled cheese sandwiches and chips and cider.  Chris arrived after we finished lunch, with Niko, their new puppy. 

Later on in the afternoon, the kids mentioned Lake Effect Ice Cream, so we decided to take Niko and walk there.  My brother Mike met us there.  

In between projects, we played BANANAGRAMS and I introduced the kids to SCRABBLE, which they both seemed to like.  In the evening I made a breakfast casserole for Sunday morning.  Mike joined us and we had the casserole, cinnamon raisin toast with homemade apple butter and fruit.    After breakfast they packed up and headed back to Michigan.

DESTINY USA Adventure

Megan and the kids and I headed to Syracuse this morning in order to meet up with Mike and Tina at DESTINY USA.  We stopped at TIM HORTONS on the Transit and picked up breakfast sandwiches, drinks and some small donuts and headed on our way.  It was a 2.5 hour drive.

We did some shopping.  I got a pair of slippers.  The kids got several items including hats, gloves, slippers, socks and pajamas.  We went to THE APPLE STORE, which was a new experience for me.  I believe the goal of this store is for people to see and try out new technology.

We had lunch at PIZZERIA UNO a restaurant at the end of the food court.  It was VERY GOOD!

We left Mike and Tina about 3:15.  I took this "family picture" before leaving:

When we got back to Lockport, we called Peg and made arrangements for her to pick up pizza and bring it to my house.  We all had supper together.  The kids wanted to go to LAKE EFFECT ICE CREAM, but settled for Edy's Ice Cream and homemade peanut butter cookies.  

Solo Lockport Adventure: October 23, 2014

It was the first blue sky/sunshine day in several days and after doing  some cooking (company coming this weekend) I decided to walk downtown and have lunch.

I stopped at the police station to say hi to Mike.  He gave me a tour of the facility and I met his boss and a couple of other people.  I particularly enjoyed seeing this Corvette that was confiscated from a drug dealer and is occasionally used by the police department.

There is a new gift shop on the first floor of the Bewley Building.  TICKLEBRIDGE is the name of it.  I stopped and purchased an old cigar box.

I had lunch at COUSINS CAFE in the Bewley Building

 Patty melt and onion chips!  for less than seven dollars!

Williamsville Adventure

Betty and I planned a daytrip to Williamsville a few weeks ago, but she became ill and was unable to go.  Finally, TODAY worked out for both of us to go.  We met up at my house around 9:30 a.m. and headed out.  Once we got to Williamsville, we looked for signs to Glen Falls Park, but didn't see any, so we had to stop and ask.  We finally found the park and a place to park my car.  The first thing we did in the park was stop to admire some ducks in a lovely pond.

Then we looked at the creek and falls from several places and took a lot of pictures.  

We made it up to Main Street where we checked out a few shops.  I think Betty liked TEN THOUSAND VILLAGES as much as I did.  I bought four small baskets to use as Christmas gifts.  

A few more things seen on Main Street: 

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A woman at a gift shop recommended two restaurants.  Eagle House and Creekside Cafe.  We went to the Creekside Cafe and had one of the specials.  I  think it was called the Turkeylater (or something like that).....turkey, stuffing and cranberry mayo on grilled sourdough with sweet potato fries on the side.  It was great.  

Then we walked back down Main Street and went behind the library where there is a bridge to another park ISLAND PARK.    There are some great views of Ellicott Creek.

Betty had half of her sandwich left so we stopped in Glen Falls Park again and fed the ducks.   I swear they would have climbed up on our laps if we would have let them.  

On the way back to Lockport, we stopped at Andersons for a frozen custard....it was a great day.  

Tuscorora Reservation Adventure and more

Chickie and I met up this morning in order to do some exploring on the nearby TUSCORORA INDIAN RESERVATION near Lewiston.  Unfortunately, it is a very difficult place to explore because while roads on the map have  names, there are no actual signs with  the names of the roads.

We stopped at a SMOKIN' JOES ( I guess there are several SMOKIN' JOES locations, but I think this is the largest one.

There is a very nice museum inside, which consists of soapstone carvings.  They are very elaborate, detailed and beautiful.  There is a deli and you can buy various food items, as well as lots of indian products.  

By the time we were finished in the store, it was close to lunch time.  There was an interesting HOT DOG STAND between the store and the highway.  

 Each order of fries was HUGE....probably enough for three people.  The burger (we each  had the RODEO BURGER COMBO) was cooked on a grill (you could see the flames) and it was excellent. It was damp and drizzling so we ate our burgers and fries in Chickie's truck.

We stopped at the LEWISTON ANTIQUE MALL and looked around, but neither one of us bought anything.  It is a large building with areas divided off for individual vendors.  Some of the prices were very reasonable.  

As we were leaving the antique place, Chickie asked if there were any geocaches we could look for.  I checked my GPS and noticed that we were about two miles from OLD PINEY, a geocache hidden in a park behind the Sanborn Fire Department.  I found it first, but then I backed off and Chickie found it.  

When we got back to my house, I helped Chickie to log her three cache finds (two last Friday and one today), and showed her the page that lists all of her finds.  

OPPENHEIM Adventure and more

My friend Chickie and I have been trying to get together for a month or so and today finally worked out.  Barb joined us (all three of us graduated the same year l967).

After dropping something off at Opportunities Niagara Unlimited we headed to Oppenheim Park, so that we could find the remains of the old zoo.  My parents took us kids there in the 50's and 60's and I have vague memories of doing that.  I had coordinates from a geocache that has been archived and was using them to find the remnants.

When we arrived, I was not sure we would be able to explore because there was a sheriff's vehicle
sitting there.  When my GPS seemed to be pointing me in the wrong direction, I decided to ask her if she knew where the remains were.  She pointed in the same direction that my GPS was pointing and said it was OK for us to go in and look but she wanted us to know that there is a homeless veteran living in one of the buildings.  His name is Fred and she said he is rarely there during the day and that he is harmless, anyways.  This seems to be Fred's habitat.  A tent set up beside one of the buildings.  The building has cages in it.

Here is a pic of one of Chickie at one of the cages.  

Fred has bags and piles of bottles and cans (the redeemable kind) in the building and all around outside.  Here are a couple of his personal effects.

Here is a picture of Barb and Chickie inside this building

After we completed our urban exploring of the zoo remnants, we decided it was time for lunch.  We stopped at a place called HOOVER'S 

which I think is just outside the village of Sanborn limits.  Barb and I had their beef on weck and Chickie had a burger and a HUGE order of fries.

Then we headed back towards Lockport.  I had a bit of difficulty finding THE BRIDGE TO NOWHERE, but after some driving around we arrived.  I gave my GPS to Chickie and told her about the geocache.  She found it with a few hints.  Both she and Barb seemed excited about both the geocache and the remnants of what we think was a mill in "the olden days".

Then we headed for THE ROAD TO NOWHERE.  I was not with Peggy when she replaced the missing cache that she and I hid, so this was a new one to me.  Chickie was very assertive and she found it before me!!!!  Here she is showing Barb and I

 Here is a picture of the road that goes nowhere!

It was a great day!  When we got back to my house, I helped Chickie open up her own  geocaching account!