Apple Harvest Festival at the Newfane Historical Society

Last evening, I decided I wanted to go to the Apple Harvest Festival at the Newfane Historical Society today. I called a few friends to see if I could find someone to go with me, but I did not have any luck. I decided to go anyways. I arrived about fifteen minutes before it was supposed to open and was surprised to see so many cars parked already, but most likely many of them belonged to the various vendors and workers. The first place I went was to see the CIVIL WAR ENCAMPMENT. I was the only "civilian" there, which was nice, I could take pictures of the soldiers and the various buildings without other people being in them.

I went into all the buildings. I particularly liked the school, the mercantile and the barber shop. I had a beef on weck and apple cake with ice cream.

I bought a few items from the various vendors.

THREE Festival Day: September 26, 2015

There were a lot of activities to choose from today in Lockport and Niagara County. I chose the Hartland Fall Fest. I met up with my friend Elaine and we met Peggy and Becky at the stone schoolhouse

which serves as the Hartland Historical Society. They offered a basket raffle, entertainment. a bake sale and lots of food including a turkey dinner for $9.00.

It included drink, the full meal and desert. I figured the Dr. Pepper would energize me and it did! I spent ten dollars on raffle tickets and put them on two items. After the turkey dinner, we went down to Peggy's house so she could show us her new display item, which may have been used in a hotel to hold keys.

Elaine and I decided to go to HERITAGE DAYS at the Cambria Historical Society. They also had entertainment

and food, but we were more interested in the museum itself. It was VERY interesting.

It was still early so I told Elaine that I would treat her to ice cream since I owed her a few dollars from a previous outing. We decided on LAKE EFFECT ICE CREAM. Lake Effect is situated at the site of the COMMUNITY MARKET which was the site of LOCKTOBERFEST today. So in addition to getting ice cream

That is my double cone of Frozen Hot Chocolate and Peanut Butter Epiphany! we spent some time at the market itself. We ran into my brother Mike with his stepsons Dillon and Dominic.

Arrived home at 4:45, very worn out! It was a great day!

Day One CONEWANGO VALLEY AMISH and GEOCACHING Trip ADVENTURE: September 21, 2015

Mary Ann and I met up at my house and headed out 78 towards Hamburg, and then down to Gowanda. In Gowanda we stopped for a geocache hidden behind the historic theatre on Main Street and then we got on Route 62 heading south towards Randolph. Our second stop was in _________________ which seems kind of like a semi ghost town. A geocache is hidden in a garden next to this old building which is being restored.

At the above location, I saw a Mom with two children out walking and I asked her if there was a nearby park with picnic tables. She said to keep going south on 62 until arriving at RACERS RESTAURANT. So we did, stopping along the way to geocache. RACERS is a nice diner and a bait shop

They also have a very nice playground and a few picnic tables, where we ate our lunch before continuing towards Randolph on the Amish Trail. We spent the bulk of the afternoon geocaching and stopping at Amish shops. Malinda's Candies was especially nice, another shop sold quilts and more in an Amish home and finally we found a very small shop selling baked goods.

Late afternoon we arrived in Randolph and quickly found our lodging THE INN AT ONE BANK STREET.

This old building was a fire station in its former life. Our hostess (Tonia) met us outside and helped us get our stuff inside and registered us. Our room was on the first floor and was just gorgeous, and sparkingly clean! I would definitely stay there again! We had time to find a geocache (PEACHES AND CREAM at a nice farmstand) before supper at a pizzeria on Main Street.

I had the soup, salad and pizza buffet for eight dollars. Then we found our last geocache of the day at a spa across the street from the restaurant. It was an EIGHT GEOCACHE DAY!!!!! So far, Mary Ann and I are thoroughly enjoying the Amish area of Conewango Valley and New Yorks Amish Geotrail. The beds in the inn were super comfortable!

Conewango Valley Amish and Geocaching Trip DAY TWO ADVENTURE (September 22, 2015)

Mary Ann and I woke to another gorgeous fall day and headed out, towards home with lots of stops on the way. Our first stop was at an ALPACA FARM not too far from the Pope Haven Campground where we found a geocache the other day. The owner showed us the alpacas and talked about how they are raised, etc. It was very interesting.

We spent some time in the gift shop and I purchased a "mitten keychain". Then we headed out to find some Amish shops. On the way to a particular shop, we saw a lot of Amish children walking to school (some of them barefoot) and then we saw the school.

We spent the rest of the morning visiting Amish Shops. The highlight was RABER'S TOYS

where we could watch the Raber men making toys, etc. The son (Amos) enteretained us with various games and toys. When I gave him a twenty dollar bill to pay for an item, he immediately put it in a little box and told me to take it out! It took several minutes for me to figure it out, but I did get it out. I purchased a wooden plate holder. The next stop was IRON WORKS another interesting shop. I purchased a couple of pot holders made by the 93 year old grandmother of the young man who was taking care of the shop. By now it was getting close to lunch time and we decided to drive back to RACER'S. On the way we found a geocache at an old cemetery in the Village of Conewango Valley and looked for another one on a bridge over a creek, but that was not successful.

LOCKPORT CARES and VIETNAM WAR PHOTOS Adventure on September 18, 2015

I picked Pam up this morning and we headed to LOCKPORT CARES (the local homeless shelter) for their Open House and Yard Sale. At first it looked like maybe it was only a yard sale, but eventually a tour was offered. Our guide was an Australian gal with a very nice accent. She took us through the building and talked to us about the program. Then we went to Niagara Produce to pick up some rolls for lunch at Pam's apartment. She prepared tuna salad sandwiches, and served chips and a banana cake that she baked for a friends birthday the day before. It was very good. She showed me a few old books she has. One of them is a cookbook and I found this recipe for Yorkshire Pudding:

Then we went to the Kenan Center for the VIETNAM VETERANS: Our Photo Album. This was several rooms and hallways with pictures taken during the war by US troops. We met and talked with a Vietnam War Veteran (Rich Dever) and a World War 2 Veteran (Bob Chatt).

Meeting them and talking to them was the highlight of this event. Bob's wife was there, also. She was in England during the "BLITZ" at the age of fifteen. The exhibit is wonderful. although very sobering.

Albion Adventure: September 11, 2015

It was a gorgeous late summer/early fall day and Mary Ann and I decided to go geocaching. We headed towards Albion early this morning. The first cache we found was a huge one in the area of a former petting zoo/amusement park in Albion. CHRISTMAS PARK was open for twelve or thirteen years until l965. The geocache was NOT on the ground. I saw it first and then told Mary Ann that she needed to find it and then decide how to retrieve it.

Mary Ann DID find it and she DID retrieve it. It was HUGE. We couldn't get it back up as high as it originally was. And then we explored the old CHRISTMAS PARK, closed since l965. It used to be a petting zoo and amusement park. The rides must have been sold. Anyways here are some pictures:

Then we started to look for WAS LOST AND NOW IS FOUND...........a cemetery/memorial to the Orleans County Alms House. This took us all over the place, driving farmers lanes, until we finally found it.

We found four geocaches altogether: two phenomenal and two ordinary. Then we had lunch here:

We spent a bit of time in Mount Albion Cemetery, but did not have time to really spend looking for geocaches. my entire set of pictures can be seen at https://www.flickr.com/photos/juneny/sets/72157658456977846 On the way home, we took a different route and stopped at Becker Farms for ice cream. It was a great day!!!

BUFFALO River History Tour on Labor Day 2015

Peggy suggested that we might do something together on Labor Day and asked me to see what was available. I couldn't find any events taking place on Labor Day, so I looked into attractions in Buffalo and found information about a couple of boat tours. I showed her what I had found and she chose the BUFFALO RIVER HISTORY TOUR, so we called and ordered our tickets for the 12:30 p.m. tour. We left Lockport around ten thirty and headed to Buffalo. We stopped on Maple (probably in Amherst) and had lunch at a Wendy's. We arrived at the area of the waterfront around noon and quickly found parking. From there it was a bit confusing and we did not want to end up at the wrong place since it was TOO HOT to do any extra walking, so we called and got exact directions to the place to pick up our tickets.

Then we waited in line until tour time. The tour was great. We started out at the beginning (or the end) of the Erie Canal.

Mostly we saw "silos" (grain elevators) where grain was stored and associated buildings. Most are empty and abandoned but the General Mills plant and PABST are still in operation. This old ship (The Columbia) was brought here from Ohio and is being renovated and then will go to NYC :

Here are a few other pictures from the boat tour: The tour was about an hour and a half long. When we returned to shore, we headed back to our car and then back to Lockport. We stopped at White Rabbit Frozen Yogurt for a treat before meeting up with David at my house.

Tuesday Afternoon Matinee ADVENTURE

The leader of the Tuesday morning Life Group (prayer and bible study) decided to plan an outing to the REGAL THEATRE to see the movie WAR ROOM.

When the meeting was over, we had to make a quick decision about lunch. It was noon and Elaine had agreed to meet up with some ladies who were going to the movies who had not come to the meeting at 12:30 at the church. This did not leave us much time for lunch. So, some of us hopped into cars and went to a fast food place to pick something up. We went to Arby's and got sandwiches. I was not sure we would make it in time for the movie since there was an accident on the Transit and traffic was held up, but we arrived in time. There is a special price for the Tuesday matinee: $5.00. The movie was wonderful, and I like the comfortable seats at this theatre. After we got back to the church and our cars, I suggested to Pam that we go out for ice cream at Johnsons. Its a good thing I followed her because she headed to RJ's on Lincoln Ave, so we had ice cream there.