TWO DAY ROADTRIP: June 16-17. 2016

My friend, Mary Ann, and I decided to take what I call an "extended road trip" to the Lake Chautauqua area.  We left early Thursday morning and I followed Mary Ann to Hamburg where she was going to leave her car because she had a meeting to go to on Friday evening.  Then we headed  west on 20.  Our plans were to continue for a while on 20, but somehow we ended up on 5 and in Dunkirk.  We saw signs for the Dunkirk Light House

so decided to stop and check it out.  We decided NOT to take an inside tour of the lighthouse, but we explored the grounds and I took pictures:

We had a picnic lunch there, which I had packed at home.  And then we continued on our way.  The first thing we did was find an Amish area east of the lake.  We went into a private home which advertised quilts.  The shop was closed, but a teenage Amish fellow let us in to check out what they offered.  I purchased a couple of key chains and a jar of jam.

  We continued down that road and stopped at RABER'S, which sells boots and shoes.  When I asked the young girl about jams and jellies she took me to the house.  I talked with two Amish women who were caring for their young children on the porch.  It turned out that they did not have any jams to sell.  We drove around a bit and then got on the route going south on the east side of the lake.  We found two geocaches before we got to Bemus Point.  Bemus Point looks like an interesting spot.  I drove down to see the vintage amusement park and stopped to take a picture of an interesting hotel.

I would like to return to Bemus Point at some time in the future. 

Then we crossed the lake and started looking for our lodging.  Unfortunately, we turned south instead of north when we got to the road we wanted and wasted about 40 minutes looking for our lodging.  We eventually found it and got ourselves checked in and we were VERY happy with our room, which had a deck facing the lake!    We settled in a bit and then headed to the other Amish area which is on the west side of the lake.  We stopped at a bulk food store

and saw this school and

then we had supper at this place:   The Dutch Village Restaurant in Clymer, NY.

I had the cabbage roll with mashed potatoes and it was very good.  After supper, we headed back to our motel.  We snacked on caramels and potato chips from the  bulk food store.  At one point, Mary Ann commented "we know how to snack in style".

The next morning, I heard Mary Ann eating potato chips around seven a.m. !!!!!    we had breakfast in our room, out of my cooler (yogurt and fruit, etc). we drove south and then west to go to PANAMA ROCKS.

  Before arriving there, we found three more geocaches!!!   Whew!!! This was an experience.  The oblong trail was not well marked and at one point, I thought we were off the trail and suggested to Mary Ann that we might need to use her cell phone to call the office. However, a minute or two later, we saw the buildings near the office. We complained a bit to the owner and he told us a few stories about other hikers.  Then we bought some postcards and then we had a picnic lunch before heading back to Route ___.  We stopped at a couple of gift shops.  One was particularly interesting.

Driving north, we saw Portage Pie in Westfield.

 They did not have a rhubarb pie, so I did not make any purchases.  Then we happened to see the Barcelona Lighthouse,

so we stopped and went into the Visitors Center.   After checking out Barcelona Harbor, we continued to drive east.  We stopped to check out a state park and then hit the road towards our final destination.  We stopped at UNCLE JOE'S DINER for supper...we both had the Taco Salad. 

 My album of pictures can be seen here:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/juneny/albums/72157669593173242