Day 1 of Rome/Old Forge Trip (September 13 2016)

Mike agreed to let me use his cabin at DELTA LAKE BIBLE CONFERENCE for three nights: The nights of September 13, 14 and 15th.  Leslie agreed to join me there.

I left Lockport around 12:30 and headed east.  I took the thruway most of the way.  I stopped at a few plazas along the thruway to use the bathroom and walk around a bit and look at the map. I stopped to take one picture: This park is new and I hope to spend some time there someday.  It can be accessed from the thruway.  It was not open today

I and arrived at the cabin around four thirty p.m.   I settled in, and removed one of the shutters from the porch window in order to let in some daylight.  Just as I was getting ready to call Leslie to find out where she was, my phone rang and it was her.  She said she had taken a detour and was lost, but she thought she was about twenty minutes away.  We agreed to meet at the NICE and EASY (a large convenience store) a couple miles south of the cabin on 26.  I think she arrived around six p.m.  I suggested she buy something for her supper since I was on the BRAT diet for obvious reasons.  She got herself a steak and cheese sandwich.

She followed me to the cabin and got settled in.  We were both tired from our drives, so we stayed in and relaxed and read that evening.  We talked about what we might do the next day.

Day Two of Rome/Old Forge Trip (September 14, 2016)

Leslie and I headed towards Old Forge early this morning.  Our first stop was to find BLUE LINE geocache, at the entrance to the Adirondack Park.

   This was number 999 for me!  

The next one we parked at would have been ONE THOUSAND, but I refused to climb up that steep hill (full of bushes, shrubs, weeds and small trees) so we moved on.  After a couple of DNFs we got to  THEN/FORGE at the entrance to an interesting looking trail in Old Forge.  So, this one was my ONE THOUSANDTH!!!!!  This is the entrance to the Tobie Trail where it is hidden.  

Luckless made this event really special for me.  She made a sign 

and took this picture.  She wrapped up

a miniature golden ammo can that she painted herself

in a series of boxes from small to large. 

In the Village of Old Forge, we went to the Town of Webb Museum (could not find the cache there) and then drove to Eagle Bay 

At a Visitors Center, a woman told me how to find Uncas Road so that we could find the trail to Ferd's Bog.  This is a beautiful trail, but its very rugged and I had to give up after a short walk in.  Leslie continued to the boardwalk where the geocache was hidden, but unfortunately her GPS had lost the coordinates so she could not find it.  She was very disappointed.   I took a few pictures.  

After Ferd's Bog, we continued on Route 28 to the colorful village of Inlet.  We really did not do anything there but I took a few pictures.  

the museum was not open

this is MARY'S PLACE where Mary O'Connor and I stayed eight years ago.  Mary's bakery was, unfortunatey, closed as was her gift shop.

Then we turned around and headed back west on 28.  We drove back through Eagle Bay and then back to Old Forge.  We stopped at the Old Forge Hardware Store, which is not as interesting as it used to be.  I remember it as being a huge, old fashioned hardware store, but now it is more like a gift shop. 

Once we were out of the Adirondack Park, while crossing a river (Moose?) I noticed some huge old remains on the west side of the river.  I decided to try to get to them by turning left on the next road.  That did not work, but we did see this great old building, which looks like a former railroad depot

We continued on the way back towards Rome, going through Boonville.

As we approached the cabin, I suggested we find one or two more geocaches before calling it a day. (We had been disappointed to only find three in the Adirondacks).  We stopped at Lee Town Park and found one. 

and then we found one in a very old cemetery.   

I suggested looking for one more, but Leslie said no to that since it was starting to get dark.  Total finds for the day only FIVE.    We went back to the cabin and relaxed for the rest of the evening.  I think I downloaded my days pictures to my computer.  

DAY 3 of Rome/Old Forge Trip (Sept. 15, 2016)

After an extremely long and exhausting day yesterday, I suggested to Leslie that we try to make today shorter.  We got ready and headed out.  We found a few geocaches in the Rome area, including one at a really neat cemetery, the LINK CEMETERY on Link Road.

and one hidden at Griffis Air Force Base on a huge bomber:  

We headed up the west end of Delta Lake towards Delta Lake State Park, but along the way we decided to stop at the Rome Fish Hatchery. 

It was very interesting.  Leslie took this opportunity to eat her lunch at one of their picnic tables (I had been eating crackers and pretzels off and on in the car all morning).   

We got into the state park free since it was off season.  Leslie asked for a map.  She is doing challenge geocaches in the New York State Park.  The first few were easy, and then we came to two more difficult ones.  I sat those out while she looked.  I took a brief nap which revived me.

We drove back to the other end of the lake but did a bit of exploring on the way.  We went up to the NICE AND EASY so Leslie could get something for supper and I used their wifi to program in a few of the geocaches we found.  

After getting back to the camp, we decided to take a walk down to the beach.  We sat on the beach for a while and talked

This day indeed was shorter and easier than the day before but I was still worn out and read for a while before turning my light out at about eight thirty p.m.

Day Four of Rome/Old Forge Trip

Leslie and I packed up and cleaned the cottage and headed out on our separate ways.

I stopped in Verona to go to a church garage sale and took this picture of the old hotel across the street from the church:

I continued on and got on the thruway for a short period and then I got off and drove on 5 and 20.  In West Bloomfield, I noticed an interesting small cobblestone building that has been made into a shop

so I stopped and went in.  They have been open two months, it is a very nice place.  I asked the owner (Todd Campbell) about old cemeteries in the area and he pointed me in the direction of the PIONEER CEMETERY right there in West Bloomfield.   I took several pictures.

This cemetery is no longer active.

I continued on 20 for a while and decided to head north at LeRoy and get back on the thruway.  

I arrived home around four p.m.

LOCKPORT UNITED: Memorial Ceremony, Sunday September 11, 2016

This event was held at the Lockport Municipal Building at two p.m. today.  The American Legion put out a flag for each person who perished fifteen years ago today.  I went early this morning to take pictures before the crown arrived.

David and Peggy came to my place for lunch (pork ribs, mac and cheese, corn and bread pudding for desert).  We met up with Betty at city hall.

We also honored our FIRST RESPONDERS.   Mike represented the Lockport Police Department.  The ceremony was very good.  They offered THANKS TO LOCKPORTS FIRST RESPONDERS t-shirts for sale for five dollars each.  I bought two.

My conplete set of pictures can be seen here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/juneny/sets/72157672646808371

2016 Orleans County Heritage Festival: September 10, 2016

I am not sure where or how I heard about this three day event but I already had plans to go to Lewiston for the peach festival, so I did not plan on going.  I told Peggy about it, though, and she wanted to go and suggested I cancel my first plans so she and I could go to this event together.  David decided he wanted to accompany us.  I met them at their house and we headed towards Albion. Along the way we saw this:

  Our first official stop for the festival was at WATT FARM COUNTRY MARKET and the UNION CEMETERY, which is on their property.  

We got our badges and our first two ribbons here.  And then it was on to the Albion branch of Genesee County Community College for Death, Mourning and Justice in Orleans County. We did two events there: visiting the reproduction of a Victorian at home funeral

and listened to a speaker who talked about three famous area crimes.

And then we located the Orleans County Court House

and signed in for the 1:30 tour.  We had a few minutes to spare before the walking tour started so we walked around the Main Street area a bit.   I noticed this ghost sign.

The tour was great!  We got to into three churches, The Catholic Church, the Pullman Universalist Church and the First Presbyterian Church.  Here are a few pictures:

  After the tour, we headed back towards Middleport.  We stopped at the Amish Bulk Food Store along the way. 

My complete set of pictures can be seen here:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/juneny/sets/72157673595166296

Supper with Betty and Peggy

Peggy, Betty and I met at Molinaro's for supper.  It was very good  Then Betty and I walked down to the police station for the event honoring first responders.  We had a piece of cake and talked with the legionnaires for a while before walking back to our cars.  We stopped at the YWCA and looked at  a monument/memorial to the buildings use in the underground railroad.

Town of Lockport Nature Trail ADVENTURE

Now, this one was a REAL adventure!!! And one that I will NEVER forget!!!  Betty is on vacation from her job at Rite Aid so we planned a get together.  I decided to NOT geocache today, to concentrate on the beauty of nature.   I picked her up this morning and we headed to the Town of Lockport Nature Trails on Slayton Settlement Road.

We arrived and started hiking the trail.  We had a map which I printed off of the internet.  It SEEMED fairly easy to follow.

But you see those red, blue and yellow trail lines?  There are way more trails there which are NOT on this map! 

We found the large oak tree on the red trail easily, however we did not see any markings or signs indicating it was the red trail.

and then we located the waterfalls.

After that we continued to follow the map, thinking we would just continue to follow the map and exit the park.  However, something happened and the trail map did not seem to be working for us.  We ended up at the other huge oak tree.  It appears to be dead, but it is still magnificent.  

By this time we were tired and a bit hungry and we decided it was time to head back to the entrance, the parking area and my car. We looked at the map carefully and we realized that we were at the  point on the map the absolute farthest from the entrance.  Our route back to the entrance and parking lot appeared perfectly clear to us.  However when we would reach a spot that was supposed to have a turn to either the right OR the left, there were two routes to choose from.  So, we made the best choice possible, but we messed up and after a while, we realized we were going around in circles.  

We started to get nervous, and we shouted out a few times, hoping there were other hikers nearby.  No luck.   Thankfully, Betty had her phone with her and we called Peggy and asked her to find the phone number for the Town of Lockport main office.  We were able to memorize the number and we called and told someone our dilemma.  After a few phone calls back and forth, and after we located the second big tree again and agreed to wait there, we were told that a park ranger, a man named Ken, would come out and pick is up in a four wheeler.  He said it would be twenty minutes, but it was more like a half an hour.  We waited patiently and he finally arrived.  

He was so nice.  He said he is not really a park ranger and gave us another title, but I cannot remember it.  Betty and  I sat in the back for the one mile ride to the entrance.   I noticed that he did not take the route that we had chosen, by following the map.  He said he was surprised  that we were not able to get help from other hikers, but that when he arrived he noticed my Subaru was the only vehicle in the parking lot.  So, we were the only hikers in the forest when we got lost!!!  What bad luck.   We had encountered a young couple and another man a couple of hours earlier while we were headed to the waterfalls.  

Just before we said goodbye to Ken, a very young couple with a child in a stroller arrived.  Betty asked if it was their first visit and they said it was.  She told them how easy it was for us to get lost and I gave her my map.  

Betty and I left and headed north on 78 and went to Gordy Harpers for lunch.  

What a day.  I made a firm decision: in the future, every time I go out into the woods, no matter who I am with, I will use my GPS and set the coords for my car.  Also, I would like to get a good compass and learn how to use it. 

Labor Day Adventure with Peggy (September 5, 2016)

When Peggy asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday, I thought about it before telling her that I would like for her and I to spend a day together maybe geocaching, lunch out, exploring etc.  She agreed.  We set a date a few weeks ago to do it, but it was too hot and humid, so we tried again today.
My original plans were geocaching and Trader Joes, but this morning I changed them to include some explorations in DeVeaux Woods State Park in Niagara Falls.

So we headed out mid morning.  On the way to Niagara Falls, we found a geocache on a gate at the abandoned military station. (we explored it many years ago, so we didn't hang around today).

We got gas on the Tuscarora Indian Reservation and then headed towards the Niagara Falls.  It looked like we were going to have difficulty finding the park, but all of a sudden we were there!   It is a very nice park.  I took some pictures of the old orphans school which then became a college.

and then we went into the woods and found the geocache.  We got back to the path and walked through the old growth forest. 

 and then we looked for Niagara Falls Boulevard.  We stopped at the original DeCamillo's and I used two coupons to get a free piece of pizza and a free half dozen cookies.  

We stopped at a storage facility to look for HAND ME DOWNS, but we not successful.  At Oppenheim Park, we were successful in finding two geocaches.  

We decided to keep going on down the boulevard to have lunch. As we passed parking lots full of parking lots for the stores and the mall, I said to Peggy "look at all those dummies who have not discovered goecaching and urban exploring."  We found the Old Country Buffet closed but we found the AMHERST BUFFET (it used to be the Garden Buffet on the Transit, but the moved here.   After dropping off some books for the woman who sells them on ebay to support a missionary couple, we went back and had lunch at the Chinese buffet.  Then we decided it might be a good idea to walk a bit in the Boulevard Mall. Peg told me that we were about to join all those dummies I mentioned earlier!!!!!

We went to Kay Jewelers and we each purchased a Sterling Silver Lab Created Sapphire Necklace.  While walking, we noticed an interesting book store so we went in.  I found Christmas presents for Tyler, Dominic, Dillan and Vincent.  

Our last stop was TRADER JOES!!!!!  It was not too terribly crowded, which was really good.  And then we headed back to Lockport.  

It was a long and exhausting day, but a lot of fun.