Beautiful, rolling hills, heavily forested land. Passed by lots of water, most notably Lake Chautauqua and the Allegheny River. Got off the Interstate at Cuba, NY where we always try to stop and get some cheese. It's in the heart of New York's dairy land we try to stock up before we get to Vermont. We were back in Amish country and had to watch out once again for the horse and buggy's on the two-lane roads as we headed north. There was an Amish farmer plowing his field with a horse-drawn plow and we couldn't help but wonder how long it would take Russ to plow his acreage that way :-).
We were going to play golf along the way and had even gotten a recommendation from Joe and June about golf courses, since they used to live in this area. Alas, the temperature had gone from mid-eighties on Thursday to the low fifties on Friday. That, combined with a southerly wind, was enough to blow the thought of golf out the window. Instead, we enjoyed the drive north through small towns. Kind of neat seeing the different architecture in the towns, some of which date back to the 1700's and 1800's. This part of the country was settled when people didn't know anything about the West. Think about it, Lewis and Clark didn't even start on their expedition until 1804 and they didn't even touch our part of the country in Nevada.
One exciting part of the trip was driving through Letchworth State Park. It's where the Genesee River (which we had kind of been following as we drove north), cuts through some beautiful gorges. Not quite the Grand Canyon, but spectacular in its' own right. As we were at one of the overlooks, we heard voices drifting up from a distance. Shortly, we saw a bunch of rafters appear around one of the bends (bunch equals seven). Bet they were cold and were very careful about staying out of the river! It's a good time to visit because there aren't many tourists and the schools haven't let out, so there were very few visitors.
Arrived in Rochester early in the afternoon, so we did some shopping while we waited for Tim and Kathy to get off work. Finally hooked up with them and settled in for the weekend. In the evening, we went to the Genesee Brewery which has a great restaurant overlooking the falls in the center of Rochester.
A side note is that the Genesee Brewery is undergoing a $49 million renovation, part of which is the addition of twelve 2000 barrel tanks. They were too big to haul over the highways, so they are bringing them via the Erie Canal over from Albany. There is a "tank watch" which is monitoring their travels along the canal. Supposed to arrive in Rochester over the Memorial Day weekend - sorry we'll miss the spectacle, but maybe we'll see them as we travel east on Monday.
After dinner, we drove up to Cobbs Hill Reservoir which is one of the higher spots in Rochester.
Saturday morning we went over to the Rochester Public Market - think farmer's market on steroids! Every conceivable type of produce - some probably came from those truck farms we passed through on Friday. Didn't buy anything (except breakfast), but it was fun strolling through sheds and people-watching. Kathy had a friend's birthday party to attend, so Tim, Vi and I were left to our own devices in the afternoon. After checking out Costco (the only one in upstate New York) and getting gas - a lot cheaper at Costco. Not quite North Dakota prices at 2.09, but respectable at 2.19.
In the afternoon, Tim had gotten tickets to a Rails and Ales event in Industry, NY. Don't bother looking that one up on MapQuest - it's one of those towns that say "Welcome" on both sides of the sign. Blink and you'll miss it. However, they have an old train depot and siding which have been taken over by a local group of train enthusiasts. They have quite a collection of old engines, cabooses, baggage cars, passenger cars, etc. Kind of like the Railroad museum in Carson City, NV.
It was called Rails and Ales because it was the inaugural event celebrating local breweries. So you could along and admire the trains, while sampling local craft brews - very neat! Not only did they have beer, but also cider, mead and ales. It was only open to people over 21 and they carded everyone at the entrance - even us. Included in the event was a short train ride - we stood and sat in one of the cabooses on the ride. Didn't go far nor very fast, but it was enjoyable. Even saw a baggage car from the Lackawanna Railroad which reminded me of my grandfather who worked on the Lackawanna ferry from Hoboken to NYC. One of his perks when he retired was a lifetime pass on the Lackawanna RR which he often used when he came to visit us in Matawan.
The Lilac Festival is going on in Rochester this week and Kathy is running in a 5K early Sunday morning.
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