New York State Visit July 2011

I took a United red-eye to Syracuse on Wednesday, June 29. Due to the $35 for second checked luggage (golf clubs were the first), I used USPS for a shipped large box and carried on the small luggage. Of course, it was a full flight and United was board-checking carry-on. Fine with me; no costs and carry-on luggage was checked all the way to Syracuse. It was an uneventful flight with some shuteye.

Bill was considerate enough to leave a car at the airport so I drove to his place for some downtime. Later, Chris, Bill, and I went to Borio's for our annual fish sandwich and watch the Hobies. Borio’s is a madhouse on hot summer days. Fleet 204 was rolling in just as we were leaving at 9:30. Chris and Bill both had to work in the AM so we could not stick around.

Friday was the beginning of the Clash of the Golf Games. The common theme was that Bill misplaced his golf game. Then he said he knows why he is always slicing by powering thru the ball, opening up his clubface. Maybe this is my problem, just in reverse for my hook. That was it!

Tina and Adam came over for dinner. She and I had some inside jokes on Bill’s place (ha-ha). After dinner, we traveled to the Inner Harbor for first some ice cream then churros. Tina enlightened me that the cooked pears were not really a dessert in Adam’s world since they are a fruit. Thus we had to have ice cream. No argument from me. We also found Laura and her boyfriend.

Saturday, Bill took off for the Adirondacks and I drove to Albany (thanks Bill for the car). Google directions did not list the thruway exit but I called Tracy after I felt I missed her exit. Future note: get off at exit 24. I needed some downtime so Tracy power shopped for the party. The party was the usual good. Some people I recognized or recognized me, and some new faces.

Sunday began with rain. Wished I brought my raincoat. Well, I did bring it on the trip but left it a Bill’s. DOOH!! We decided it was a good day to visit the Norman Rockwell museum in Mass. It was about 40 minutes from Tracy’s place. I have been before but worth a repeat visit. Awesome grounds (Norman’s studio was a separate building) and views.



Norman Rockwell's studio

 We traveled to Stockbridge, the village that was the basis for many of Norman’s pictures. A perfect place for a late afternoon drink was found, unfortunately after m-a-n-y other people found the place. So we traveled back to Albany.

Monday was a golf day. I apparently left my games somewhere else as Tracy spanked me around the course. And for the evening, we traveled to downtown Albany to watch people and fireworks. We decided it wasn’t our scene after 5 minutes we returned to Tracy’s place for an evening of discussion.

Tuesday was back-to-work for Tracy, so I traveled to Syracuse. Bill joined in later and we had another kick-Bill-around-the-golf-course session. Bill and I then traveled to Wendy and Gordon’s. Ben and Christopher were finishing up music lessons so Mesi gave Bill and me a tour of Wendy’s garden. Very impressive garden!

We piled into their Monster SUV and traveled to the Brewster Inn. Our usual table on the lawn was ready, with another awesome Cazenovia lake view. Bill and I chased kids on the lawn for a while. Wendy decided to go ahead and order from the petite menu (good idea) then Sara showed up. We had the usual miscommunication when ordering desserts – think we ended up with two too many desserts! But then did not stop us from enjoying them.


Next time, Gordon needs to get in the pic!


Back into the Monster SUV and to the Yacht Club for a sunset swim. The water was cool but throwing kids into the air warmed me up.

As we were leaving, Sara’s car did not turn over. I was voted to stay with her, with Bill coming back to Sara’s to pick me up. A Good Samaritan at the yacht club gave us a jump. All was good until Sara turned onto the road from the yacht club. The car again died. AAA was called and then Bill pulled up. We followed the tow truck (with Sara inside) to ensure she got home.

Wednesday was another kick-Bill-around-the-golf-course session. Bill decided he no longer liked golf. Collins invited us to dinner so we got there in time to see the awesome landscaping he had done. After some catching up and clams casino (very tasty), we took rides in his GT-R. WOW! 0 to 70 back to 0 – in his driveway. Sorry, cannot say what we did on the highway. Gotta get me one of those.

Bill and I got more of Collin’s home tour than last year. Very nice place. And over dinner, Collins said he received his first Father’s Day card this year. Apparently, the daughter of the person Collins has been seeing has taken to liking Collins also. Great dinner conversation.

Thursday, Michele (LaMontagne) Hughes and her son Brian were in Jamestown for his golf tournament. Bill, Michele, and I found a diner to nosh and chat while Brian was at his golf tournament. We finally agreed it has been a decade since we got together, and Brian has doubled in height. Mom is VERY proud of her son (and for good reasons).

Afterward, we played at an executive course nearby. Two things happened but they were actually the same reason: Bill left his golf game somewhere else, and Michele and I got continued laughter out of Bill’s miss-strikes. Bill hit the same tree THREE times, once from one hole and twice on another. Bill really made the tree pay for getting in his way. We traveled back to have lunch with Brian afterwards, and he continued to impress Bill and I as to what a fine young man the teenager is becoming. Good times.

Friday, Bill and I made the trek to Ithaca. The plan was to find the visitor center, gather maps and information, and have brunch to plan our day. The visitor center went OK, and brunch was in the Commons over a beer and fish sandwich. OK, we are not that sharp. Afterward, we walked to Ithaca Falls. Impressive and in town. We then walked back to the car to plan our next move when the rain started. Smartly we decided some downtime in the car was needed while the rain poured. The plan then was to walk around the Cornell campus. A BIG uphill but worth the walk. Huge gorges unfortunately now with fences over the railings. We walked by a building and noticed young people (students?) having beers. What? We can blend!!!! So we had a few terrible beers in plastic cups at Cornell’s Big Red Barn.

Then we walked back to town to look for the Dalai Lama’s Ithaca home. Yes, when he fled Tibet he settled in Ithaca. Well, wouldn’t you know it we walked by it twice? OK, it was food time. I remembered hearing about a place called “the Nines” for awesome pizza. We found it and had a beer/water while deciding what to have. Two women were also there and told Bill only to order a slice – a pie is too much. We talked with George (bartender) who recommended the beers and what to order. We got seated then two women also got seated and jokingly complained they went to school here and NEVER got seated at our table. Wow, the pizza was good. The two women were in town for a reunion. We talked for a while and took pictures. Later, Bill and I discussed – were those women hitting on us? We did not know.

Saturday, we traveled to Baldwinsville for the Jimmy Buffett cover band (all the way from Dayton, Ohio!). The band took a break and we decided to leave then. We got back to Bill’s place in time for Chris to show up with his friend Paula. We talked for a while – enough for Paula to impress both Bill and me.

Sunday, Bill was fired up for another fire tower (and not another golf round). Surprising me, Tracy also agrees. Bill and I traveled to pick up Tracy and continue on the journey to Woodstock. We stopped for a killer carb-load brunch (at Oriole 9) where 2 women next to us coveted my French Toast). Then on to the climb. Hot, in the sun, and high humidity. We passed the empty shell of a hotel to get to the top. Some volunteers said we should check out the ridge view and they were right.

Wow, what a view. The fire tower was good but cannot beat the ridge view.

Once we descended to the parking lot, we noticed Buddhist prayer flags around a structure. Bill walked around and after a while, we followed.

Yes, we could walk into the temple but had to remove our shoes. it was a beautiful oasis.

We then traveled back to Woodstock, expecting to see tie-dye and beads. A drum circle was starting up in the town circle. Tracy and Bill had never seen one before – I had seen drum circles in Venice and Balboa Park. The dancers were entertaining but some of the drummers really knew what they were doing. How do you get so much out of a cowbell????

New York State Visit July 2011 Photos