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Published: September 23rd 2016
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Riding High in the Sky
Fire, Police, Ambulance display Our first few travels today will keep you within the confines of Allegany County (NY). A very tiny part of the globe but you have to start somewhere. No place like home. Buckle up....we're on the road again. You might want to pack a lunch cause we are going to several venues. But, if you like garlic....don't bother. You can eat a ton of it at one of the festivals. Take your seat in the back of the vehicle if you plan on chomping down on those delectable but stinky white bulbs.
A simple trip to our K-Mart (unfortunately we do not have a Walmart....but that's another story) offered us a fun experience. In their parking lot, there was a display festival by our local & surrounding fire, ambulance & police departments. They gave free rides in the bucket of the huge aerial ladder fire truck. Of course, we got right in that line. WOW! Up, Up, Up and Away. What a view! I could almost touch the clouds. They did a complete circle with this monster lift. We found out the highest building in Allegany County was one of the girls' dorm at Houghton College. Our intention was not
to look down on everyone and everything but that's what we did. "Thanks for the Ride!" Hope you weren't afraid of heights....I didn't hear any gagging.
September 10th...Wellsville abounds with yard sales and a huge flea market. One section of our town (Sunnydale) has their big, annual neighborhood yard sales. Many setups for many, many eager folks. The area gets swamped with people....all hoping to find that treasure they have been searching for. Our daughter, Lory, sets up in the yard of one of the originators (Della) of this gala. She always does well with her selling. We checked on Lory...she was busy. That's good. We moseyed to a few of the sales....bought nothing. Remember we are trying to get out of the business.....it's killing us, though. Hope you found some little gem, though. On this same day, the Catholic Church puts on their annual Fun Fair. Among many activities, they have a huge flea market under a big tent. I did find just a couple small trinkets that I knew we had to have. Yippee. We ate a yummy chicken barbecue. We love chicken barbecues -- remember? Did you like yours? We won an apple pie on a
Aerial Ladder Fire Truck
Cory in front of Willing Fire Truck. It covers are area at home. roulette like gambling wheel. That was our supper.
Our county continued to provide us with more excitement. I bet you are breathless with anticipation. We've gone here before but missed a couple activites so this was another chance for us....and you too. It is the Cuba (NY) Garlic Festival. Many vendors set up here.....most selling garlic in all shapes & forms but there is also much more to see. We ate garlic potato soup....tasty! We listened to a family band who sang wonderful old ballads. We learned from the chefs what to do with garlic...."Here Come The Chefs".
A really special find for us was seeing a couple we hadn't seen in many, many years.....Ed & Bev Clancy. They live now in Florida but were up here selling Veteran Hats and Shirts for the Honor Flight charity. They still have family in the area. Ed & Bev owned and operated a couple, wonderful, "very well frequented by everyone" restaurants in our area. Our three older kids worked there for them on weekends and summer's when in high school. Cory & I had so many fantastic and fun times there with our friends. One restaurant was just down the
pike from us.....but on bad, winding roads. Challenging drive home with a few pops under your belt. Couldn't do that nowadays. The restaurants are gone now but not the great memories. I wish you could have gone there. I know you would have had the time of your life. Ed was a true entrepreneur. He had famous people, like Brenda Lee & Charlie Pride, come there as entertainment. And now.....to see them again. Marvelous.....plus they both looked really great. I know they have been slurping from The Fountain of Youth.
This smelly festival is set up in the front lawn of what we call the "Block Barn". It is a huge, OLD, concrete horse barn....still in operation. It has a valuable history: http://empirecityfarms.com/ Click on or copy/paste this link to read just a brief history about it. You'll really like it!
This is one thing we had missed before: a tour of this famous barn. We were first in line this time. The owner, Bonnie Blair, gave our group a fabulous, hour-long presentation about her horse palace. Sharing a part of the presentation was the great-great-great granddaughter of the original owner. Awesome. I hope you enjoyed this tour
as much as we did. It had rained in torrents the night before this festival. Roads were closed in Cuba from flash flooding. That's why some of the concrete blocks of the barn look wet in my photos.
Okay....we are leaving Allegany County for this next trip. Cory and I both got new eyeglasses at Costco's in Rochester, NY. Bucky lost his good pair and I had recently returned my newly purchased glasses at our local eye store. They were uncomfortable for me to wear, even after many adjustments. I can't even comprehend, let alone believe the difference in price. With my $100 insurance applied, I ended up paying $76 at Costco's. I had paid (with same insurance) $486 locally. Holy Moly! Geeez! I got a better frame and the same options with my lens as the pricey ones. Unreal! They say "Shop Locally" but...but ........think about it!
Lulu was so jealous she didn't get glasses, she insisted on wearing a pair of my sunglasses. She just has to always do what we do. The glasses weren't enough. She wanted a stylish hat to wear so she could stand (best she can) out in a crowd. She does
look stunning, doesn't she? Lulu the Beauty! We love Lulu!
We had to snap a couple pictures while in the city. How many of you want one of those big bears for Christmas? The stores are decorated for Christmas already....Noooooooo - but it is only 90 days away....Nooooooo.
And the grande finale of this day was in Geneseo, NY. We met our daughter, Kim, at Tim Horton's there. She works at SUNY Geneseo. It's always great seeing Kim. Adding to the delight of the day, two of Kim's co-worker friends joined us. Robin and Gina. What beautiful and gracious women they are! Put all 3 together and you would think you were on tour with movie stars. Lulu wasn't there.....thank goodness. She would have been so jealous....I have no idea what she would have done. She thinks "She's the Beauty of Them All" and if she found out differently, yikes! It wouldn't be pretty....that I know. We were happy to visit with these 3 lovelies.....and don't tell Lulu. You wouldn't think it but she can get ugly.
And so this ends our recent adventures. Was it fun for you? Today is the first day of Fall -
Dining Tent
Family Band Happy Equinox. The signs are all there. The leaves are slowly changing. The Golden Rod lines out back field trail. Our flowers are dead. Cory has starting putting away some of outdoor stuff. Windows are closed. Turned the heat on in the house the other day.....off right now. Let's enjoy this season to its fullest....you know what follows! Gotta go now.....in discussion with Lulu about her Halloween costume. That will be super special so stay tuned.
P.S. Remember to scroll way, way down to see all 26 photos. ?
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Bob Andersen
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Reminds me a little of......
old home week in the summers at Smethport with the carnival and parade. Hey Cory remember the one summer we were in the drum and bugle corps. You, Buddy and I played tenor drums in the front row because we didn't know music but we could just do a steady beat on the drums and no one was the wiser. I think. Poor Don Igoe 12 bugles went up and only his sound came out! Of course the only thing that really mattered was being able to do the old home week tour of surrounding communities each week and then walking around the carnivals afterwards in our "cool" uniforms!