Back from a little trip.

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SoupOrMan
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Back from a little trip.

Post by SoupOrMan »

Mom and Dad wanted to take a family vacation since they're both retired. So I went with them up to Clayton, NY and the Thousand Islands.

How did that happen? One day a couple of years ago I got bored during a phone call (yet another caller who is my age but thinks "I'm not very good with computers" is the same as "do my work for me."). I got bored enough to wonder "Where did they come up with Thousand Island Dressing?" Now, I may have heard of the Thousand Islands chain as a little kid, but I never really got an idea as to where they were located. So I Googled "Thousand Island Dressing origin" and found all kinds of stuff about upstate New York. Then I saw the information about Boldt Castle, Sackets Harbor, and the crazy guy who fancied himself a pirate during the Patriot War in Canada. With those items in mind I started looking for more tourist info.

I told my folks about what I found and they started planning the trip with me. The next thing I know what was a simple local area tour turned into a trip of a good portion of the state: Niagara Falls, Cooperstown and Lake Placid also found themselves on my itinerary. Without further ado, here are the TL;DR reviews of where I went:

Boldt Castle: if your wife or girlfriend loves Downton Abbey and you love looking at someone else's restoration project, go here for some Gilded Age charm. Worth seeing the boathouse if fancy yachts are your thing.

Sackets Harbor Battlefield: quick walking tour, the monuments for the centennial and bicentennial are modest and becoming of the battle. Also, never let an easily-panicked junior Navy officer have the authority to destroy an Army supply depot, thus turning a victory into a costly draw. You will also be swarmed by gnats and mosquitoes.

Niagara Falls: Yep, the beauty of nature and shit. Try the wings. Never a place I really wanted to go, but it wound up on the itinerary by family decree.

Cooperstown: Don't go if you don't like baseball. Please, if you don't like baseball at all, don't go. Don't go even to humor your loved ones who really like baseball. Don't bring kids who are too young to appreciate the history found in the museum. Also, if you have aging hippie parents, don't send them to protest war in general in front of the museum. They'll just look silly. The Catskills are really pretty.

Lake Placid: Holy shit the Adirondacks are beautiful, but I hate driving through them from the west. I missed being able to skate by one day at the rink where the Miracle on Ice occurred. Next time.

Remington Arms Museum: GODDAMMIT WHY DIDN'T I HEAR ABOUT THIS UNTIL SEVEN DAYS INTO THE TRIP. Well, I guess I'll have to go back again to check it out.

Clayton is a pretty little tourist town about 20 miles north of Fort Drum. It's right on the St. Lawrence River. So if you get bored with everything else, grab a cooler of beer, sit back and watch the boats go by. I was surprised how close cargo ships got to the shore there. We showed up the week before tourist season started, so it was peaceful and quiet.

For some reason New Yorkers love double-wides in this area. You'd often see a rotted shell of a house on someone's property with a neat little manufactured home about fifty yards away. The older houses are often found with exposed tar paper on the outer walls and brand new steel roofs. I saw lots of signs to repeal the SAFE Act, too.

Loved seeing all the dairy farms and wineries while driving. I'm not kidding, I love driving through the country.

The Mennonites are pretty nice people.

Fort Drum has a way better location than Cannon AFB.

I'd go back again.
Remember, folks, you can't spell "douche" without "Che."

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PawPaw
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Re: Back from a little trip.

Post by PawPaw »

Upstate New York is pretty. My sister and her husband lived in Ithaca while he went to graduate school at Cornell. I was stationed at Knox and went up to see them one Thanksgiving. Beautiful little college town, absolutely post-card perfect.
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Denis
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Re: Back from a little trip.

Post by Denis »

Thanks for the report, Soup! That sounds great.

It's a pity upstate NY can't divorce itself from NYC. It sounds like it would be a nice state without the dodgy urban megalopolis bit.
rightisright
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Re: Back from a little trip.

Post by rightisright »

I love the Adirondacks. Like Denis stated, it's a shame it is part of NY. I have a friend who lives on a nice piece of property up there. He is contemplating a move out west because of NY's political climate.
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skb12172
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Re: Back from a little trip.

Post by skb12172 »

Upstate is great! The topography is virtually identical to Central Kentucky. Glens Falls is a nice little town to visit.
There must be an end to this intimidation by those who come to this great country, but reject its culture.
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SoupOrMan
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Re: Back from a little trip.

Post by SoupOrMan »

The next time I go, it'll probably be a hockey-specific trip. Tons of minor-league and college teams. I'll have to make sure my 4x4 is ready for all the snow.
Remember, folks, you can't spell "douche" without "Che."

“PET PARENTS?” You’re not a “pet parent.” You’re a pet owner. Unless you’ve committed an unnatural act that succeeded in spite of biology. - Glenn Reynolds
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SoupOrMan
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Re: Back from a little trip.

Post by SoupOrMan »

Denis wrote:Thanks for the report, Soup! That sounds great.

It's a pity upstate NY can't divorce itself from NYC. It sounds like it would be a nice state without the dodgy urban megalopolis bit.
Well, if NYC is the boot across New York's throat, Albany and Buffalo are the metal cleats on the boot.
Remember, folks, you can't spell "douche" without "Che."

“PET PARENTS?” You’re not a “pet parent.” You’re a pet owner. Unless you’ve committed an unnatural act that succeeded in spite of biology. - Glenn Reynolds
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HTRN
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Re: Back from a little trip.

Post by HTRN »

When you were at Lake Placid, did you see the Aligator? :mrgreen:

And the problem with "Divorcing" NYC is, the tax money collected there is the only thing staving off financial meltdown in the rest of the state(badly I might add). Frankly, the economy in most of the Upstate areas have been in the shitter for 20+ years, with places like Kodak and Cincinati Milacron a shadow of their former selves.
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blackeagle603
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Re: Back from a little trip.

Post by blackeagle603 »

HTRN wrote: ...And the problem with "Divorcing" NYC is, the tax money collected there is the only thing staving off financial meltdown in the rest of the state(badly I might add). Frankly, the economy in most of the Upstate areas have been in the shitter for 20+ years, with places like Kodak and Cincinati Milacron a shadow of their former selves.

How much of that is a result of tax and regulatory policies from an Albany loaded with NYC area leftists?

CA would be in white hot economic growth if not for the LA and Bay Area vote dominating Sacramento.
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Greg
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Re: Back from a little trip.

Post by Greg »

blackeagle603 wrote:
HTRN wrote: ...And the problem with "Divorcing" NYC is, the tax money collected there is the only thing staving off financial meltdown in the rest of the state(badly I might add). Frankly, the economy in most of the Upstate areas have been in the shitter for 20+ years, with places like Kodak and Cincinati Milacron a shadow of their former selves.
How much of that is a result of tax and regulatory policies from an Albany loaded with NYC area leftists?

CA would be in white hot economic growth if not for the LA and Bay Area vote dominating Sacramento.
Every actual city upstate pushes the same policies (except without the benefit of the Magic Wall Street Money Machine), so it's very hard to say.
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