OUR TRAVELS

Glad we made it out of the Lake Erie/Lake Ontario and Thousand Island regions before the snow hit.  The areas are expected to get 2 to 4 feet of snow by the end of the weekend!  Yes, that's FEET not inches!  All we can say is Wow, we dodged the bullet!  Here in Johnson City we only received a couple of inches of snow that has already melted. Here are a few interesting tidbits and pictures of our journey over the past two weeks. Penn Yan, NY, the self-proclaimed buckwheat capital of the world, holds the world record for the largest pancake ever made.  Back in 1987, Birkett Mills built a 28 foot in diameter metal pancake griddle over a bed of hot coals.  Using a cement mixer, folks mixed 15 gallons of cooking oil, 2000 gallons of water, and a ton of buckwheat before pouring it onto the griddle.  A crane flipped the flapjack.  The pancake was topped off with a 2 foot by 3 foot pat of butter and 15 gallons of maple syrup.  One might ask how many people it fed and the answer is: 5000 pe

Did you know that Upstate New York encompasses the entire state except for New York City?!  Guess Upstaters didn't want to be associated with the city folk.  Here in Upstate New York, there are so many more gorgeous falls than just Niagara that are worth visiting.   Pics of a few of the falls and gorges that we visited near Rochester, Penn Yan, and Ithaca are below. Here are some miscellaneous scenery pics. We walked around the Cornell campus in Ithaca.  The campus is gorgeous with waterfalls (pics included above), steep hills and stately buildings.  We wondered whether the students appreciated its beauty. Apple cider was our food theme one day - apple cider, apple cider doughnuts and an apple cider slushy.  Yum! We'll close with a pic of our favorite ice cream - Gifford's.  We stopped at the Glen Dairy Bar in Watkins Glen.  Because it would be a while until we had Gifford's Ice Cream again, we were gluttons - Don ate four big scoops and Donna ate three scoops. Our next

.....to get to the Honeymoon Capital of the World.  Niagara Falls has held that title for 221 years ever since Theodosia, the daughter of the future VP Aaron Burr married and traveled with her husband, a number of servants and nine pack horses to the amazing site.  We arrived much lighter - with two carry on suitcases and two backpacks - no servants or pack horses - just us.  More about what we have been doing for the month of October after these gorgeous pics of Niagara Falls and River. It was so incredible to see and hear the flow of water in the river and over the falls.  We took a ride on the Maid of the Mist into the falls on the American side and only got a little wet! The video below must be played from an internet browser (not from the email).  https://usnomads.blogspot.com/2022/11/it-it-only-took-us-22-years.html We spent time in Texas and Alabama visiting family and friends and going to doctors' appointments.  No pics of friends - we were having too much fun.  A big shout