MONDAY August 26th through Friday the 29th of August 2024

 MONDAY:  Unfortunately, I did not sleep well last night, so I opened a can of DR PEPPER to drink with my breakfast.  I showered and finished packing.  I called the Y and signed up for the September 9th craft class. I left Lockport at ten am after getting cash at NW Bank and filling up my gas tank.  I got on the thruway at Pembroke and stopped 2 times to use a rest room, and arrived at Leslie's apartment around one p.m.  I was disappointed that Leslie was rather unprepared for my visit and was cleaning and organizing after I arrived.   When she finished, we went to her garden.  I took some pictures.  Then she offered to drop me off at the library for an hour or so, so that she could go back and work in her garden.  I think she said that Mondays are her day to water.  The library is beautiful, no a/c but I took the liberty of positioning one fan in my direction while I used the wifi. After she picked me up, we looked for a pizzeria that was open, but it was Monday, and most were closed so we ended up at Curley's.  Our pizza was not all that great.  Leslie gave me this book:  

I started reading it and I really like it. 

TUESDAY:  After breakfast, Leslie and I found a Geocache (Virtual) at the statue of Harriet Tubman right

by the Visitors Center and I picked up a few items.  Then we hit the road to do parts of the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad Trail.  We had a hard time finding some of the locations we looked for because there were few signs.  One of the highlights of the day had nothing to do with the UR, it was the short hike to a small waterfalls. 

Leslie said she thinks the name of it is GUPPY FALLS, but I could not confirm that online.  It is on private property (Great Gully Farm) and the owner allows the public to use it. We had a late picnic lunch at LONG POINT STATE PARK and then looked for a couple of other sites on the Underground Railroad Trail and we also found a couple more caches and then we headed back to Auburn.  She dropped me off at the library so I could check email and upload pictures to flickr while she picked up some groceries.  Back at her apartment, Leslie prepared a really good meal of chicken thighs, sweet potatoes and zucchini.  She had purchased lactose free ice cream sandwiches for dessert.  We started watching the movie BOY ERASED, but we did not like the graphic gay sex scenes, so we did not finish watching it.  

Wed.  First stop was at the Agriculture Museum, which I thoroughly enjoyed and then to Emerson Park, where we had a picnic lunch, read our books for a bit, and played giant Yahtzee.  It was fun. 

We found geocache GCAR8K4 (Auburn Hydroelectric Generator) and went to the library to check email, etc. In the evening we watched the movie A BEAUTIFUL MIND.  It is very good.  It is a true story about a man who developed schizophrenia, and was hospitalized several times, but he taught himself how to ignore the "voices in his head" and was able to achieve some success and get back to living a somewhat normal life.  

Thursday the 29th: 

 We left Auburn around nine thirty to head to Syracuse for the NYS STATE FAIR.  A quick and easy, about a half hour drive, to get there.  We parked in the brown lot and entered at gate 3.  It was a great day. We fed the butterflies in the Horticulture Building for three dollars each.  We each made a food purchase.  Leslie had a baked potato and I had salt potatoes and a small sweet potato pie which I shared with Leslie.  

I took this picture below from the overhead ride.

One of my favorites at the fair was Hilby – The Skinny German Juggle Boy

He is absolutely hilarious!!!!

  It stayed fairly cool most of the time we were there, but did get hot and humid for a couple of hours in the afternoon.  I got hungry late in the afternoon and purchased a five-dollar hot dog. Later on, we passed a spot where hotdogs were only a dollar.  My battery in my camera ran out while we were at the dinosaur exhibit.  Leslie took this picture of me. 

So, I didn't get any pictures of the petting zoo and the Indian village. We had a little bit of trouble finding Leslie's car once we got to the right parking lot.  Before going back to Leslie's apartment, we stopped at KFC for supper.  We pretty much relaxed the rest of the evening.  I went to bed a little bit after nine p.m.

FRIDAY the 30th:  I left Leslie's place about nine thirty a.m.  First, I went to the library to check email and then I went to the

Thompson Memorial AME Zion Church, and the parsonage that is next door.  Harriet Tubman's church. (but she was associated with another church, too)

These two buildings have been renovated to their original condition in the past few years.  Each building has a park ranger on hand to answer questions.  The one in the church barely said hello but the other one in the parsonage was talkative and friendly.  

the parsonage next door:  

On the way home, I stopped at SAUDER's and purchased a few items.  I stopped at TOM WAHL'S in East Avon and had a Wahl Burger and onion rings.  I arrived home before four p.m.   For supper (late) I had half of the sub I purchased at SAUDER's.  It is not very good.  The last thing I did before going to bed was empty my bag of free stuff that I got at the fair.  I must have been more tired than I realized because when I was getting ready for bed I stared to feel very wobbly.  When I got in bed, I picked up my laptop in order to find a podcast to listen to, my head was spinning, and it was a bit hard to see for a few moments.