As I said last Saturday, my son and I went on a trip to the Finger Lakes region of New York.  This is near the Catskills and has a bunch of long lakes with the one we stayed near being Lake Seneca.  Let’s just do the daily reveal with a few pictures:

Sunday

The day we headed out and we left early.  The reason is because there was a big Pokemon Go event that started at 2 PM and went until 5 PM.  I promised my son that we would get up there in time for him to be a part of it.  Got up there at 1:30 even with an early stop for bathroom and a later stop for lunch.  He got his Pokemon time and we got into the room after that.  Found a nice bar and grill to have our first dinner, which is the place we went to on our last day as well.  I behaved and had a salad . . . Then, we walked for another hour or two to do more Pokemon Go.  Our room had a door that opened to the lake too, so we got to walk along there every morning.

Lake Seneca

Monday

This was our first outing, which I really should have researched more.  It was to Watkins Glen State Park, which was an hour away at the south end of the lake.  Our hotel was at the north end.  All I knew is that there were some awesome waterfalls in this place and both of us wanted to see them.  Found out after we got there that it’s all narrow, heavily trafficked trails.  So, it was crowded and we felt like we were part of a caravan.  Didn’t expected so many stairs, but I should have since we went to the bottom of the gorge, walked along, and then made our way up.  It was exhausting in the heat, especially after nearly 5 hours of Pokemon Hunting the day before.  Still, we saw some frogs and the waterfalls were amazing.  It was Burger King for lunch and back to the hotel . . . for another 2 hours of Pokemon Go hunting.  Tried some local pizza and it was delicious.  Had a slice with sausage, meatball, and banana peppers.  Yum.

Watkins Glen State Park

Tuesday

This was the big one!  Drove 45 minutes north and knew that it would be a full day event at this place.  We went to the STRONG NATIONAL MUSEUM OF PLAY!  This had a Video Game Hall of Fame and a Toy Hall of Fame.  There was the 20 foot tall Donkey Kong Arcade game, which we both played.  They had a token arcade that we had some fun in as well as a freebie games on consoles.  Found so much history of video games.  There was an area called ‘Level Up’ where you had a scannable bracelet and did activities, played games, and hunted for hidden objects to complete the Periodic Table of Gaming.  We didn’t finish it, but we had fun.  There was also the lower level with Sesame Street, Superhero section, butterfly garden, outdoor play area with giant board game pieces, displays of toys from different periods of time, and a climbing area that we didn’t get tickets for.  Just a massively fun day that was well timed because it was the big raining day of the trip.  The weather cleared by the time we got back and had a quick KFC dinner.  Of course, more Pokemon Go ensued.

Wednesday

This was the last full day of our trip.  Wasn’t the most boring either.  Well, it started rough because the road in front of the hotel was closed for construction.  This forced us to go down the opposite side of the lake that we needed to get to the CORNING MUSEUM OF GLASS!  I was surprised that my son picked this one.  It was fun though.  Lots of really cool glass sculptures.  I signed us up for a Sandblasting activity where you could sandblast designs into a glass cup, bottle, or dish.  I took a cup and my son took a bottle.  It was simpler than we imagined.  After that, we saw a hot glass working demonstration where the two people made a glass pitcher.  We stumbled onto a flameworking demo after that where a small glass swan was made using a blowtorch.  Overall, a great trip that wasn’t as exhausting as the previous ones.  We got home in time for Pokemon Go (of course) and then a last dinner in town.

Glass Lynx

Thursday

Time to go home . . . with a stop along the way.  I was told by a bunch of people that I had to go to HOWE CAVERNS.  So, I got us a 1 PM tour.  It was about 3 hours away, but we got there in time to have lunch and relax.  Not sure what to really say about this because it’s definitely something you need to experience.  Basically, you get a 90 minute guided tour in these underground caverns.  There’s the river running along below you, which is the thing that made the caverns over thousands of years.  Bunch of cool formations and you do a 1/4 mile boat ride in a section called the Lake of Venus.

A formation called the Chinese Pagoda

Still on Thursday where I then had to drive the rest of the way home.  Howe Caverns is in the middle of the Catskills.  That’s about 3 hours away.  Of course, the GPS took me on a longer route to avoid some traffic and led me into more.  The rest stop areas on Interstate 87 that I was counting on were closed for renovations.  So, I drove about 4.5 hours without food, bathroom, or any break.  Needless to say, I was happy to have dinner at Friendlys even if they gave me grilled instead of crispy chicken.  It was healthier and made me feel less guilty about the ice cream.

Friday

A relaxing first day back with grocery shopping and . . . What’s that smell?  Now, my parents left for a trip two days after us.  We have a freezer in the basement full of ice cream, meat, and other food.  It apparently didn’t fully close at some point, so I walked into the basement to do laundry and found a mess.  Cleared everything out and got it on the curb in time for garbage pick up.  Seems a bag broke and some stuff had to be gathered and kept in the outdoor can.  I used a shop vacuum to clean up the water and forgot to check, so the sawdust already inside turned into a slurry.  Didn’t notice and poured it into a slop sink, which ended up getting clogged and nearly flooding since the washer releases its water into it.  Let’s just say I had my hands full.  Figured I might as well keep working while my son was with a friend.  So, I cleaned the bathroom grout a bit and then made homemade vodka sauce for Sunday’s dinner.  After all that, it was getting my son, making dinner (sloppy joes, cornbread stuffing, and salad), and doing a little Pokemon Go before it got dark.

Nothing else to really say since it was all about the trip.  I’ll probably get back to writing on Friday after my son is with his mom on Wednesday night and I see a friend on Thursday.  That gives me 4 days of having the house to myself, which means I can maybe get 4 chapters done even with house and yardwork.  We’ll see what happens.  This weekend is all about a Pokemon Go event, but I might start making November blog posts.  Let that whole thing slip by the wayside.  Keep an eye out tomorrow for a post requesting some participation too.

Goals of the week:

1. Time with son.
2. Mow lawn.
3. Zoo trip!
4. Pokemon Go outings.
5. Cook dinners.
6. Day with friend on Thursday.
7. Get back to writing on Friday.
8. Maybe tinker with a notebook on other days.
9. November blog posts starting.
10. Get sleep.
11. Probably need a haircut for when school starts on the 29th.