Even though the current date is December 13 we are so far behind on our posts that this post is all about our summer and small trips from our Upstate New York hometown of Rochester. Hopefully this will invoke memories of summer days to warm you up a bit. As talking about everything that we did over a 3-month time frame would be quite long I’ve broken it down into some highlights.
First though, summer in Rochester. For the people of Rochester (and all of Upstate NY), summer is a time to finally put your snow shovel away, get outside and go explore. In a city where the average snowfall routinely tops 100” people sure know how to take advantage of the few months of warmth that we get. The city hosts numerous festivals through the summer, which draw thousands. Most out of towners don’t realize it but as Rochester sits on the south shore of Lake Ontario, water activities are plentiful. Boating, kayaking, fishing, even beach bars are found here! Just 30 minutes south of Rochester you enter into the Finger Lakes region, which besides its 10 beautiful lakes also boasts the 2nd largest wine region in the USA with over 100 wineries to choose from. Beyond the Finger Lakes Rochester’s location is within a days drive of every major northeast, eastern Canadian and a few Midwestern cities. Needless to say we love Rochester!
Inlet, NY – July 3rd-10th / Our Annual 4th on the 4th Fest.
Of all the holidays on the calendar my absolute favorite is the 4th of July. While Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter are great the 4th holds a special place in my heart. This is the one time of the year where almost everyone that I love (family & friends) gathers together for a few days of rest, relaxation and fun. We swim, hike, boat and all pitch in to make some amazingly tasty meals together. I named it the 4th on the 4th fest as our family’s cabin is on 4th Lake in the Adirondack Mountains in New York. This has been going on for at least 10 years. This year the crew that was able to make it was great and we had one of the better weather years in recent memory. We can’t wait for next years!
Syracuse, NY – July 15 / Weezer Concert
Growing up I loved music. I listened to everything from Frank Sinatra to Eric Clapton and even some Mariachi music. The band that I really fell in love with though was Weezer. They started in the early 1990’s and I was able to see them for the first time in 2002. Ever since then I’ve been hooked. Whenever Weezer comes anywhere close to Rochester we book tickets. As Syracuse is only an hour east of Rochester this was an easy show to make. Julie, myself as well as friends Matt & Geoff decided to go. From tailgating at the show, seeing the opening band, The Pixies to Weezer, it was a great time!
Mahwah, NJ – July 19th-23rd / Catching up with Good Friends
My freshman year of college in 2002 I met a friend that would become one of my best friends and one of the best men in my wedding. Ever since college ended we make it a point to drive down to New Jersey to visit our great friends Kevin & Heidi at least once a summer. These days visiting Kevin & Heidi are a bit different than in the past. In the past we would drive down on Friday night, catch a train to NYC the next morning, gallivant around the city all day and night and take the last train back to NJ then leave on Sunday. These days’ things have changed. Instead of visiting New York Cities best watering holes we visited North NJ’s best little zoo with the Rooney’s daughter. Activities might change but great friendships don’t. As their daughter at the time was only 1 but since she was pretty good at being in restaurants we were able to visit Finks BBQ, The Oakland Diner, Nigiri Sushi and The Mason Jar. If you’re in North NJ all of these come highly recommended from Julie & I. While in the area we were also able to go to a Rockland Boulders baseball game and catch up with friends and family, Patrick and Sarah, Pete, Paige, Jim, Erin & Mark. It was great to see everyone and we can’t wait for our next NJ trip!
Oak Hill, NY – July 23rd-24th / Our 1st Bed & Breakfast
The drive from Rochester to Mahwah takes us through New Yorks Catskill Mountain region. During the five-hour drive Julie and I got talking about how neither of us had ever been to a bed and breakfast before. We searched for one that looked good on our way down route 17, which goes from Binghamton, NY to Harriman, NY. To our surprise we could not find one (We did however stumble upon some of the best smoked fish that we had ever eaten from Delaware Delicacies). While we were staying with Kevin & Heidi we searched for the best Catskill Bed & Breakfast and came across The Dewitt Inn in Oak Hill, NY. Every rating it had was 5 star so we decided to check it out and booked it. On the drive up we stopped in New Paltz, NY, which was a great little college town as well as Woodstock, NY where the founders of the Woodstock Music Festival came from (We learned here that even though the festival was the Woodstock Music Fest it did not actually take place in Woodstock).
We then arrived in the tiny town of Oak Hill and at the Dewitt. We were greeted by one of the owners, a Parisian native named Dorothee. She showed us to our room and also gave us a few tips of where to go for food in the local area. We then walked around the house and the property. What was neat about The Dewitt was that almost everything in the house was for sale. You could literally buy the bed that you were sleeping in if you wanted to. We took Dorothee’s advice and went to a little wine bar the next town over called Ze Windham Wine Bar then went for dinner at a Swiss restaurant called Chalet Fondue. Both were excellent recommendations. We then went back to the inn for the night. The next morning we woke up and went downstairs to find Dorothee hard at work. As it was a Tuesday there was only one other guest staying and we were the only ones eating breakfast. Dorothee had prepared a breakfast feast of watermelon salad with mint, a veggie & potato frittata with sausage links and to top it all off homemade blueberry coffee cake. It was simply amazing. We stuffed ourselves before being given the rest of the coffee cake and saying goodbye to Dorothee. It was a great stay. If anyone is looking for a B&B in the northeast Catskill Mountains please consider checking out The Dewitt Inn. You will not be disappointed!
Albany, NY – July 24th / New York’s Capital – Our 26th Capitol Building
Since we started visiting state capitals back in May 2017 in Vermont, New York’s has always been on our mind. I had actually never been before and Julie had only come once on a class trip in elementary school. As the Bed & Breakfast where we had stayed was only 45 minutes from Albany we decided to go check it out. Driving into Albany we noticed changes immediately. Compared to other upstate New York cities (Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse & Utica), Albany had more of an east coast feel. This does make sense as it is only a few miles from the Massachusetts border. All the other cities in upstate NY feel like you are somewhere in the Midwest. The city almost had a Washington DC or Philadelphia feel to it. Row houses are common in Albany, which you do not find too much in other upstate cities. We found parking and walked over to the capitol building. Unlike most of the capitol buildings that we had visited this one did not have a dome. This did not make it any less beautiful though. While no scheduled tours were going on that day we were able to join a tour of German high school students for a short time while they were in the Senate chamber. All in all it was a beautiful capitol building and we were glad that we were finally able to see our home state’s capitol building.
Rochester, NY – July 27th / Buffalo Bills Training Camp
For those football fans out there going to an NFL training camp is always a special time. They are generally free and you are able to see your favorite players up close. The Bills training camp is held ever year on the campus of St. John Fisher College and Julie and I have gone almost every year since we started dating. This was the 5th time that we had gone. The campus is close enough to where we live in the city that we were able to bike over to it on a weekday and to check it out. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time. Go Bills!
Here is our tour of Rochester and other Upstate NY Cities!
Rochester, NY – September 1st / Wedding Bells
I had the great honor of being the best man at one of my best friends, Matts, wedding in Rochester on September 1, 2018. This wedding as well as the bachelor/bachelorette parties was actually the main reason that we spent the summer back home. We were glad that we did as we had a blast over the summer. The wedding took place in a loft in downtown Rochester and was picture perfect. This wedding was neat as I and to a lesser extent Julie, knew almost every one of the 100+ guests in attendance. The ceremony, reception and after party all went off without a hitch and we are so happy for our great friends Matt & Kim! We wish you guys nothing but years of happiness!
Cleveland, OH – September 7th-9th / More Great Friends
As I said in the beginning of this post that Rochester is centrally located, I really wasn’t kidding. Even though Ohio is two states away from New York, Cleveland is only a 4-hour drive from Rochester (NYC on the other hand is 5+ hours). This time we were going to visit our great friends Lindsay, Wayne & their daughter. Julie had met Lindsay their freshman year of college in Cincinnati and have been great friends ever since. Similar to visiting Kevin & Heidi in NJ, visiting Lindsay & Wayne used to consist of visiting breweries around the Cleveland area. Also like before, time changes but good friends don’t. Lindsay & Wayne live in a pretty unique area of Cleveland. Their property backs up to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. It was pretty neat exploring the park and the visitor’s center, something that Lindsay & Wayne hadn’t done even though it was literally in their back yard. While in Cleveland we also ate at the cities oldest Polish restaurant, Sokolowski’s University Inn as well as at the newest Southern Tier Brewing tap house location. On this trip we were also able to meet their daughter for the first time. We had actually stayed with Lindsay & Wayne just before their daughter was born back in July 2017 so it was great to see her and how she has made her parents the happiest people on earth. We hope to see you guys again soon!
We had a great time on our extended stay over the summer in Rochester. We were able to catch up with all of our friends and see our family on a daily basis, something that we had missed while we were on the road. It was a special time for both of us and a time that we will always remember.
Next up….Our 1st big summer trip, Seattle, Washington and Victoria, British Columbia!
