I figure I should update this with more than a line of text and a picture every 6 months.
I recently returned from a vacation to Upstate NY. It was my second time going, first time by driving. I decided going through Canada would be the shorter route and according to google maps it was. But what google maps doesn’t take into account is what day you go, whether or not its a holiday weekend, or a national holiday in the country your driving through. Well I hit the tri-fecta on Friday July 1st (National Canadian Independence day, 4th of July weekend). The wait to enter Canada was about 10 to 15 minutes and was fine, the drive through, with the exception of a major highway closed down for repaving and afternoon traffic in Hamilton was not too bad. But that changed when I reached the border crossing the north port of entry at New York was a scorching 4 hour wait to re-enter the US. By the time I got through I was miserable and I wanted to break something, I made my way onto I-90 and hit up the first rest stop and fueled up for the long 5ish hour journey to Saratoga Springs (which I was going to arrive by 12am now, instead of the initial planned 9pm) I spent a total of 17 hours driving and was dead on my feet when my friend Jason Clark met up with me and showed me back to his house.
After a good nights rest and a shower I felt a lot better, and by 12 we were ready to leave for one of the reasons of me even coming Sims’ Engagement BBQ. It was a fun day filled with good food, great company, and awesome times.
Sunday we were recovering from the previous night and I wanted to hit up Five Guys for a burger because you can’t come all this way pass a five guys and not have a delicious burger and handcut fries, if you did you should be arrested. Later that night had plans of meeting up with Gary, Adam, Cassandra, and Sims for Gary’s birthday. We decided to go to Ruby Tuesday’s which was awesome, It made me miss ours back home. Then we decided to go back to Adams to watch a terrible movie that shall not be named, and get a little tipsy. Our plans were almost foiled by one of the most ridiculous things I’ve heard of that all liquor places close by 9pm. I supposed we are spoiled by our 24 hour liquor stores here in Michigan. But it was a good night and the next morning had breakfast with Adam and Cassandra which was also very good.
Monday the 4th was generally laid back, I was too late to meet up with Pat, Dev, and Dawg to go to Lake George and rather than get lost going up there. I decided to meet up with the Sims and Kelly for delicious chocolate chip banana pancakes (which are every bit as good as they were promised) some mortal kombat on ze 390 and some Lewis Black to finish the evening before heading back to ‘Toga.
Tuesday I got in contact with my friend Bill in Troy and spent the day with him, We got lunch at Dinosaur BBQ which was really awesome, then went Hoosick Beverage a beer garden and stocked up some delicious beverages. Basically hanged out and drank beer and watched some episodes of TV shows before we decided to walk down to The Ruck a bar down the street with amazing beer selection and famous wings that I had tasted last time. A couple of Bills friends joined us and we played a few games of shuffle board before heading back to Bills apartment and some hanging out before crashing out. I stuck around the next day in Troy till the afternoon and got lunch from D.P. Dough which made some killer calzones.
Wednesday night my last day in Saratoga Springs Clark and I met up with Sims and Kelly and went to Morrette’s Steak House for amazingly delicious steak sandwiches and had a really awesome time.
Thursday I thanked Clark for letting me stay and packed up my bags and headed to Syracuse to stay with my friend Tim for the day and then depart Friday for Michigan. I left around 9am and got to West Syracuse by 12. Had a good lunch with Tim and hung out and played Black Ops until Katie got home and we decided to meet up with Chau (who didn’t actually meet up with us) at a Chinese Buffet which Tim said had $1 mixed drinks with a purchase of the buffet. It was probably one of the better buffets I’ve been to in NY, and afterwards we met up at the Syracuse mall with Chau (finally) and his cousin Ken and his friend to get a free screening of Friends with Benefits which has the super hot Mila Kunis. After the movie we went back to Tim’s house and chatted for a bit then went to sleep for the not-so-long journey back home.
I decided that staying in the US and going through Pennsylvania and Ohio was probably the better bet than attempting to go through Canada again. A few rest stops, 650 miles, and almost 12 hours to the time I left I was back home seeing the familiar surrounds that I grew up with as a kid.
As with every vacation time while things are happening is slow and enjoyable but when you try a get more and more done, you realize that time really went too fast and your not able to do everything that you want to. I didn’t get to see or stay as long as I would have liked but I’m glad I got to do the things I wanted and see who I did. A big shout out to Jason Clark, Adam Wilkins, Bill Schiefen, and Tim Davis for letting me stay at your place(s). A super congratulations to Jason Sims and Kelley Tiedt, and a big thanks to New York for being a great place to party and have good times.
