That Frittata is Fritatted

The next day we decided to explore Syracuse before heading home. After checking out of our hotel, our first stop was Mother's Cupboard. We saw this place on Man vs. Food and knew we had to go try it. It's a teeny tiny red building that can easily be missed on the way into the city.

On your way in, you see a sign with the rules of the place:

We looked at the menu and the specials board, not knowing what to get since everything smelled and looked so good. Larry wanted to get pancakes but the menu warned you that you would "hurt yourself" if you tried to eat two, so he decided on just one banana pancake. I ordered half of the frittata (The whole frittata is the challenge that the restaurant has, if you finish it you get a t-shirt and your picture on the wall). When the cook came over to serve us our food, he tried to give Larry the frittata and me the pancake, saying he almost stereotyped us because guys always order the frittata. Little does he know how much I like salt..

Both dishes were HUGE and absolutely delicious. We did all we could, switching from salty to sweet and back again, but in the end this is how much we were able to eat...

:) That pancake alone is worth the 4+ hour drive! Next we went into the city to get our very first pumpkin spice latte of the season! 

 The East Coast Postcard Row... not really

Our next stop was Middle Ages Brewing Company. We tried just about every one of their beers and talked about future travels with the server. We also got harassed by their extra friendly cat. On our way out, Larry bought more beer.. surprise!

To build up an appetite we went for a walk through the heart of Syracuse. We got to see a lot of beautiful architecture and learn a bit about the area from nearby caches and signs. 

By the time we got back to the car we were a little hungry so we went to one of our long awaited stops, Empire Brewing Company. I loved the simplicity of their branding and feel of the place. We ordered an appetizer and a sampler of their beer. It was a bummer because the main reason Larry wanted to come here was for their Cream Ale. He didn't order it because it came in the sampler and he was going to get a growler filled with it but as it turns out they don't do growlers of the Cream Ale, something to do with it being nitrogen instead of carbonation. The Amber beer was very good so we decided to take that to go instead.

After eating it was getting a bit late and we had to leave for home soon, but just across the street from Empire was The Blue Tusk. The Blue Tusk is a bar that has just about every beer you might want on tap, plus a long list of wines, AND a bunch of Grateful Dead stickers on the walls. We saw the name earlier on a list of "125 places to have a beer before you die" and we knew we had to cross that one off the list.

We took our time enjoying our last drink before leaving. We said our farewells to our great bartender, got our final growler filled and hit the road. I was sad to leave, but now we can start planning the next trip! The trip ended much like LatFJCCT, with rain. it took us a little over 4 hours to get home and the feeling was nothing like the sadness felt after the tour of the country. We felt optimistic and excited for all there is too see and plan in the near future before out next big trip LatFJ95T (Larry and the Family Jules' I-95 Tour). We will be doing a trip of Connecticut and Long Island when the next long weekends are found. Thanks for keeping up with us and reading!

All roads lead to Dinosaur BBQ

At 10 the next morning we had to be at Lock 34/35 in Lockport, NY for our tour of the Erie Canal. We got there late because we spent some extra time working on our blog at Starbucks but we made it just in time for the 11 a.m. tour. I've been very excited for this and couldn't wait for the tour to start. We started with a walking tour and our guide explained how the locks worked so boats could pass. He then brought us down the street a bit where we entered a man made cave alongside the canal that provided water power for some nearby factories. When we reached the end of the walking tour we got in a boat and went a little deeper into the cave. Our tour guide was so much fun and we got to learn about how the cave was made, why it is no longer in use and so much more.

Next up on our New York tour was Rochester, NY and we drove alongside the Erie Canal to get there. I thought we would have seen some neat towns and such but there really wasn't much to see. A couple of hours later, we arrived in Rochester.

It was raining a bit when we arrived so we weren't sure how long we wanted to stay. Fortunately, the rain died down and we got to check out High Falls and a few other areas around the historical district. When we were satisfied with the city we left to grab one of the famous garbage plates from Nick Tahou Hots.

Next up on our journey was a small but great state park, Chimney Bluffs. What made Chimney Bluffs so unique was the effect erosion had from rain, snow, and wind on this cliff. It's tough to describe but it was as if a Stegosaurus was living underneath the ground. Standing at the edge, it felt as if the cliff's edge would fall down from under you (with good reason). We spent a good amount of time staring out onto Lake Ontario from the cliff's edge and when we finished we hiked our way back down to the car. Right down the street was a winery that we decided to try last minute. Wines were too sweet, enough said. Off to Syracuse!

(The decor in our hotel room was so nice, they put it up twice!)

On the way there we realized the last day of the state fair was that day! It was already pretty late, so it wouldn't have been worth it to go but as we drove through Syracuse we loved the architecture and we figured we would enjoy the day there anyway. After grabbing a hotel we then realized that the brewery we wanted to eat dinner at was closed :/ but not to worry this was where the original Dinosaur BBQ is located and we decided to eat there. We had the best ribs of our lives there. I never understood the true meaning of it cut like butter until i bit into their ribs and pulled pork. (Laura: if Larry ever tells you his favorite food is your meatballs or shepherd's pie.. DON'T believe him! I think I saw a tear well up in his eye as he ate the last bite of the ribs..) Everything, except the cornbread, was superb and I can't wait to try the one in the city. After we were done eating, a guy started to perform at the restaurant and we didn't "think twice," about staying and listening. :)

"Do you pop out at parties? Are you unpoopular?"

"Well, are you???"

We started the day with a short drive into Jamestown, Lucille Ball's hometown. We started by going to visit Lucy's tombstone and childhood home since... uh.. I'm obsessed with her.. and the museum didn't open for a few hours. We grabbed some breakfast and coffee and then explored downtown Jamestown. Most of the stores were closed but we were able to find a couple of murals of my favorite couple.

Next, we visited the museum and playhouse dedicated to Lucy and Desi. The museum had a lot of pictures and personal stories about them. There we learned that after Lucy graduated high school she moved to NYC to attend acting school, but after a year, the school wrote a letter home to her mother that Lucy just didn't have what it took to make it in acting and that she should just save her money.. Lucy is the original "Hey, don't worry man, Michael Jordan didn't make the cut for his high school basketball team" speech! There, we saw home movies, scenes from shows Lucy has been in and I recorded my own Vitameatavegamin commercial.. it's so tasty, too!!

The playhouse had a recreation of the Ricardo's kitchen and living room and it took all my strength to not climb over the barrier, sit on their couch and leaf through the magazine on their coffee table. I left with a smile from ear to ear.

Southern Tier Brewing Company was close by to Jamestown so we stopped to check it out. It was named best brewery in New York according to BeerAdvocate.com. Our stop resulted in us sampling every single one of the beers they had on tap, and of course Larry whipping out his credit card and crowding the car with more beer ;)

On the way to Buffalo, we stopped in a beautiful town called Chautauqua located on a lake of the same name. It was not like any other place we'd seen but reminded us of a little town off route 1 in California we stopped in. All of the houses were Victorian and huge, but the streets were really narrow, some only allowing bikes or pedestrians. We stopped by a little beach and bell tower and found a cache before heading out.

We arrived in Buffalo and after getting a hotel, our next stop was to try Duff's famous wings. We ordered their medium-mild and barbecue and loved both, though Larry wished we got the medium. We didn’t know if we should choose the place that invented buffalo wings (Anchor bar) or the place that has “the best wings” (Duff’s). We went with Duff’s since it was close to our hotel and closer to Niagara Falls, which was our next stop.

Niagara Falls was much more than I expected. We’ve seen all types of waterfalls, but Niagara falls is like no other. Even though it’s a short waterfall compared to some others we’ve seen (Yosemite Falls), its power and strength cannot be compared with any other. We spent several hours walking from viewpoint to viewpoint, getting soaked by the mist, not wanting to leave.

On our way back to our hotel, we decided to stop by an ice cream place we saw earlier, if they were still open. Not only were they still open, the parking lot was packed and there were long lines on every line to order. Larry got one of their custard cones and I got bananas fosters ice cream... delicious!