NY State – August 2016
After Montreal, we made our way south and west to the Syracuse, NY area to visit Elisa’s family. Burlington was along our way so we made stop there. Turns out we enjoyed it and would love to come back for a week or more and use it as a base to explore the many things Vermont has to offer.
Burlington, VT
Burlington is on a huge lake and boasts a beautiful walking/running/biking trail for a good length along the shoreline. We loved watching the sunset over the lake.
Drove 40 min to visit Ben & Jerry’s factory. It was incredibly disappointing – rushed around everywhere – but I guess you never know till you go!
The best part of the Ben and Jerry tour is the free (although I don’t know why you would want to pay for it) ice cream flavor cemetary, where unpopular flavors go to die. Some flavors – like whiskey and ice cream – seemed like they should have been doomed from the start!
Syracuse, NY
Next stop after Burlington was Syracuse for almost a full week of hanging out with family and exploring the city a bit. It was awesome seeing everyone that we could, although we didn’t seem them all. Still, we felt pretty accomplished after checking in with someone different each day!
Some fun road food in New England is the McDonald’s lobster roll! It definitely wasn’t our favorite lobster roll ever but worth a try!
Cindy chilling in our hotel room with the pups. Thanks for all the help with the amazon labels!
Onondaga lake in Syracuse is great place for a jog in the warm months.
We discovered Red Chili in Syracuse which gets 4 thumbs up from us for authentic Szechuan eats. In general, when in Syracuse we like to stick to Wegmans and bar food (there are some killer wing and pizza joints), so another option was welcome.
Skaneateles, NY
The finger lakes area of NY has been on our travel destination list for awhile, so we were excited to hear that Aunt Mary had bought a house on Skaneateles lake not too long ago. She was gracious enough to let us crash at her beautiful new house just a couple blocks off the lake and by the quaint boardwalk. We found the town to be very peaceful and a [erfect place to relax away from the big cities.
There is a long pier into the lake off the boardwalk. Mary’s new puppy Sapphire stopped a number of people in their tracks with her cuteness.
Cute little park along the boardwalk.
The little old school boat on the right goes out on the lake for dinner cruises.
Another view of the park.
Elisa made it a point to hit every pastry/bakery in town during our brief stay. This one had great curb appeal.
There is definitely an large upper crust part of the Skaneateles population, based on the massive lake houses (and Polo grounds that Mary took us to – I am sure they exist elsewhere but it was a first for us)
We especially liked this gingerbread house – price tag $1.95 Million
Some more great houses near Mary
This house is owned by the largest scrap metal dealer in NY and stole the show in terms of architectural detail – too bad we couldn’t get close enough for a good pic.
Mary raises K9 companion dogs until they are about the age of 2. This is her new puppy – Sapphire – who is about as cute and snuggly of a dog as you can imagine. She just melts into your arms.
Sapphire with Banjo – Mary’s lovable “flunky” from the K9 companion program.
Next stop – Detroit (yup, don’t judge)
