My OperaThe Adventure Begins
Wednesday, June 14, 2006 4:13:15 AM
12 June
From: Cambridge
To: Motel 6, Mentor Ohio (and yes, the light was on for us when we got here)
Miles: 724
MPG: 48.2 (a bit less then the advertised highway mileage of 51, but considering we went over a few mountains, not to shabby)
After a quick stop at HBS to return Jon’s cap and gown, the Great American Road Trip finally began.
Stop number one – the Big White Guy with a Hat in Chicopee MA. Why? Well, it seemed like it was in the spirit of the trip. Just a Big White Guy with a Hat next to the Mass Pike, but who doesn’t want to see that?
After a quick stop at Beech Nut for an apple juice, it was on to US 20.
Next stop: Cherry Valley, NY and the Nu TePee. Lots of “Indian artifacts” for sale, but the real draw here was TePee Pete and his al fresco café, complete with your choice of Buffalo or Elk burgers. If you find yourself in the area, it’s a must stop just for that. After a picnic lunch and, according to Jon, “a damn good cup of coffee on a cold summer day” we were off again.
Ten miles down the road we ran into a petrified animal museum.
What’s not to love about that? Actually, plenty. It’s in the backyard of a run down trailer home on the edge of US 20. The somewhat nasty proprietress wanted $8 per person to see the fossil in her back yard, and refused Jon’s repeated attempts to use the skills he had learned in his fancy negotiations class at Hahhhvard to cut us a better deal. We left in disgust, wishing we had some cupcakes to huck at her sign as we rolled away under electric power.
After a quick stop at the “World’s Smallest Church” (which truly is small), the final tour attraction of the day was Montezuma’s winery in the (middle) Finger Lakes. We tasted their top-of-the-line red, which the rather pleasant woman doing the tasting described as “good for cooking.” As a general rule of thumb, we would submit that no wine described as “cooking wine” is fit for human consumption in any way at all. Even the flamingo hated it. Next on our tasting was rhubarb wine (probably the best of the bunch, which says a lot about the selection). We finished with an apricot desert wine, which brought back less-than-fond memories of Israeli marketplaces and public bathrooms (“It’s the apricots!!”).
Your humble travel writers in the land of the bizarre and unusual,
Jessica, Jon, and the flock of flamingos.
From: Cambridge
To: Motel 6, Mentor Ohio (and yes, the light was on for us when we got here)
Miles: 724
MPG: 48.2 (a bit less then the advertised highway mileage of 51, but considering we went over a few mountains, not to shabby)
After a quick stop at HBS to return Jon’s cap and gown, the Great American Road Trip finally began.
Stop number one – the Big White Guy with a Hat in Chicopee MA. Why? Well, it seemed like it was in the spirit of the trip. Just a Big White Guy with a Hat next to the Mass Pike, but who doesn’t want to see that?
After a quick stop at Beech Nut for an apple juice, it was on to US 20.
Next stop: Cherry Valley, NY and the Nu TePee. Lots of “Indian artifacts” for sale, but the real draw here was TePee Pete and his al fresco café, complete with your choice of Buffalo or Elk burgers. If you find yourself in the area, it’s a must stop just for that. After a picnic lunch and, according to Jon, “a damn good cup of coffee on a cold summer day” we were off again.
Ten miles down the road we ran into a petrified animal museum.
What’s not to love about that? Actually, plenty. It’s in the backyard of a run down trailer home on the edge of US 20. The somewhat nasty proprietress wanted $8 per person to see the fossil in her back yard, and refused Jon’s repeated attempts to use the skills he had learned in his fancy negotiations class at Hahhhvard to cut us a better deal. We left in disgust, wishing we had some cupcakes to huck at her sign as we rolled away under electric power.
After a quick stop at the “World’s Smallest Church” (which truly is small), the final tour attraction of the day was Montezuma’s winery in the (middle) Finger Lakes. We tasted their top-of-the-line red, which the rather pleasant woman doing the tasting described as “good for cooking.” As a general rule of thumb, we would submit that no wine described as “cooking wine” is fit for human consumption in any way at all. Even the flamingo hated it. Next on our tasting was rhubarb wine (probably the best of the bunch, which says a lot about the selection). We finished with an apricot desert wine, which brought back less-than-fond memories of Israeli marketplaces and public bathrooms (“It’s the apricots!!”).
Your humble travel writers in the land of the bizarre and unusual,
Jessica, Jon, and the flock of flamingos.
