Day Sixty-Six to Seventy - A Summer of Bluegrass, Camping and Friends - Tuesday 7/02/2024 - Saturday 7/06/2024

Tuesday July 2nd was our first full day at Darien Lakes State Park. Our "welcome to NY" was a crisp 57° at 8 am. I enjoyed my first walk this state park is a nice mix of hills, beautiful woodlands, ravines, streams and trails. Amenities include the 12-acre Harlow Lake, a beach, playgrounds, fishing, canoeing and kayaking, hiking and horseback riding trails, picnic areas and a rustic bridge over the lake channel to Picnic Island. I would not picnic on that island, Craig and I renamed it "Goose Poop" Island.

When you hear the name ''Darien Lake,'' we think of the sprawling Darien Lake Theme Park Resort on Route 77 or, to a lesser extent, scenic Darien Lakes State Park on Route 20. But before either of those places existed, there was another Darien Lake in Genesee County — a beach and picnic area billed as ''Western New York's Water Wonderland.'' The summer of 1955 was also one of the hottest and driest on record in Genesee County. So a new ''bathing area'' that offered swimming and picnicking was certainly welcome news. The newly created 25-acre lake was located on 100 acres of land on Route 77, about two miles south of Corfu. This land would be a part of what later became Darien Lake Theme Park, but for now, it would be used as a swimming and picnic area.

In 1963 a dairy farmer from the Town of Darien looked over his land and envisioned a dream. His dream was to have his land with a beautiful ravine, stream and woods, become a state park. Mr. Henry Kohlhagen’s dream came true on April 6, 1963 when the State of New York Announced its plan to purchase and acquire a 1,000 acre tract of land in the Town of Darien. Meanwhile, in the summer of 1963, developers opened another sandy beach with an artificially created lake in Genesee County. This one was located at Route 20 and Harlow roads, not far from the original Darien Lake beach. At first, it was called ''Harlow Lake and Park,'' but it eventually became Darien Lakes State Park. 

Since that day, the park has grown to 1,846 acres. Fifteen hundred acres is open for passive recreation and includes approximately 19 miles of multiple use trails for hiking, cross country skiing, snowmobiling, and horseback riding. Approximately two miles of The Conservation Trail, which is part of the Finger Lakes Trail system, passes through the park as well. Big and small game hunting is allowed in the park during appropriate hunting seasons. The 12-acre Harlow Lake offers fishing, canoeing and kayaking for those who bring their own watercraft, and a sandy beach for swimming. There are playgrounds for children throughout the park. In 2011, a new attraction came to the park. The 18-hole Angry Apple Disc Golf Course is available for patrons to play year round. This technical course, named from the challenging play through the apple orchard woods. 

Craig & Tracy arrived today from Buffalo. They spent a week there visiting Tracy's family. They started their trip from their home in Indiana. This is our only chance to camp with them this summer. We will see Craig in Florida, as he can work remotely. However, we won't see Tracy until our February cruise, as she is still working for a brick and mortar company.

Sadie wanted to be close to Charlie tonight. She looks pretty comfortable! We enjoyed a quiet evening of catching up and a campfire!

What a difference a day makes, 70° at 8 am on July 3rd. It's Wednesday, my 185th walk of 2024. I felt the need to listen to my motivational jam on repeat this morning, 'Breaking Boundaries' by Sunday Drive. 

Dana & Dawn, Royce & Karen and Rob & Sheila arrived. We camped with these couples over Memorial Day weekend. So, it was great to get back together again! This is the last time we will camp with these guys! So, we will make the most of our time together. Marley loves to be with all of us. Sadie gets her own foot stool to sit on and Marley felt left out. But, he is the 100 pound lap dog and required two foot stools! Sometimes I believe he thinks he is a person too!

Today is Thursday July 4th, Happy Independence day! It was 74° at 7:30 am. It's my 186th walk of 2024. I walked hard and used some of the mowed trails in the park.

In the afternoon we enjoyed a bag of yard FARKLE. Don't ask me how to play it, I am still trying to process the rules! It was fun!

 

A few of the guys enjoyed the cigars that Charlie got when we were on our cruise with Jim & Debbie and Larry & Marcia!

We enjoyed a dinner of traditional garbage plates. Sorry, I forgot to get a picture! For those of you not from Rochester New York. 

The “Garbage Plate” is a thing of legend. This notorious local street food is often one of the first things visitors ask about.  A traditional plate is your choice of cheeseburger, hamburger, Italian sausages, white or red hots, served on top of any combination of home fries, baked beans, and/or macaroni salad. 

All that food is usually topped with hot sauce. Rochester's hot sauce is a spicy meat sauce. Thanks to Rob for the amazing hot sauce! Mustard and onions can be added on top, some might say that spoils it while others say its the heartburn garnish.  

Legend has it that Nick Tahou invented the plate late one night when some college students came in to the restaurant and requested a plate with “all the garbage on it”. The owner then made his new variation of the combination plate. Over time it has grown into a local favorite.

It's Friday, July 5th and its my 187th walk of 2024. I walked on the disc golf course at Darien Lakes State Park today. I saw a mama deer and her fawn heading into the wooded area. Look close and you can see why they are called "white tailed" deer.

Late in the morning, 6 of us headed to Fattey Beer Company in Lancaster. Founded in 2017, Fattey Beer Company is a bottle shop, tap room and a craft community experience. It has about 7 locations in New York and Ohio. 

Fattey Beer is dog friendly, people friendly and features a large selection of craft beers, wine, cider, seltzer, sodas, non-alcoholic drinks, snacks and a world famous chicken sandwich. Charlie was in rare form as he was knocking on the window waving at all the people walking by the venue! Most people smiled and waved back, but there was one sourpusses lady that passed by twice and just scowled!

 

Two years ago, Craig & Tracy went on the Yankee RV Tours Key West Rally with us, they had Tracy's Aunt Debbie with them. That was the first time we met her! She was great fun! They live very close to Darien Lakes State Park, so they came by for a visit and dinner. We got to meet Neal, Debbie's husband.

Royce helped start the fire tonight. This was just the start of his kindling pile. It was about 2 feet high of this crisscross pattern of kindling!

It's Saturday, July 6th and its my 188th walk of 2024. I woke up early, 5am, and walked the paved roads in the park and enjoyed the sunrise.

I have to share this with you... I saw this camper on a different spot earlier in the week and then it was gone. This morning it was back in a new spot. 

I know everyone needs somewhere to live, but I hope that they just really wanted to camp and they do not live full time in this camper. There was not a car near it in either camp site.

We headed out at 7:30 AM to go to Genesee Community College in Batavia to watch

Natalee's softball games. 

She plays on a Under 16 Fast Pitch Softball Travel team. Her team is sponsored by Smash It Sports. They are a family-owned business founded in 2013. They take great pride in delivering unparalleled customer service and providing top-of-the-line gear for athletes of all levels. At SIS, they are more than just a sports retailer, they are a passionate team dedicated to empowering athletes, young and old, to achieve their best on and off the field.

Natalee hit a double and a triple and scored once!

They were playing on a make-shift field on a turf football field, so their sliding did not always go as planned! Here it looks like she is just sitting on 3rd base! LOL

Score!!!

We stopped at Windy Brew in Batavia to meet Randy & Sheila and Dana & Dawn. The original location was established in 2017 in Strykersville NY. It is names Windy Brew, because it is near the wind turbines in that area.

It was founded on the love of home-brewing beer in the kitchen on a Sunday morning. After visiting a brewery in Ohio where patrons could brew their own creations, they wanted to bring this experience back to New York as a weekend hobby. They transformed their garage into a brewery with an addition for a taproom and opened in March 2017. Although our brew-on-premise did not stay as popular as it once was, they have continued to transform Windy Brew into a unique Western New York destination. After 6 years of operation and surviving the pandemic, Windy Brew was looking to start something new. 

An opportunity presented itself to open in the City of Batavia in the historic Harvester Center.  The Harvester Center was built back in the 1800s when it was named Johnson Harvester Co., where tractors were built. The name was later changed and became the Harvester where Massey Ferguson's were made. Since then the building currently has 65+ businesses open and operating, including a coffee shop, axe throwing, and a house of bounce for kids.  Windy Brew has transformed a 2500 square foot space into a brewpub, with 16 beers on tap made from their Strykersville location, along with wine and spirits, and food.

For our last night at Darien Lakes State Park we enjoyed homemade pizza dinner, thanks to Royce & Karen's pizza oven and a rip roaring campfire. None of us wanted to load up the wood we had out, so we burned it! Stay tuned for more #TwoLaneAdventures