Utica 6/9/2023 - 6/12/2023

Friday 6/9/2023 - Arrival, Drinks at the Green Onion

We left our house around 11 o'clock. We listened to the audiobook of Michael Palin's "Erebus" on the ride. It is June, and we saw pride signs from the Mass DOT along the highway.

We hadn't had anything to eat and were quite hungry, so we decided to stop at a rest area. We got lunch at McDonald's (it was the first time in many years that we have eaten at McDonald's). It was absolutely mobbed and we had to wait in line for a long time. It wound up being a much longer lunch stop than we had anticipated, and it was pouring rain by the time we got back out to the car.

We got to Tyson and David's house at around 4:15. David was at work, but we walked with Tyson to the neighborhood bar: the Green Onion. Tyson's friend and colleague Steve, whom we have met on previous visits, was there, and we sat together and chatted. I got a Moscow Mule, and Craig got an IPA.

After a couple of rounds, we walked back to the house and spent some quality time with the pets: boxer Roxy and kitty cat Spooky.

Tyson made delicious posole and salad for dinner.

David came home from work and we chatted and listened to music, going to bed at 12:34 a.m.

Saturday 6/10/2023 - F.T. Proctor Park, Lock 20, Michael T's

Tyson made a delicious breakfast casserole (hash browns, egg, cheese, sausage, and peppers).

We said goodye to David, who had to work, and went to F.T. Proctor Park. We saw the native plant garden that Tyson's native plant group had installed. Then we walked down to the river where we found a cool stone bridge.

After this, we visited Lock 20 on the Erie Canal. It is much more pleasant weather than last time we visited it, when it was incredibly hot and humid!

We stopped at Aldi to do some grocery shopping, and then went back to the house.

Went to David's family's restaurant, Michael T's, for dinner. We sat at the bar, where David was bartending. We had calamari as an appetizer. Craig had the prime rib and I had my favorite, the veal Trunfio. Everything was absolutely delicious, as always.

We went back to the house and listened to music. David got home from work, and we chatted before heading to bed.

Sunday 6/11/2023 - M.C. Escher at the Fenimore

We woke up and Craig went to open the door to head to the restroom. The guest room has a nice antique glass doorknob, but Craig couldn't get it to open. He thought that maybe he was just too tired and his MS was kicking in, so he had me try it. I couldn't get it to open, and as I tried, the doorknob came off in my hand! We were stuck in the room, with Craig desperately needing the restroom.

I tried to call Tyson and sent him a message, but his phone was obviously off. So I banged on the door as loudly as I could. Tyson eventually heard me from upstairs and came down muttering "What in the world?", thinking that someone was at the door early in the morning.

We explained what was going on, and he was able to free us. We all got a good laugh at the situation, and Craig was able to go to the bathroom.

We had some more of Tyson's delicious breakfast casserole. We were planning to go to the M.C. Escher exhibit at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown today. We had been there twice before, for a Herb Ritts exhibit and a Keith Haring exhibit. It is a great little museum.

David and Steve were supposed to come with us, but David wasn't feeling well, and Steve had his own issues to deal with. As Tyson posted to Facebook:

Planning an outing to the MC Escher exhibit in Cooperstown and the morning has been a bit rough. David isn’t feeling well, the doorknob fell off the guest bedroom door effectively trapping Steph and Craig in the room, and Steven is battling a squirrel in the wall of his house. Serenity now!

It takes about an hour to get to Cooperstown from Utica. When we arrived, we first saw an exhibit of pyschedelic concert posters. We ech found one that resonated with us and posed next to it: Tyson with Jefferson Airplane, Craig with The Doors, and me with Muddy Waters.

Then we saw the main attraction: the Escher exhibit, which contained over 180 works from a private collection in Athens, Greece. The works spanned his career and were amazing to see up close. We were blown away by his fascination with mathematics and how he utilized it in art.

When we arrived home, we found that David was feeling better. Steve had finished battling the squirrel for the day, and came over for a cookout.

We had veggies and dips (dips for dinner!), cheese, crackers and fruit, ribs, burgers, sausage patties, turkey kielbasa, and salt potatoes. Steve gave Craig a Lawson's Little Sip IPA, which Craig really enjoyed.

Later, while chatting and listening to music, we had home made black currant cake with ice cream.

Monday 6/12/2023 - Departure

For breakfast, Craig had more breakfast casserole and I had a slice of black currant cake. We thanked Tyson and David for a great weekend, and said goodbye to Roxy and Spooky.

We left around noon and were home by 4:15 p.m.