Daily Journal
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Breweries
Corning, NY Fri. 10/10 278 mi
After a lot of packing and re-packing,
Natalie and
I finally departed at about 1:30pm from Herndon and headed up 15N (temp in the mid-70s).
Stopped in Williamsport PA to visit former-Buddhist,
Mike and Kira Hiller, owners of the
Bavarian Barbarian. Liked all of their four beers, and bought the first of a series
of growlers. Stopped somewhere along the way to warm up and grab a snack. The bathroom dryers are great for warming up
a frozen turkey ass! Arrived at Don (aka Mac) and Peggy Ann's (aka Angel) near Corning NY (in the boonies) around 9:45pm. Had a bite
to eat and
Natalie
got bitten by their cocatoo, Mally. Spent the night in their red camper (still suffering from frozen-turkey
ass)! Beautiful weather.
Gasport, NY Sat. 10/11 163 mi
Mike (boyfriend of Mac and Angel's daughter, Tara) fixed a great breakfast and then we rode into Corning NY with
Don and Peggy Ann to sample the beers at
Market Street Brewing Company and Restaurant. This was the first time that
Natalie
tried
a berry brew. She thought it was pretty tasty! The sky was so blue that the logo on top of the Corning plant looked as if it were
floating in the sky (same color blue as the sky). Headed up towards Rochester with a pit stop to check out the windmills.
Later in the afternoon met up with Tom and Helen, friends of Don and Peggy Ann, at Honeoye NY to sample the beers at
Custom Brewcrafters
(this turned out to be the most disappointing Brewery of the whole trip). The guy that started giving us the
samples turned out to be sarcastic to the point of being obnoxious. He wouldn't even fill up the tiny tasting
glasses!
Purchased another growler and headed to Rochester NY. Meandered our way across the Erie Canal a few times.
Arrived at Shorty's Pub for some popcorn and a beer. Headed to Dinosaurs, a popular establishment downtown, for another beer
before the other couples pointed me in the direction of Beale Street Bar & Grille. They headed off, we had some dinner and
listened to a good blues/rock band. The lead guitar player wore a leather fez that I found amusing! From
there I tried to get a room but the only room to be had in Rochester only rented by the hour, and they wouldn't even allow overnight! I ended
up driving along Lake Ontario (freezing my ass off) until I finally found a room in the middle of nowhere, the Hartland Hotel in Gasport NY.
Toronto, Ontario Sun. 10/12 120 mi
Left the hotel around 11am and almost immediately hooked up with a group of about 17 bikers - Masons and firefighters from Rochester.
Rode with them into Niagara Falls. Walked down to view the falls. Didn't stay too long before crossing the border
over the Rainbow Bridge into Canada. Grabbed a beer and pizza at an outside bar (Coco's ), then walked down to view the falls. Much
prettier from the Canadian side. Stayed in Niagara a few hours before heading to St. Catharines to visit a couple of brewpubs (
Niagra's Best / Merchant Ale House
) that ended up being closed. So stopped at an Irish Pub for a bite before heading to Toronto. The young woman behind the bar
showed off her amazing tattoo work.
Stopped at
Pepperwood Bistro in
Burlington (and almost fell asleep at the bar). The ride over the bridge turned very cold and foggy. The cold zapped
my energy so we skipped eating and headed to Danny's. Arrived around 9ish. Danny had a beer waiting in the
hallway to mark the spot to his condo. We had a really nice evening!
Natalie was so tired from the ride (and other substances) that I had to literally carry her to bed!
Contact me at: rf6gunz@yahoo.com
Copyright © 2008, Rick Fletcher
