Hard Rock Café - Niagara Falls, New York

 Hard Rock Café (opened 7/10/1996)

Niagara Falls, New York

June 9, 1997

Kill Buck Volunteer Fire Company

Kill Buck Volunteer Fire Company, 3790 Kill Buck Road, Salamanca (Kill Buck), New York, Cattaraugus County. This is the extent of information I can find about KBVFC. Cattaraugus County is a very rural county in the far southwestern corner of the state. If you have more information about this company please leave a comment.

Vigilant Fire Company

Vigilant Fire Company, 666 Main Street, West Seneca, NY, Erie County. The Vigilants' are one of six companies making up the West Seneca Fire District. The VFC was established in 1893 and incorporated in 1896. They sponsor the Vigilant Explorer Post #34, an organization for 14 to 20 year olds to learn the basics of fire prevention and protection, similar to a Junior Member program.

Oriole Fans in Cooperstown '07

I continue to dig back through the old files for today's post. These are from the Baseball Hall of Fame induction of the Oriole's Cal Ripken back in July of 2007. Top picture is Cal and Major League Baseball President Bud Selig. Then as they were introduced, Jim Palmer, Brooks Robinson and Frank Robinson. Yes, we were back a ways from the main stage for the majority of the ceremony. There was almost 75,000 people there. And it was in the 90's that day. So we hung out behind the Hall of Fame Museum's truck in the shade. And finally a movie of the National Anthem with special credit to all the O's fans in attendance. If you've never been to an Orioles game listen closely when she starts, "Oh, say does that star spangled banner yet wave."

Twist o' the Mist 1997

Sorry, I have no Painted Gentleman to post today. Instead, I offer you ice cream. Larger Than Life ice cream. This is the Twist o' the Mist in Niagara Falls, New York. I held off posting this, hoping I would be going up there again this summer. But things being what they were we were unable to go. Maybe next year. Maybe over Christmas. How cool would that be? Sits on Niagara Street near Rainbow Boulevard and the Rainbow Bridge to Canada. See I have suffered from this odd building picture taking for a long time.

Soccer Hall of Fame - HBS

The National Soccer Hall of Fame is located in Oneonta, NY. Oneonta happens to be where you turn off to get to Cooperstown, NY and the Baseball Hall of Fame. We stopped in here on our way home from the Baseball Hall of Fame last summer, it was getting close to closing time but we didn't need a lot of time. The downstairs is where the wall of the Hall is located. Chances are you have not heard of most of these athletes. Unless you are my son you would only recognize the name Pele'. (Just Pele', like Cher or Madonna) The downstairs also has a lot of the same displays as the Baseball hall, but on a much smaller scale. The upstairs was full of games, video games, ball kicking exercises, speed dibbles and a header cage. We enjoyed it, I'm glad we stopped. The friendly staff told us if we were a little late getting done not to worry, they would wait for us.

Later in July 2007 were the induction ceremonies. This year the inductees were Mia Hamm (Garciaparra) and Julie Foudy. Mia and Julie were both members of the Women's World Cup Champions in 1991 and 1999, Both were also Olympic Gold medallists in 1996 and 2004, and Silver medallists in 2000. Julie, a midfielder, served as Captain of the National team in 2000 and 2004. Mia, a midfielder and forward holds the record for women in goals scored in international play with 158 goals.

Seneca Lake Marina

This is the marina at the north end of Watkins Glen, NY, right on Seneca Lake. Peaceful.

Who or What is Burgess? (PG XLIV)

This is the last of the Upstate New York Gentleman from last summer. Painted Gent 44 is located on Route 13 northeast of Cortland near East Homer, NY. And my question to Central New York State is who or what is Burgess? At least that is what I think it says, I can not read the writing under that. A 'C', maybe an "A', maybe an 'L', I don't know. This could be one that is lost and gone forever, oh my darling.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

A wreath made out of wine corks. Gotta wonder how the were able to keep it round after all that vino.

This was at the Lakewood Vineyards in Watkins Glen, NY. Those guys were crack-ups.

The Writing on the Wall (PG XXVIII & XXIX)

Painted Gentlemen 28 and 29 come from upstate New York. Number 28 is Stanford Sign Works at 1001 West Seneca Street in Ithaca and 29 is Schuyler Iron and Agricultural Works in Watkins Glen, down by the docks on Seneca Lake.

The Orioles at the Hall of Fame

Some of the Baltimore Orioles inducted into the Hall of Fame are Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Earl Weaver, Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray and, of course, Cal Ripken, Jr. The third picture is in the "Locker Room" in the hall. It contains recent memorabilia such as the line up cards from Cal's Ironman tying and tie breaking games. Mike Bordick's glove from his record breaking error free streak at shortstop and an autographed ball from Miguel Tejada's 1,000th straight game. Miggi held the active ironman streak, at 1,152 consecutive games, that's over 7 years and the fifth longest in baseball history, until June 21, 2007 when he went on the disabled list with a broken wrist.

Baseball Hall of Fame, Another Look

Another look at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the inductions, last July, of Cal Ripken, Jr. and Tony Gwynn, Sr. The pictures are of their plaques that hang in the Hall and the individual display cases of each inductees career highlights.

The Wine is Great, But Where Do You Grow the Beer?

I like this quote, even if it came from someone more annoying than Paula Dean. It came from her sons in their "Gee, I wonder how they got a show?" show. These pictures are from the Wagner Valley Vineyards on the east side of Seneca Lake north of Watkins Glen, NY. Wagner Valley also runs a brewery here. We did a wine tasting, winery tour and a beer tasting while visiting. Like I said, I'm not much of a wino so the beer making thing helped me decide to stop here. Very nice place with a huge deck you could easily relax on. We hit 3 or 4 other wineries this day some were straight up business and some were in the crack-you-up business. We asked questions to get them to open up and we heard some good stories about mice in the grape pickers and throwing snakes at the tractor drivers. I didn't buy any wine, but Mom did. I'm sure come the holidays I'll get another taste of Seneca Lake wine country.

Doubleday Field, Cooperstown, NY

Today's baseball field is Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, NY. This is the home of baseball. It is said that Civil War General Abner Doubleday invented baseball here in Cooperstown but they have since found earlier references to the game. It doesn't matter though, because Cooperstown is the Home of Baseball. Doubleday Field is where the annual Hall-of-Fame game is played, this year it was the Orioles vs. the Blue Jays. Of course, this game doesn't count and you could see more triple A guys playing than big leaguers but it is for the fun of the game. The day I visited it was just an Old-Timers Fantasy game, but it was still baseball. Play Ball!

Watkins Glen State Park, Part 3

My final installment of the Gorge Trail pictures at Watkins Glen State Park. Not that 3 or 6 or even 9 pictures can fully show you the true wonder of the falls but these are the best of what I took. The circular pools were formed, I guess, by the swirling water, they were everywhere, some seemed perfectly round. And if I haven't mentioned it before there are 788 steps. Trust me, count them yourself.

Watkins Glen State Park, Part 2

Just some more pictures from the Gorge Trail. The first is a view of Rainbow Falls coming down, the second is a stairway to an overlook that we didn't take and the third one was from behind the one falls (Duh!) This really was a relaxing walk, I think I would have liked walking up. At the top there is a small gift and snack shop and some picnic tables to hang out on. Along the trail there were benches to sit and catch your breath and a small spring pipe where, once upon a time, you could have stopped and had a drink. Today though I think I'll stick to bottled water over a weekend of Pepto.

Flowers, Glass Flowers

The Corning Museum of Glass. This summer's feature of glass flowers were everywhere, just ignore the fact they were made in China. The ones made locally were $30, made in China - $6.