Day 8: Canandaigua, NY to Depew, NY (J's Version)

You can see me in the mirror waving

Good morning!! G's been on the road since 8 am, but I decided to stay at the hotel until check out. I usually start out on the road with him and find a coffee shop (as our devoted readers all know) to settle in for a few hours. What makes today different is that our hotel, Salvatore's Grand Hotel, is totally bangin'! It has a classy Vegas feel to it. The other hotels we've stayed at were okay, but I never really felt completely 100% safe once G left, so that's why I would just go elsewhere. Yesterday, I called MANY hotels in the area, and all were completely booked except SGH, which only had one room left, a Jacuzzi room. Got to do what you got to do. (Sidenote: Jacuzzi is the name of a corporation that specializes in hot tubs/whirl pools. The founders were the Jacuzzi brothers. Thanks to The Big Bang Theory for opening my eyes to that fact. Also, did you know that the word "leotard" was coined from French Acrobat Jules Leotard?)

John Green

I picked G up yesterday at the Depew Mcd's, but the hotel is 3 miles down the road in Buffalo. I think all the hotels were booked because it was a Saturday, and everyone is venturing out to Niagara since it's pretty close. If we didn't already take a day off a few days ago, today would have been perfect. We went to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls (Totally worth it. Pictures do NOT do the falls justice) for our honeymoon, but we've never been to the American side.

It's funny because despite Depew being relatively unknown, I mention Depew every year when I teach John Green's  Looking for Alaska. The novel is contemporary and somewhat controversial (Green only writes Young Adult Lit), and years ago the Depew school board made a big stink about teaching the book, and John Green made a video acknowledging Depew and defended his reasoning for including the edgy scene. I think it's pretty darn cool that with technology a writer can post a video letting YOU know why he included something especially something that it causing such chaos. Honestly, before his video Here it is I thought the scene was gratuitous, but after he explained his rationale, it opened my eyes.

So after I left the SB yesterday, I did explore the Canadaigua Lake for about half an hour. Absolutely

beautiful views. It would have been nice to have G along beside me, but it's okay. He has to conserve his feet anyways. I noticed the further north we get in New York the more Tim Horton's chains we see. Tim

The real Tim Horton, hockey player  and founder

Horton's is a Dunkin' Donuts type of sandwich/coffee/doughnut shop. I, personally think they are better than D&D. More variety. Connecticut used to have a few but then they all closed. Two years ago, one of my English professors who is Canadian told us that in Canada Tim Horton's shops are everywhere. Apparently, the founder, Tim Horton, was a SUPER famous hockey player in Canada back in the day. I had no idea.

In another one of my quickie stops yesterday, I came across a Mcd's dinner box. $9.99 and you get 4 small fries, 2 big macs, 2 cheeseburgers, and 10 piece mcnugget. I've never seen that offered at any other Mcd's before. Pretty good deal, too! Speaking of food...

Yesterday, after I left the lake area, I did pass G on the road. We said hi, and he said drive up ahead and stop at the first restaurant  you find, and we'll meet for lunch. 25 miles later....OMG. This stretch was one of the longest, if not the longest stretch yet with NOTHING. We did not meet the for lunch. 25 miles might not seem too long, but on a bike that's at least 2 hours.

I'm excited because I "think" we might be done with New York by this
afternoon. The route for today has us going along Lake Eerie, so I'm hoping that's pretty. We are both still confused if the route goes to PA or Ohio.

Thanks, again to all of our readers. All of your kind words mean so much to us :o)

Here are two video links from our Wegman's experience. The first video highlights the olive bar lady, and the second video highlights the kabob guy. Both videos were not planned ahead of time. What you're seeing is real, authentic Wegman workers.

Super cool olive bar lady

Kabob guy

Enjoy!