New York - Day 17 - Syracuse

Selkirk Shores State Park

Thursday, 17 May 2018

today's route

I spent much of the day driving through farm country, going from near the southern border to northern New York. As I was going by one farm, I glanced to my left and saw a man sitting in a chair in the middle of a fenced garden. And then I realized it wasn’t a man but a creative scarecrow. My first seated scarecrow, but I’ll bet it worked.

I passed another home in a wooded area with lots of houseplants and wood carvings in front. One large one had its back to me but I’m sure it was Dumbledore. You know, you can tell him from behind, which is a trick since he’s not real. But some of the realest stuff is the stuff you want to believe. As our president can attest.

I’d read in several different places that a barbecue place in Syracuse has won awards and achieved far-flung fame for its barbecue so, of course, I had to check it out. Called Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, it’s your basic dive, as you can see in the photo below. I got a combo – you pick 2 meats and 2 sides, they add cornbread – and chose ribs (they have pork only) and brisket plus coleslaw and broccoli slaw. It was a lot more food than it first looked like and it was pretty good (except the cornbread which was inedible, in my opinion), but I’m guessing it wouldn’t win any awards in Texas and likely wouldn’t even get very high on Texas Monthly’s annual list of best BBQ places. But I guess it’s as close as New York’s likely to get without a plane ticket. 

Niagara Mohawk Power Building

Niagara Mohawk bldg. detail

monument

The best part about it, from my point of view, is that it’s only a couple of blocks from what was the center of town a hundred years ago. One street over is Erie Street, which was formed when they filled in and paved over the Erie Canal, which helped bring Syracuse to prominence back when. There’s a town square there, and it has a Soldiers and Sailors Monument on it that was dedicated to Civil War veterans. One block away is a stunning Art Deco building for Niagara Mohawk Power. I tried hard to take photos of these things but just couldn’t do them justice so I cribbed them.

Selkirk Shores State Park is on the edge of Lake Ontario and I’m staying here 2 nights. I can intermittently get a wi-fi signal and, when I can, I’m trying to get reservations for Memorial Day weekend (curse you, national holidays!) and, in fact, the rest of my New York stay.

Because I took so many photos of the continuing winter landscape, I think it's only fair that I show a few now that spring has arrived.  I've seen dogwoods and lilacs (real ones, not the Texas version) blooming away, little wild violets everywhere, including right behind the camper now, spring green leaves, ferns coming up - it's spring now.  Just in time for summer, I hope.