Autumn In Upstate New York

Two pieces of business before we start off:

1) Thanks to everyone for wishing me a happy birthday and all. An extra special thanks goes out to my new family. Dick and Marianne for the dinner and ice cream cake and everything else over the years. And, of course to Rich and Rachel, for letting us take up space in your house and watch everything from Antiques Roadshow to Jersey Shore. Thanks!!!

2) On the left, you'll notice a Facebook "like" button. I'm not 100% sure how useful this is. It may be an easier way for you to get updates on the blog. It may just end up being a pain. But, if you like Mike Kraus: The Blog give it a try and we can see how it works together!!!

And now, for the show...

The theme of this past weekend was "agriculture of Upstate New York. Megan is showing you some of the fine produce of the Rochester area

For my birthday, Rachel made me a card showing us holding hands because we are friends.

The Penfield Hots Garbage Plate. One of the most dangerous meals known to mankind. It's everything you like on one plate that will make you hate yourself when you eat it all.

The Apple Tree Inn, http://appletreeinn.us/, in Brockport, which is just west on Rochester. We met up with Pete and Sarah Marche here for an "afternoon of apples." You really can't go wrong with any meal here. Collectively, we had the salad with some kind of walnut apple dressing, the pumpkin spice soup, vegetable mac and cheese, "Our Famous Chicken Pot Pie," and a couple of other things. All of them were great. It was great by itself, not in comparison to the previous garbage plate...

Pete, Megan, and Sarah and Robb Farm, http://www.robbfarms.com/, picking apples

How 'bout dem apples?

What do you do when you see an apple you want high up on a tree? Ride someone's shoulders of course!

Moments after this shot, I had a decision to make: capture an iconic image of Pete standing at a 45 degree angle with his wife flying through the air or catch said wife for safety. I think helping catch Sarah was a wise decision since I don't want to alienate the few friends I have here.

Well... So much for not wanting to alienate myself. I have to show this pic of Sarah climbing the tree like Tarzan going after an apple? What's strange is I don't see any apples on this tree...

A few bags of apples later, a few other purchased fruits and veggies, and an apple donut later, we are all set. Thanks Sarah and Pete!

Here's Rachel "Tachel" at Wickham Farms, http://www.wickhamfarms.com/, which is some kind of a farm/farmer's market/amusement park/roadside attraction. It's a pretty popular place to bring the neighborhood kids and an interesting way to preserve some of the agriculture which is being depleted by the quickly expanding suburban developments. This is a bunch of kids of the Jumping Pillow

More of Tachel on the Jumping Pillow

Whoops...

One last bounce into the sand...

I believe this sheep is named Molly. Maybe the goat was Molly. Maybe there was no Molly at all...

Little Jerry Seinfeld knows how to take care of himself

Tachel milking the wooden cow. Just for piece of mind, don't look under the board on top of the cow.

Megan looking over the pumpkins that will soon be painted and carved

Tachel running through the little corn maze. There's a bigger corn maze, which is a 30-45 minute experience

Tachel the Scarecrow...

That's all from the hamlet of Rochester. Thanks again for everything involving my birthday. Also, don't forget to click the "like" button on the left.

xoxo,

Mike