Our Weekend in Skane-A-Teles!

July 4th Weekend in Skaneateles, New York.  For those outside of western New York, it's pronounced "skinny-atlas," but I prefer to call it how it is spelled which is "Skane-a-teles."



First stop, the William Seward House in Auburn, New York.  For those who don't know, he was the Secretary of State under Abe Lincoln and was expected to get the Republican nomination for president instead of Lincoln.  Interesting guy and the book Team of Rivals will tell you that.



Seward in his park.



C-SPAN telling us that Alexis de Tocqueville was in Auburn.  Thank you C-SPAN



Sad lion at the entrance of the Seward House.  Perhaps he is sad because his master never became president?



I don't want to ruin the Rivals book, but this is the wagon that Seward fell out of and broke his face.  The face that was later stabbed during the assassination attempt of him and VP Johnson when Lincoln was killed.



I did get to "Meat the Bull" at Johnny Angel's in Skane-a-teles!



HERE'S THE BULL!  Fries just the way Meg likes 'em!



Skaneateles Lake, which is apparently so pure that they don't have to filter it for human consumption.



A view of the town from the lake



Folks from Michigan will appreciate this.  This is the "beach" and people are expected to pay to swim here.  $2 for residents.  $3 for non-residents.  And, they have more lifeguards and life saving equipment than that state of Michigan at this spot.



Here is the one guy who paid to swim



THE JUDGE IS COMING!



Nothing like a little Razzle Dazzle!



Once again, the city



And, here's what everyone wants to really see.  Notice the light from heaven to comes from inside...



Surprisingly, this is not in southern France.



A view of our cottage



The place where suicidal Coy fish jump.



It's a painting by Monet.



Took a break from all the beauty to eat all the deliciousness at Rosalie's Cucina.  Super good food.  Bill Clinton and Billy "Huuuuuuge" Fuccillo agree with me on that.  And so much that I was kicked out of the "Clean Plate Club" for one night only.



More beauty!



Charles Burrows Memorial.  I think he's a local artist, but too lazy to look it up right now.  



For future reference, my gravestone should be carved into something awesome like this.



Oh yeah, it was our belated anniversary weekend since we couldn't properly celebrate last weekend.  How do I know?  The chef told me at Mirbeau by writing it in chocolate.  Apparently, the restaurant use to be terrible.  I am here to tell you that it is now awesome!



Megan loving the room and view



The view Megan loves!



Do you know what's awesome?  Wearing bathrobes everywhere!  Here's Megan on Sunday morning at the Bloody Mary bar.  



And here I am being alluring...



This is more like it...



Oh Mirbeau!  How we love you and could never afford to see you again.  The massages, the spa, the food, the relaxation were all awesome.


But, I will give one serious review:  The weddings were really obnoxious.  If I had paid that much money to find peace and relaxation I would have been very upset at the many screaming kids tearing apart thousands of dollars worth of landscaping at the pond, hearing the Black Eye Peas repeatedly blasting, and drunk groomsmen running around with beer coolers yelling obscenities.  It's pretty much the exact opposite of everything you want at a spa.  Now, I know that they probably make a killing from weddings, but maybe they should consider things like: no minors allowed, ceremonies, or building a separate complex for people to celebrate at instead of trying to relax.  But, again, it really didn't take away things from me since I'm usually the baffoon at these places and I probably could never afford to go back...



Carpenter Falls just off of Skaneateles Lake.  Again, there are more waterfalls around here than you can imagine...



That's a 90-foot drop



WHERE'S OUR CAMARA STICK?!?!






Just an old bus in the woods...



Just when you thought you saw all the waterfalls; there's more!  Well, probably about 20 more that we didn't see if we continued down the path.  The "path with ropes" (without ropes) was on about a 85 degree incline.  Worth it though



Why do all of our waterfall shots look like we're photoshopped into them on this camera?  



For all you art majors that wasted all that money at college, here's a scene from a Hudson Valley School of painters (which there is a nice example of at the Seward House).


 
These falls also double as a white trash pool



These are only 60-foot falls...



On another note:  MY BRICKS ARE FINALLY IN AT LOLLYPOP FARM!!!



Happy donors will make a very happy Mike!



BILL CLINTON!  WHY MUST YOU FOLLOW ME EVERYWHERE?  Not a brick from Lollypop, but he and Hillary certainly made the people of Skane-a-teles very happy in 1999.


That's it for now.  I'm hungry.