Allegany State Park Vacation Part IV

On Thursday Rob wanted to head up north to see his grandparents' old place. The day before we'd gone through North Tonawanda where he used to live.

 We took photos of the house and Rob managed to speak with the current owner swapping stories and updates.

 We'd also passed the carousel museum and horses lining the main street but decided we check that out on a later visit.
So on Thursday, we headed north of Allegany State Park into the countryside  passing through Amish country but not passing a single buggy despite plenty of evidence on the roads that horses had passed by.

We found the old house and roamed up and down the hill taking in the beauty of the surrounding countryside. It was so still and quiet that the insects sounded like monsters as they buzzed by. The verges of the road were covered in wild flowers and old apple trees dropped their fruit into the long grass.

There was an old tractor in a nearby field and I realized that I am now on a mission to photograph tractor badges. This one was similar to Rob's neighbor's tractor back home. This Ford was built between 1954-57.

Me taking a photo of Rob taking a photo. Afterwards we were hungry and thirsty so visited an old haunt of Rob's.

Cathy the landlady had known Rob for years and cooked us up an amazing pizza which we chugged down with beers. I was very annoyed when an Amish buggy trotted by the pub while we were sitting at the bar. I wasn't destined to see one in action on this trip but am determined to catch one next time. Not literally...
Once we were fortified, it was back to the park for a Thanksgiving themed dinner.

There was oven cooked turkey, deep fried turkey and even smoked turkey which I found a little strange, plus all the trimmings. Check out all the wine bottles; I like these people.

We later sat around the camp fire and chatted, mostly with Lisa, Rob's cousin, who I liked immensely and she gave me a t-shirt with the slogan, 'I was Country Long Before Cowboy Was Cool'. As the evening ended, we pottered back towards our cabin feeling a little sad because it was our penultimate evening here and we didn't want to go back home. People hung out at their cabins which looked pretty with their lights in the black night and we headed to ours for a final nightcap before crashing into a deep sleep.