Explorations and Adventures?

Mines of Moria

The best and weirdest ideas begin with beer, specifically the consumption of it in the outdoors. (like this:) Not that any of you didn't know that I'm not normal, but with some liquid inspiration and the right friends, even something as strange as a weekend bike trip to Niagara Falls makes perfect sense, and less than 24 hours later we were off riding into the night, basically in search of the unknown, to go sleep in a cave. After 55 miles or so, we found the cave entrance, and in the morning it was time to explore. From all we…

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Chaote’s Lair

The former General/Veteran Foods factory is probably the place with the most dramatic, fastest decay I've ever seen. Through a combination of fire, water, vandals, mold and looting, it has gone from 'active' (occupied as a residence and studio by an eccentric art professor) as recently as 2009, to squatted in 2010, to abandoned in 2011, to thoroughly trashed in 2012. This is particularly shameful considering how much was left behind here, by the artist and the unknown past occupants; there was an entire library with a few thousand books, a collection of magazines and photo albums, furniture, toys, computer…

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Niagara Fell

The TripAdvisor reviews said it all: "words can't describe the awfulness", "we got locked INSIDE", "please stay at this hotel and RUIN your entire vacation". It's no wonder that between woeful management and upkeep, a terrible economy, and the fact that the hotel itself was a lie ("Fallside" doesn't mean "walk half a mile through the ghetto or drive and pay a $20 state park toll"), the Fallside closed for the last time in the fall of 2008. While there was an apparent attempt to revive the place, judging by the signs proudly proclaiming new management and "Major Brand Chain…

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When Life Gives You Columns

...you make colonnade? Or not? At least I had an unexpected opportunity to explore with Ian one more time. Although, more realistically, it turned into a chance to stand on the sidelines while he explored. His goal was one that I shared interest in for sure, but probably not the right physique, or state of mind -- climbing the Buffalo grain elevators. While they originally had stairs, due to a rash of suicides in the early 70s right after they were abandoned, none of these stairwells are complete, with the stairs up to 30 feet or so cut out, leaving…

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No Justice, No Peace

Finally getting to my pictures from the march last week... for anyone who hasn't been keeping up with current events, the Saturday before last was a terrible one for justice in Rochester, and oppression from the RPD. A peaceful anti-capitalist march was trapped on the East Ave/Inner loop crossing, and 18 protesters arrested, some violently. At the closing of the Puerto Rican festival, RPDs in riot gear began breaking up a crowd with no provocation, setting off a police riot that led to 32 more arrests. Finally, barely 12 hours after the march, a punk show in an East End…

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Mosquito Coast

After watching the tower come down, Anna and I continued on to our real adventure planned for the weekend -- bike camping along the lake shore. On our way out of town we stopped at the public market to pick up Katie, Jake and Tom, and went on from there to route 101, and about a 40 mile ride to Sodus Point. Our destination: Beachwood State Park, a newly acquired property that was once the boy scouts' Camp Pioneer (which would be replaced in 1951 with the current Adirondack site), then the girl scouts' Arrowhead Camp, before closing around 2000.…

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