Let’s Duck Inn*

by chuckofish

This week the DH and I managed a little getaway to Chaumont, NY which is about an hour and a half to our southwest on Lake Ontario.

Son #1 took a few days off work to join us, but in order to do so he had to buy a car, his Hyundai having failed to pass inspection. Despite lots of to-ing and fro-ing to Syracuse, it all worked out amazingly well and he is now the proud owner of a CRV — just like the rest of us! (My photos of the new car did not turn out well).

Once we got to our Airbnb, we found it lavishly decorated with hunting memorabilia and Native American objects d’art. Our host is a retired bison farmer and (apparently) a devotee of western life. Family photos and ‘best grandpa ever’ plaques added to the reassuringly homey atmosphere.

The house was comfortable (if full of spiders) and the yard very large. Here’s the view from the back deck.

I’m happy to say the feel was more ‘Oklahoma’ than ‘Signs’ or ‘Children of the Corn’, though there was a definite hint of ‘Kingdom of the Spiders’. Although the corn was as ‘high as an elephant’s eye’, we refrained from breaking into song.

We managed a little antiquing, some light cooking and a few friendly hands of Gin Rummy, but mostly we talked and read.

James left on Thursday to return to work, while the DH and I hiked in the Chaumont Barrens, an alvar grassland and quite a cool place. We saw fossils (no, I don’t know why my husband is pointing with his middle finger),

and a wide variety of flora and cool rock formations. The exposed limestone is full of cracks and fissures, some of which seem bottomless. It would have been nice if there had been signs to tell us what the numbers marking the trail meant, but never mind, we made up our own explanations.

The weather was perfect — not too hot, not too windy — and the bugs were almost non-existent. One other group left as we arrived, but otherwise we had the place to ourselves. It was the perfect culmination to a relaxing getaway.

Although cross-country car adventures are great, sometimes a modest trip is just what you need to recharge. Chances are that there are plenty of sights nearby that you have never explored. Why not visit one of them?

I leave you with this amusing tongue twister:

*The Duck Inn is a tiny motel down the road from where we stayed. I just love the name!