Upstate New York

(From last weekend) Watertown New York can be summed up with one word. Sketchy. It's kinda sad because I see so much potential for how it could be transformed into a lovely historic town with shops and proper businesses. Instead, the historic architecture is crumbling away, worn down brick buildings and old, interesting homes are rotting away. The people are sketchy, the restaurants are bad. pathetic even. And there's not much to do in the freezing temperatures.

Seeing Allen and Kayla was amazing. They were so welcoming and kind. They made me feel right at home with them. Kayla makes delicious food and it was really fun to visit until really late, catching up with what's going on with them, my plans for the future and many other things. Probably the most helpful subject we talked about was how different it is going to be to go home. That sounds weird to say, but in the span of six months, a bunch has changed. New drivers, new hobbies, new friends... I feel like I have a lot to catch up on.

We went to check out a town called Clayton. It is on the edge of the St. Lawrence River. It had a gorgeous view. The river was frozen, so it looked amazing!

The only shops that were open were the olive oil and vinegar. It was super fun. We tasted a whole bunch of different flavors. The balsamic vinegars were REAL balsamic, not the wine vinegar with flavorings and coloring....the oils didn't feel greasy at all and everything was super delicious! I bought a glass bottle of raspberry balsamic and Allen got a bottle of orange olive oil for me. I'm excited to cook with it.

We also stopped at a Maple store. They are having a maple weekend in a couple weeks showing how things work. I so wish I could be here for that, but it's now on my bucket list. I also had Maple Cream for the first time ever and it was delicious!

We also stopped to take pictures of the sunset over Lake Ontario and watched a movie before bed. It was a lovely day.