Lasting memories of central New York (Syracuse, Manlius: houses, neighborhood, buy)

[proulxfamily]

What are the memories central New York has given you? What really keeps you here and loving it? Why do you feel defensive whenever someone attacks the "character" of the Syracuse area... what are the qualities that prove you know otherwise?

What memories do you think of when you feel Syracusan pride?

-meeting up with friends at the St. Patrick's Day parade
-people watching (okay, let's be honest... there is mocking. LOL) and *making sure* to get a pulled pork platter from Dinosaur BBQ, salt potatoes with a frightening amount of butter, wine slushie, fried dough, gianelli sausage, the $1 potato with all the fixin's, a few 25 cent cups of the most delicious chocolate milk the planet produces, and a box of taffy to bring home from the great NY State Fair. Crushing around the butter sculpture in the Dairy Building to judge it for yourself. Free concerts there and petting horses in the barns, then watching their shows. Daring friends to go on rides after eating all that food and deciding that the Ferris Wheel is a safer bet instead. LOL
-going for the first full walk of spring down the walkway at Onondaga Lake
-dinner and drinks downtown that return to houses up in Westcott, Eastwood, and the 'burbs for parties
-going into Cazenovia and completely ignoring the Cazenovia Residents Only sign to swim at Gypsy Bay... *as if* anyone is ever there to check.
-Drinks at the Brae Loch, dinner at Albert's, coffee at Common Grounds... the Brewster Inn isn't a favorite but they do have a lovely view of the lake.
-going to Green Lakes to burn yourself to a crisp and cooling off in the deep end
-hiking through Highland Forest and Pratts Falls parks
-walking along the Swan Pond and going to SnoTop to gratefully wait in line for half an hour... for ice cream.
-village parades for Memorial Day and the 4th of July and all the Field Days festivals in June.
-free concerts and festivals and market fairs downtown
-SSO's Concerts in the Park... especially on a breezy summer night, on the lawn of Lorenzo Mansion, surrounded by a thousand elegant wine picnics in the grass and little girls twirling around to the music in the soft light of dusk. Sensational.
-learning to ski at Song Mountain with my Grandpa, meeting up with friends at their lessons at Labrador Mountain, opening up my Christmas presents every year and hoping that I wasn't so naughty that I wouldn't get my Saturday pass to Toggenburg Mountain. Working as a liftee and an instructor there. Being able to see the top lift light from my bedroom window.
-driving out to Skaneatles just to see the beautiful historic homes, go window shopping, and feel like you're on vacation... 20 minutes from home. (There's a similar feel in Cazenovia but not as much of a night atmosphere.)
-driving into the hills of Pompey to Neil Casey's to tour the greenhouses and buy all of your starter plants and flowers. Even if all you buy is a packet of seeds, roll down your windows and smell spring... smell summer...
-apple picking in LaFayette. Crispy, steaming apple fritters tossed with crackling brown sugar, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon on a sunny, sharp fall day. And the colorful ride out there- the southern hills that come alive with reds, oranges, and yellows...
-going up to Southwick Beach on Lake Ontario for the closest "oceanic" experience we can get- waves big enough to jump through, sand at your feet, and seaweed in your swimsuit. LOL
-lying in the field, with your honey, of any given village's fireworks display
-going into Wegman's and being able to find, almost literally, ANY thing you're looking for... and then several kinds of it.
-sledding at the Res above the west side
-going to Burnet Park Zoo. (Rosamond Gifford but for all of those who grew up going on school field trips, it will always be Burnet Park Zoo.)
-going to all of those museums the area offers, as a child, to which I attribute my great pride of central New York... trying on hoopskirts at the Onondaga Historical museum, playing at the Museum of Science and Technology and being amazed by the Planetarium, going through the Erie Canal Museum's Boat House, eagerly touring the free Salt Museum next to the playground at Onondaga Lake Park, getting a piece of oven-fired bread at the Indian/French colonists fort of Ste. Marie among the Iroquois across the street from Onondaga Lake Park. Heid's hot dogs afterward... or a stinky Lindenberger and onion sandwich at Weber's. (Or a Reuben, if you want to be safe. :P)
-laying on the grass (yes, it's green all by itself, no watering required!) with ice pops or playing a neighborhood game of bloody mary until the cranky old people yelled at our parents to call us noisy kids in at dark. It's not too hot or humid to play outside in the summertime.
-playing ultimate frisbee after work (as an adult) at Wellwood Middle School in Fayetteville, which keeps the night lights on in the side field *expressly for* such pick-up games in warm seasons.
-riding bikes down the Erie Canal pathway... miles and miles.
-getting Jamaican curry with my dad at a dive sort of place on South Geddes in the West Side
-heading up to Upper Onondaga Park on a REALLY hot summer afternoon to go swimming, then whip around the huge playground, return home for a few hours of rest to prep for dinner and clean up a bit, then have your entire family over for BBQ, and head to Gannon's on the south side for some ice cream.

There are a thousand others but this is a start. :P

[proulxfamily]

I distinctly remember going downtown a LOT as a kid... there was a lot of shopping and festivals went on constantly, it seemed. And part of my JOY, whenever Mom said we were going downtown, was because of those great trollies they used to have. If they were still around, I would probably go downtown occasionally JUST to pay my fare and ride it around, looking at everything. Gorgeous old trollies. I think they were a dime for each ride...

[RollsRoyce]

I didn't grow up here, however I probably spent 1 weekend a month for the past 26 years visiting family including 4 years of college.

My memories:

1.) Looking at Christmas lights in Syracuse's Sedgwick neighborhood
2.) Learning to ski at Four Seasons in Fayetteville
3.) Skyline Lodge at Highland Forest
4.) Cazenovia and Skaneateles Lakes
5.) Going to the MOST and stopping at Slices Pizza in Armory Square
6.) Visiting my father's old stomping grounds at SU
7.) Basketball game at Carrier Dome
8.) Looking at the mansions on the hilly and windy 2.5 mile stretch of Woodchuck Hill Road in Dewitt and Fayetteville
9.) Watching the construction of the Waterford Woods subdivision in DeWitt
10.) Walking through the villages of Fayetteville and Cazenovia on a warm summer morning
11.) Looking at the farms and sunset on Munro Road in Camillus
12.) The 50 mile view at the top of Palmer Road in Manlius
13.) Tennis at Wellwood School in Fayetteville
14.) Walk at Onondaga Lake Park in Liverpool
15.) View of Syracuse skyline from Onondaga Park in Strathmore
16.) Cross Country Skiing at Greek Peak in Virgil, Cortland County
17.) Driving from Skaneateles to Highland Forest in Fabius via Route 20/Route 80
18.) Going to the Fair
19.) Selkirk Shores State Park near Pulaski
20.) Hiking at Green Lakes
21.) Syracuse's very own Terells Tortilla Chips

[VRE332]

22.) Surviving the Blizzard of 93

[jrice]

1. Going to breakfast with Santa downtown at one of the dept stores--forget which one but it had the crosswalk over the street

2. getting lost with my friends in onondaga lake park when we were kids--that park is dark at night

3. going to the sectionals at the dome, and walkin g from the dome to the northside in a blizzard

4. Blizzard of 93

5. Pavones Pizza in Penn Can Mall after going to Cavages

6. The great NY state fair--that never seems to change

7. Going to work with my father when he owned the Mobil on 7th North/Buckley

8. walking along Onondaga lake when we kids and counting the waste that would wash up

9. Going bridge jumping as kids in brewerton

10. Sneaking out of my friends house in north syracuse and walking to Pudgies pizza and then to vechios store

11. The Bishop Grimes fire