Empty Nesters!

I guess we are now officially Empty Nesters! Yes, we miss Corey (and Tucker), but I think we are going to  be just fine in this next phase of our lives. 

We got Corey to Syracuse just after noon and had no problem getting him checked in and his first load of stuff up to his room on the 6th floor. His roommate, Steve, was there, as was Steve's girlfriend. We got Corey's stuff into his half of the dorm room and then went 

to walk around a bit and find some lunch. Steve and his girlfriend (I cannot remember her name, but she was very nice) joined us and knew their way around a bit. They said they had eaten at a place called The Pita Pit so we headed there and had a good lunch. We also went to a Syracuse spirit store where we purchased some stickers for our cars and a couple of sweatshirts. Corey did not get any logo clothes because he apparently gets a supply of SU clothing as a member of the XC team. 

The first photo is of Corey in his half of the dorm room. It is a good sized room with a large closet divider down the middle, giving each student a bit of privacy and a clear designation of personal space. The dresser that Corey is leaning on was moved into half of the closet to free up more floor space. The closet doors are easily removed and stored somewhere in the dorm - apparently this storage strategy is fairly common in the dorms. Plus, Corey doesn't need much space for hangers because he has never hung up anything in his life! His half of the room has a window, a desk with storage shelves above it, a bed with a wall lamp at one end. Corey and Steve are sharing a refrigerator/microwave unit, rented through the Bookstore, and Steve has that on his side of the room. We bought some bed risers to raise Corey's bed up and he will store his kayak under his bed. Jim and I thought it was a good dorm room and Corey should be comfortable there.

This is Corey and Steve standing outside the Student Union. Steve is also on the XC team and is from Colorado. We enjoyed our short time with him.

We said our teary goodbyes after lunch (for the record, the tears were mine, not Jim's) and drove to Skaneateles. We had never been to this small town at the top of Skaneateles Lake and since there was a yarn store there that got good reviews, we decided to stop. I got control of myself by the time we found a parking spot but then shed a few more tears with the yarn store owner as she talked about the Syracuse sock project she had just put on display! It was a nice store, but I came out empty handed! We walked around the town and out on the pier on a beautiful day to be doing such things.  We were headed for Geneva, where we had 6 PM dinner reservations at Belhurst Castle. Since we had time, we took the scenic route, driving down the west side of Skaneateles Lake, through Monrovia, and up the west side of Owasco Lake. It was a pretty drive through the Finger Lakes area. 

We arrived at Belhurst Castle in time to change our clothes in the back of the van, visit the wine tasting room at Belhurst, and walk around the grounds, checking out the wedding reception that was getting under way. We ate in a solarium-type room of the castle and had a ringside seat for a 6:30 PM wedding that occurred right outside our window! We had a great dinner. 

On the drive home we made a stop at Eastview Mall to purchase a set of the glasses that were mentioned in a previous post and one more stop at Lugia's Ice Cream shop for dessert. As a note to Corey, there was virtually no line as compared to when we went there with you.

Today we decided to continue our ENA (Empty Nest Adventures) with a trip to Letchworth State Park for some hiking. We did a 6 mile round trip hike where we got to see the Lower, 

Middle and Upper Falls along the Genesee River. We walked to the Glen Iris Inn, arriving in time to see another outdoor wedding, and to the museum, where we learned ourselves a few things! Lunch at the original Tom Wahl's in Avon on the way home and now we are back to our usual Sunday routine. I've been grocery shopping and Jim is out for a run.

Jim goes to Belgium tomorrow, coming home on Friday, the same day that Tucker arrives in town for a week long visit. We can hardly wait to see him.

If you are interested in having Corey's address at SU, put a request in a Comment and I will get it to you. I'm not going to put it in the blog.

Time to knit.