Matt and I spent just about 24 hours in North Syracuse, New York visiting his mom this weekend. In that short amount of time, we packed in a pretty good tour of the area. We started at Angotti's for dinner, where Matt ordered the same meal he's been ordering for years: eggplant parmigiana. I had something I have been craving for months, pizza from the east coast:
Matt's family has been going to Angotti's for decades now ever since his uncle found a review of the restaurant in the newspaper. The owners and the staff seem to recognize them each time, and more than once we've run into people Matt and his family know. The hallway entrance is covered with restaurant reviews, Syracuse University memorabilia, and photos of famous people, like Tony Bennett, coming in for some Italian food. I usually resist loving things that other people gush about (e.g., the Beatles or Van Morrison), but I can't help it: I'm hooked, too.
After dinner, we headed out to Onondaga Lake, where there are miles of recreation trails. We just walked for a little while and made plans to come back the next day to ride our bikes. I was pleasantly surprised how many people were out and about both that evening and the next morning. People were rollerblading, shuffle boarding, biking, fishing, picnicking, rowing, and walking...
Hopefully, the amount of activity around the lake will help support efforts to clean it up as it remains seriously polluted.
On Saturday, we addressed another one of my food cravings. In Minnesota, I just can't seem to get a decent salami sub. In Massachusetts, I grew up with Greek pizza shops where you could get grinders piled high with provolone and Genoa salami, toasted in the pizza oven, and drizzled with olive oil. In Minnesota, we have Subway and other chains, but I can't seem to find a good grinder anywhere. In Syracuse, Matt and I turn to Wegmans (yes, the supermarket). I know it isn't a mom & pop sub shop, but I can get this:
After we had lunch, we joined some friends of Matt's mother on a boat trip up the Oneida River to Oneida Lake. I hadn't been on a powerboat in a long time, and I always forget how big the lakes in upstate New York are.
A pretty cool pause on the trip was Lock E23. I can't say I've ever been through a lock before. For those of you who might not know, a lock is a device that allows boats to pass through an area of a river or canal where there is a change in water level. After you enter the lock, the large doors close, and the water level is either lowered or raised depending on the direction you are going. The lock we passed through moved about 7 feet, and I was intrigued by the little tiny plants and the tiny, mostly dead, scorpion-looking bugs clinging to the lock walls. I don't one hundred percent understand when and where a lock is necessary, so I'll refer you to wikipedia if you need more info!
So, for someone itching to get to the ocean all the time, Syracuse turned out to be a perfect place for a break. I didn't expect to spend so much time on or near the lakes, but once again, like I said last summer, it's important to realize what perfect spots there are right where you forget to look for them.
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