Schenectady, NY (USA)

[I woke up around 0730 and got ready for the day - Carolyn said she would still be asleep, so I took my time at breakfast in the hotel - all the hockey kids were watching the Olympics (US Hockey) - I looked out the window and noticed that it had started snowing again, so I hurried out to my car at that point and drove the short distance to where Carolyn lived - I had no problem finding it (near intersection of I-87 and I-90) and parked out front of her house - she saw me and let me in around 0900 - since she still wanted to get ready, I spent about an hour shoveling her driveway so I could get in/out with the car - she gave me a house tour and then she took me on a tour of the town, including many drops for her magazine - it was lightly snowing but was otherwise pleasant - we returned to her home and made plans to spend some time in Schenectady (I found an events calendar that said the Capital Region Wine Festival was being held at Proctors, an old theatre/events center) - Carolyn doesn't drink wine, but she still agreed to go with me - before the event began, we bought our tickets (1220) and then walked around Schenectady - we found some good stores, including Lemmons Irish Shop (where I bought some things for the kids) - when the event started (1300), we already had our tickets and wrist bands - we were able to go right in and I started checking out many of the more than 50 tables with wine, local food and other "cultured" items - it was very enjoyable to relax, talk to other folks sampling wine - Carolyn had fun with a "designated driver" gift bag and got to eat the food, too - I had a funny experience with the staff when I tried to find a restroom (they tried to tell me I wasn't supposed to crash their private event because they didn't see my wrist band - maybe I was looking a little scraggly, but it is VACATION!) - we stayed for almost the full three hours and Carolyn got to leave some magazines at Proctors - we went back to Carolyn's and found there was about an inch of new snow (I didn't feel like shoveling) - while Carolyn reviewed the draft of her next magazine edition, I took a nice nap - when I woke up I realized I must have forgotten my medicine last night (no wonder...) - this led to a trip to the nearby Price Chopper with Carolyn to pick up some supplies (including Tums) - we had a nice evening at her home, playing with the cats and eating a light meal - we ended up watching a Tom Cruise movie, "Oblivion", which Carolyn really liked - I went to bed close to midnight - what a fun day!]