06-25-25 Mystery Tour

I know some reading this may be return visitors to my blog and will know that I LOVE a Mystery Tour and exactly what that means. But for those who are either occasional visitors that may not have happened upon any of my Mystery Tour posts or are just discovering my blog, here’s the scoop:

I do love a Mystery Tour…..no, I don’t mean an excursion or event similar to a “Murder on the Orient Express” themed thing (I’ve had people who thought that was what I meant….nope!)! What I’m talking about is a day trip where you get on a bus in the morning without knowing anything about where you’re going and spend the day with a group of people figuring out where you’re going to stop next! Yep – you read that right…..I shelled out money (in this case $175) to get on a bus at 8:00 am and the only things I knew for sure were the departure time, the estimated time I’d be returned to my car, that I would be no more than approximately 4 hours away, and that lunch would be provided (ok, so that bit of info is all I REALLY needed to know….hehehe)! From experience, I do know a little more than the novice taking their very first Mystery Tour – I know that there will likely be 2-4 stops with activities, tours, shopping, educational experiences, or just plain cool stuff to see at each stop. The fun in it all is trying to guess where we’re going based on the directions and roads the driver takes.

Today’s tour was a bit different than others I’ve been on….less opportunities to just wander around, shop, explore, and take cool pictures of things that catch my eye! This is absolutely NOT a complaint — just an explanation for those who’ve read my past posts so they know why there aren’t a gazillion photos and tons of commentary, like usual. I’m actually relieved there wasn’t as much walking and exploring as I’ve been used to – my back is a mess right now and even though I had my seated walker with me to help do whatever I needed with as little pain as possible, it was still nice to not have to deal with it this time (to be honest, I was a tad concerned about it this time – so, yeah – the change of pace was a nice relief for me)!

I should also mention that this trip was different because I took “Flat Orly” along for the fun! Who is Flat Orly, you ask? Well…..Orly the Ox is the mascot for Orleans County’s Bicentennial year – the ox was chosen because of the animal’s significant contribution, along with mules, to the workings of the historic Erie Canal during its early days of use. Flat Orly is a fun cut-out version to be used similarly to “Flat Stanley” – take him around with you to take his picture in exciting places. I decided to take Orly out of Orleans County for the day, so you’ll see him in some of the photos from today.

This was our bus, today…..I usually also get a photo of our driver and tour manager, but somehow forgot to do that, today!!! UGH!!! Our wonderful driver was Erin – she was AWESOME! And our tour manager was the amazing Kathy Hamm from First Choice Travel – the company that put the tour together for us…..(insert standing ovation here for the incredible folks at First Choice Travel).

We loaded the bus with about 56 or so people (and Orly) about 8:00 and departed from Batavia at 8:30 sharp!

The first “mystery” that was uncovered actually wasn’t part of the planned day at all…..and wasn’t arranged by the good folks at First Choice Travel or our tour manager or driver! It happened when we were gathering in the parking lot and getting on the bus…..imagine my surprise when I discovered that these two former high school classmates and still (after all these years) friends were also on the tour…..and none of us knew the others were booked on it! they had heard about these mystery days from me and decided to give them a try – each had a friend with them and weren’t aware the other was coming. They both kinda assumed I might be there, but weren’t sure, and I had no idea they were going to be there! What fun!!! It was great to see them and I hope they enjoyed the day and that it won’t be their last one!

Our first stop was in Auburn, NY at the NYS Equal Rights Heritage Center & Auburn Visitor’s Center located at 25 South Street in Auburn. It was a quick pit stop with time to wander around a bit – we were there about a half hour or so. The Equal Rights Heritage Center has interactive and educational displays that highlight the many, many New Yorkers who fought for Human Rights, Civil Rights, and Women’s Rights throughout our history. There were photos everywhere with quotes from each of these heroic icons – far too many to read in the time we had, so I scanned each wall for familiar names and read their quotes. I understand there is also a statue of Harriet Tubman in their courtyard that I didn’t get to see — Auburn is where Ms. Tubman spent a large portion of her life and her former home is open to tours nearby – I hope to visit that site someday. The center also has a large selection of locally sourced products available to taste and purchase in the “Taste NY Market” section….so shopping did play a part in the day’s activities.

After leaving the Equal Rights Heritage Center, we drove a short distance to our lunch stop: Springside Inn located at 6141 West Lake Rd in Auburn. This is a beautiful family owned inn on Owasco Lake in the Finger Lakes region that hosts weddings and events and has elegant rooms – it was established circa 1851. We had a wonderful lunch there. We were asked to pre-order from a choice of Stuffed Roast Pork Loin, Stuffed Chicken Breast, Baked Cod with Lemon Butter, or a vegetarian option. I chose the Stuffed Roast Pork Loin – it came with mashed potatoes and a vegetable medley, a salad appetizer, rolls, and beverages – I had a lovely cup of tea – and was topped off with a slice of cake for dessert. It was all so delicious, but WAY too much to eat! The food and conversation over lunch was relaxing and perfect for the day! Everyone seemed to enjoy their meal choices as much as I did mine!

It was about a 15 minute or so drive to our next stop – the main event of the day! The Cortland Repertory Theater at 6799 Little York Rd in Preble, NY. I had never heard of Preble, NY before. According to info I found, Preble is in Cortland County in the Finger Lakes region south of Syracuse near Cayuga Lake. Preble consists of 28 tracts of land which were given to soldiers of the Revolution in lieu of money for service during the war. The current population is about 1500-1600 people.

The Cortland Repertory Theater is a professional theater group established in 1972 – they are in their 54th season of productions. The Little York Pavilion is a lovely theater in a refurbished historic building overlooking a beautiful lake setting with stunning views. I told Kathy that if she told me the plan was to sit on one of the benches looking out at the lake for the next few hours, I would have been just fine with that!

But….the plan was for us to see the current production of Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple”. What a riot that was! I do, however, have to confess that after that huge lunch just prior to getting to the theater, I did nod off a couple times in the first 10-15 minutes or so of the show! I didn’t full out fall asleep, but I did kinda lose full consciousness ever so briefly a couple times (and it definitely was the full belly to blame and NOT the show or the cast)! Luckily, the audience was laughing so hard that they kept me from sawing some serious logs! hahaha! It wasn’t long before I got past my drowsiness and really got into the show — it was such great fun! And the actors were really very good! Everyone had a wonderful time and enjoyed a couple hours of laughter. The theater was FULL – there was another bus load and quite a few people that came individually in cars – I don’t think I saw a single empty seat once everyone was seated and the show was ready to begin.

My favorite part of the play??? When the four guys that played Oscar and Felix’s poker buddies would come out dancing to ’60s rock hits while changing the set between scenes…..it was such fun to watch them take stuff away and put stuff out and move stuff around all while dancing to songs a lot of the audience broke out singing and/or bee-popping in their seats to (including me)!

Some more photos taken at the theater – including shots of a super cute circus wagon we saw from the bus on the way up the driveway:

We had one more pit stop on the thruway somewhere in the vicinity of 1/2 way between Preble and Batavia – we stopped for about a 1/2 hour to stretch, take care of business, or grab a bite to eat (not me — I was still full from that huge lunch – I enjoyed sitting out in the warm sunshine)! I didn’t take any photos there….not that interesting…..hehehe!

It was a long, full day….even without the usual walking and exploring…..but it was a GREAT day!!! I was exhausted by the time we were well on our way home — so was Orly!!! I’m thankful he kept himself from stabbing me with those horns of his!!! hehehe

In closing….another perfectly fun and interesting Mystery Tour in the history books!!! I can’t wait for the next one in October and then the final one for this year in December (which I still need to sign up for – the date and info wasn’t out on the list yet when I signed up for the other two, so I better get my name on the list soon before I miss out)!

I’ll leave you with this shot of the sky on the way home…..it was the most perfect day, weather-wise and while this evening photo came out looking like storm clouds, it was actually very lovely with beams of light shining down through the clouds! The bulk of the day was warm, but not too hot, slightly breezy, and the most stunningly blue sky crammed full of sunshine!

Check back soon…..you never know when I’ll slip in a post about some wonderful adventure in between my Daily Photo Challenge posts!!!