Saturday September 6. We left at 6:45 AM and arrived at Tin Barn Brewing's Hudson Valley location a few minutes before it opened at 11:00. This is their original location, which opened in 2021 (I had been to their Finger Lakes location in 2023). It's a nice big venue with a truck that has benches in the back that you can sit on, a big outdoor patio, a tiki bar, and a sky deck. The first beer listed below had two names: Chasing 28 pays tribute to the New York Yankees and Ya Gotta Believe pays tribute to the New York Mets. I bought a 4-pack of it (2 cans each); the top right photo shows the two different can designs.

• Ya Gotta Believe / Chasing 28 (good NEDIPA)
• OOOMGS - Out of Order Melted Gelato Slushie (nice smoothie sour) (collaboration with RaR and 450 North)

Then it was off to Equilibrium Brewery, where I had been in 2023.

• MC² (pretty good DIPA)
• Players (pretty good 11% ABV imperial stout with Madagascar vanilla beans, Fiji cacao nibs, toasted coconut, and espresso)
• Barrel-Aged Whittle's Work (quite good thick 17% ABV imperial stout aged 36 months with vanilla and coconut) (collaboration with Toppling Goliath)
• Barrel-Aged Pistachio Dream Dessert (quite good 17% ABV imperial stout aged 24 months with pistachios, pecans, coconut, marshmallow, and vanilla)

While I was drinking, Melissa wandered around Middletown and found some neat places, including an Italian pastry shop and a pinball/record/head shop.

Next we went to Common Roots Brewing's Albany Outpost. You have to pay to park there via scanning a QR code and using your credit card. The plan was for me to drink here, then walk to another brewery to drink, while Melissa walked to a dispensary, then we would meet back at the vehicle. I paid $5.35 to park for 2 hours, walked to the brewery's entrance, and ... it was closed for a private event. I hate when breweries do this. I always responsibly do my research to make sure that I arrive at a brewery when it's open, and occasionally they do private events that throw a wrench in the works. Anyway, here is a photo of the front of the place.

It wasn't a total loss because this brewery isn't the reason I had us travel to Albany. A little over half a mile away from Common Roots is Fidens Brewing. I'd visited their old location in nearby Colonie, which was just a warehouse, in 2023. Now it has a big taproom, which opened later that year. We arrived a little before 3:00. Melissa went to a dispensary while I sampled:

• Placed Flowers (quite good 12% ABV QIPA)
• Triple Overshadow (good 10.5% ABV TIPA)
• Triple Kaleidoscope (quite good 10.5% ABV TIPA)
• Jasper With Nelson (good DIPA)
• DDH Waiheke (quite good DIPA)

I bought a 4-pack of DDH Waiheke, then we headed to Beer Tree Brew, which has 3 locations. I had visited their Downtown location in 2023. We arrived at their Farm location at 6:15. I tried:

• Chromosphere (pretty good NEIPA)
• Juice Land v2 (pretty good IIPA)

We stopped at a dispensary called FlynnStoned, which has about 10 locations. We were at the one in Binghamton.

We checked into the Red Roof Inn in Johnson City. There was a problem with the key cards. We were unable to get into our room. The woman at the front desk made new ones, which also didn't work. She tried making cards for another room, and they didn't work either. We were ready to leave and find another motel until she got the manager to come over. Apparently their electronic locks are very particular about how you tap the key cards. We finally got in around 8:00ish. It was a tiny room with cobwebs in the corners, and no fridge. I've stayed in worse shitholes, but at least they were cheap. This place charged $110. Anyway, we got stoned and crashed.

Sunday September 7. We left at 7:00 and drove through many fog patches to SheQuaGa Falls. There wasn't nearly as much water cascading down as when I'd been there two years earlier.

Then it was off to nearby Watkins Glen State Park. When we started our hike at 8:45 it was cool and sunny.

We drove up the west side of Seneca Lake past farmland to the Keuka Outlet Trail, arriving at 11:00. There were quite a few Amish or Mennonites who arrived via horse and buggy. We hiked to Seneca Falls...

...and Cascade Falls.

We drove past more farmland to Other Half Brewing's Canandaigua location, which sits right at the top edge of Canandaigua Lake. We arrived around 1:15. They brew at this location. I sampled:

• HDHC Special Combo #4: Death by Radioactive Broccoli (pretty good IIPA)
• Gouda (pretty good IIPA)
• Juiced Juice (pretty good IIPA)
• We Ded Mon (Freaky Friday) (good 11% ABV NETIPA)

View of the lake from the taproom.

Their Bloomfield location is located 7 miles west. I'd been here in 2023.

• TDH Hey Echo (good IIPA) (collaboration with Monkish, Oxbow, and The Veil)
• Double Citra Daydream (pretty good imperial oat cream IPA)
• Space Diamonds (pretty good IIPA)
• All Citra Everything (pretty good IIPA)

Irish Mafia Brewing is nearby, but its Untappd rating is so low that we didn't bother.

Next we visited Aurora Brewing's Rochester location (which is actually in Pittsford) a little after 3:00. It sits next to a canal. Melissa was getting hangry so she went in search of food while I tried one beer:

• Pink Lobster (good hazy DIPA)

At 4:00 we arrived at Mortalis Brewing's location in Rochester called The Richmond (I had been to their FLX Avon location in 2023). Melissa ordered a pizza and I sampled:

• Khloris (good DIPA) (collaboration with Fidens)
• Lupus Salictarius (good 10% ABV TIPA) (collaboration with Equilibrium)
• NYX Coconut (nice thick 10% ABV imperial stout)
• Azreal (quite good 10% ABV imperial stout with granola, baker's chocolate, vanilla, and oats)

We checked into a Super 8, which was nicer and much cheaper than the previous night's motel, and crashed early.

Monday September 8. We had breakfast at a nice diner-type restaurant called Waystone Restaurant & Trading Post. It had some relics such as an old radio and an old cash register. The food was good and the service was friendly.

We arrived at Letchworth State Park at 10:00. It's a big park with several waterfalls. First we saw the Lower Falls.

Next we saw the Upper Falls.

Then we saw the Middle Falls, which is the biggest.

Lastly we went to Inspiration Point, where you can see the Middle Falls and the bridge over the Upper Falls.

We drove down to Williamsport PA, which has several breweries (including Bullfrog Brewery, where I had been in 2011). We didn't have time to hit them all, so we went to New Trail Brewing, arriving just after it opened at 3:00. I sampled:

• White Out (pretty good hazy DIPA)
• DDH Broken Kingdom (pretty good HIPA)
• Werewolf (pretty good imperial pumpkin stout)
• Barrel-Aged Werewolf (good 10% ABV BA imperial pumpkin stout)

We made it home just after sunset. It had been a lovely trip.