Yesterday we arrived in Waterloo as part of our Finger Lakes long weekend trip. We’re only here for a couple of days and there are a ton of things to see.

We drove up the scenic route that took us through some really tiny communities. The signs actually called them villages. One of the places we saw was Bradford. From what I could tell it was a blue collar little town. We stopped there to have some lunch at a place that had a decent rating online called Chef’s 117.

While walking from the car to the restaurant I spotted a Gameboy micro for sale in the window of some electronics shop. I finally got one of those things. It just needs a power cord.

Chef’s 117 was pretty good. I had the bacon and tomato omelet with some steak. Too many tomatoes for my taste but it says it right in the name.

Back on the road.

We arrived at our AirBnb for the weekend and were greeted by Jeff and his wife LeAnn. They are both firefighters with Jeff being the Fire Chief. They are both super nice people and the cottage we are staying at is amazing.

After we got settled in we headed out to begin our adventures.

Our first stop was a five minute drive to Bottomless Brewing. They are in a converted farm house and have two tap rooms. We went to the second floor because the first floor was too crowded.

We each had a flight and then I also had a pint of the IPA because I drank my flight too fast.

The were closing soon but we got a chance to speak with the owners. They were both very pleasant and gave us a bunch of great suggestions on what we should do and see during our stay.

Taking their advice we headed towards Linden Street. On the way we got distracted by a little antique and vintage store, Serendipity Boutique, where Maura bought some artwork and a pair of antique headphones.

On Linden street the first weekend of every month they have a little street festival during the summer. There was live band and people sitting outside. Things were just shutting down as we arrived.

Our goal was the Linden social club. This was recommended to us by the owner of Bottomless. As it turns out the owner of the Linden is the head brewmaster of Bottomless.  We had a couple of beers and didn’t partake of the cocktails. Our bartender was the husband of the owner. His father is from Pittsburgh. Small world. We also happened to catch a bottle of Wigle whiskey on the shelf.

From there we walked around the block to check things out. We stopped at a small bookstore that oddly didn’t seem to have a lot of books. Then we continued on towards another recommendation, The Red Dove tavern.

We each had a beer while we split a bowl of the buffalo style fried chickpeas.

By then we were getting tired and it was time for our Friday night pizza. We were recommended a couple of different spots but the one we decided to check out was Ciccino’s. We placed our order and bellied up to the bar for a beer while we waited for our food.

Pizza in hand we returned to our cottage to call it a night. Maura managed to drop the pizza, which of course landed upside-down. She then proceeded to carry it like a book. However the pizza didn’t seem to suffer from this ordeal. It remained intact. The pizza was good but it was nothing compared to our beloved Spak.

*All photos are credited to Maura Mixter