Final Days at Black Lake, Overnight in Cortland, NY

Our last week at the lake just flew by.  Our last weekend was once again either thunderstorms or high winds. So we only got out fishing about three times.  You can see in the picture below that even the few days we were able to get the boat out - the wind and waves were still pretty fierce!

We didn't get a whole lot of fish, but we both pulled in a nice Bass!

Our (Benjamin) family reunion is taking place on Saturday August 4th.  We had hoped to extend our stay at the Log Cabins another week or two, but unfortunately there was not a cabin available.  So rather than clean and pack and drive 4 hours to Elmira on Saturday - we elected to leave on Friday.  Because it's race weekend in Watkins Glen - it was impossible to get a hotel room anywhere near Elmira.  So we booked a night at the Econo Lodge in Cortland, NY - which is about an hour and 15 minutes from the reunion location. 

Cloudy day...... a little rain and quick stop outside of Syracuse for a quick breakfast and we arrived at the Econo Lodge in Cortland around 2:00 PM.  I swore that we would NOT stay at an Econo Lodge again.  Usually very old and not well maintained.  But we were very pleasantly surprised that this one was well above the normal.  Obviously, recently renovated, very clean, excellent staff/service and quite comfortable.

We couldn't decide what we wanted for dinner, so the owner here suggested we try the Cortland Diner.   We have always been fans of Diners..... everything just seems to have that homemade taste!  This place was excellent.  Everything on the menu from breakfast, hot and cold sandwiches, soups,  burgers and wraps, Hot sandwiches, full dinners, pasta, and fish ( the Fried Haddock was very tempting!)
Rich ordered pancakes with strawberries & whipped cream - I went for the Reuben sandwich. My sandwich was so big I had to cut it and eat it with a fork! And there was enough french fries for THREE people!  And Rich said his hotcakes were Excellent!

And so we're in for the night!  Getting excited about seeing so many of my family tomorrow.  Last count for the number of family members attending the reunion is 127!  I'm sure there will be more people there that I have never met - than people that I know!  I've lost count of how many 2nd and 3rd nieces an nephews I have....let alone the children of my cousins!!  Hope the weather is good........