Cross-Border Shopping Again After More Than 2 Years

Skip and I travelled to the Syracuse NY area on Monday for a cross-border shopping getaway. The Tru by Hilton we stayed at is located in the parking lot of one of two Costco stores in upstate NY. A Home Depot was a block away and a Mexican food restaurant two blocks away. 

I was disappointed with the poor Wifi at the hotel this time. It was intermittent and only occasionally could I get my VPN to connect. The room was smaller than I remembered. Last time I stayed there was on a girls' trip and there were 2 beds in the room so maybe they have bigger rooms for that configuration. Otherwise, it was a comfortable stay. I rarely complain about food that I don't have to prepare myself but the steak tacos I had La Azteca Mexican Restaurant were also a disappointment. The steak was overdone and very gristly and chewy. I should have had one of the enchilada plates even though they didn't have just beef enchiladas. My frozen mango margarita was spectacular. There was only one other table of guests in the room we ate in. I'm guessing when they saw us masked, they knew we wouldn't want to be in a crowded area. We felt comfortable dining indoors there as a result.

After supper, we went back to the room, watched a bit of TV and crashed really early. We were pooped from the 4+ hours of driving, all the excitement of being out and about again, and not having travelled more than 300km from home since March of 2020.

Yesterday, I spent a couple of hours at JoAnn Fabrics in Fayetteville. Then we drove over to Wegmans for lunch. They have hot and cold prepared food and lots of well spaced-out tables where we dined outdoors. It was lovely. We look pretty happy here.

After lunch we shopped at Hobby Lobby and TJ Maxx. I really didn't NEED anything but did indulge myself a bit. At JoAnn's I did get the rotating cutting mat that I had wanted and was able to use several coupons for my overall purchase.

In no particular order, this was most of the rest of my haul yesterday.

A watercolour tablet.

A couple of jelly rolls and a charm pack of patterned white on white fabric.

Some stamps.

Three colours of #12 perle cotton.

Butterfly charms (to use as zipper pulls, maybe?)

Some evenweave and linen fabric for my stash.

A circle-drawing tool.

A corner trimming punch

An acrylic stamp block.

A stamp pad that I thought was black but on closer inspection is midnight blue.

And some lobster claw clasps.

I also got a new Baggallini purse at TJ Maxx which should last me for as long as the cross-body travel bag I purchased about 20 years ago.

For dinner, we ate at a restaurant in the same plaza area as the hotel - The Brasserie Bar & Bistro. Again, we were able to dine al fresco and avoid an indoor crowded space. It was lovely and so close to our hotel. Watched the TV in the room and I caught up on the January 6 hearing on YouTube that had happened earlier in the day. 

We weren't as tired but still got to bed at about 10. This morning, we got up, packed, and checked out before 9 and dropped into Home Depot again for a couple more things that Fred wanted, then hit the road northward. There was very little traffic and we crossed the border before noon. There wasn't a big lineup so we didn't have to wait too long to get through. I had the ArriveCan info for both of us on my phone. We were only asked the usual questions: where we lived, how long we were away, if we had any alcohol or tobacco, and the total cost of the goods we were bringing in. I had the ArriveCan QR code showing on my phone which she may or may not have glanced at. She handed our passports back and we were on our way. No delay at all. No scanning of the QR code. No hassle at all.

We drove along the Ivy Lea Parkway and stopped for lunch at McDonalds in Gananoque. Then got home before 3. We got the A/C going right away. Thank goodness we checked it last week and got it repaired then. I certainly wouldn't want to be without it tonight.

This is Fiesta Week - the first since 2019 so we'll probably go for take-out food.

The trip was a big success. We did as much shopping as we wanted for the short time we were there. We wore our masks indoors and the only meal we had indoors was in a practically vacant room. We never felt like it was too people-y. The weather was great, the bed was comfy, the TV was huge, and the shopping was lots of fun.

As always, it's good to be home.

Once home, I got online with my Wednesday Zoom group and did a bit more stitching on my faux Sashiko piece. I had issues with one of the balls of B5200 perle cotton. It looked like it had yellowed or something - quite a contrast from the threads I'd already stitched. I had to pick out a bunch of stitching as a result and re-stitched with a brighter ball of B5200. Then today when I picked it up, I grabbed the wrong ball again and stitched some more which I had to pick out and re-stitch. I only have one square and the rest of two squares to stitch. 

It was a fun exercise but again, I'm not sure how I will FFO it. 

I bet two rows of 6 designs would make a great front of a project bag. Hmm. I think I have more navy fabric, too. Stay tuned.