Archives for 2007

Luke’s party on Skaneateles Lake

August 2, 2007 by Michael

Luke Walker, a great photographer and friend, invited a group of fellow photographers and other wedding professionals to his cottage at the southern tip of Skaneateles Lake this past Tuesday. It was a great time and the weather was fantastic. It has been a beautiful summer from my point of view, and we’ve escaped the really HOT weather… at least until today. But Tuesday was just perfect, not too hot, not too cold.

Marybeth Longo provided some heat on the grill, as is becoming a tradition. She grilled some awesome chicken and her now famous “Corn on the Cob Flambe.” What is the secret recipe to corn flambe? Well as best I can gather, you first soak the corn without removing the husks, in water for a while. Then you turn the grill on until it reaches super-nova stage. Once the proper temperature has been reached you put the corn on the grill and close the cover. Then you walk away and talk to your friends for a really long time. Once you realize the corn is in flames, it’s done! I love it!

Luke and his sweetheart, Alisha Clark, another awesome photographer, struck a pose for the camera. By the way, I was the only person with a camera at the party. I’m a DJ, not a professional photographer. Let’s see, we had Brady Dillsworth (a professional photographer), Sarah and Matt Antonino (both professional photographers) and Marybeth Longo (who is a videographer, but that’s close enough to a photographer for me)… and I’m the only person with a camera??? What’s wrong with this picture? (no pun intended)

Thanks Luke for a great day. Wish I could have stayed a bit longer. Enjoy the rest of your week there.

Michael Erb on Bridge Street with Rick and Julie

July 2, 2007 by Michael

This morning was my second appearance on the program “Bridge Street with Rick and Julie” which is broadcast on 9-WSYR, Syracuse.

My first appearance was back in February 2007, when I talked about unique places to get married in Central New York. This morning I had the pleasure to talk about some “out of the ordinary” places to go for family fun. It was so much fun being able to speak on television about a few of the wonderful opportunities there are in Central New York for entertaining activities.

Here is the list of the unique activities that I discussed on the show…
1. Malabar X, a beautiful schooner that sails on Seneca Lake from Seneca Day Sails in Watkins Glen.
2. Esperanza Rose, is a 65′ wooden cruising vessel that offers sightseeing tours on Keuka Lake.
3. Adirondack Scenic Railway, offers nostalgic train excursions into the Adirondack Park.
4. Harris Hill Soaring Center, offers glider rides and has a Soaring Museum in Elmira, NY.
5. Hoopes Park, has a Tuesday evening, Music and Movie night on the lawn in Auburn, NY

Here is a link to the actual video of the live broadcast.

I’ll be on Bridge Street with Rick and Julie again on July 25, 2007. See you then!

XC Skiing at Bear Swamp

February 17, 2007 by Michael

The past week has been so cold, snowy and windy that it has made it difficult to get out in order to enjoy the opportunities for skiing that this weather has created. But today was the day. It started off rather chilly, around 15 degrees but as the morning progressed the temperature rose into the mid 20’s. Put that together with blue skies and bright sunshine, it made it into a perfect day for XC Skiing.

I loaded up the car and headed out to my favorite spot, Bear Swamp. Bear Swamp is a State Forest at the South end of Skaneateles Lake, near Sempronius. It’s a beautiful area and has a lot of trails. So much snow had fallen the past week that the access road was actually impassable for vehicles. I had to park along side the road with lots of other people and had to ski about .2 miles to reach the trailhead.

Fortunately there had been some snowmobilers and snowshoers out tromping around on the trails otherwise it would have been a bit more challenging skiing as the snow was so deep. Unfortunately I don’t have backcountry skiis, which float up on the show a little better than my skinny touring skiis. All in all it was an incredible day skiing and here are a few photos that show you what it was like.

The snow continues in Upstate New York

February 16, 2007 by Michael

I’ve had so many friends and family emailing and calling. They all want to know exactly how much snow has actually fallen here because Network TV has been painting a pretty bleak picture.

Well, most of the worst weather has been to the North East of Camillus. Places like Parish, NY, Oswego, NY and Pulaski, NY have seen in excess of 12 feet of snow in the last week. It’s unbelievable how much snow they’ve gotten.

In Camillus, just in the last couple days we’ve had in excess of 2 feet of snow. Together with the 25-30 mile per hour winds that we’ve been having, it has made some for spectacular drifts and lots of driveway clearing… like a couple times per day.

Here are a couple of hastily taken photographs…one out the back door looking towards the woods and the other out the front door. You can see that we’ve got a lot of drifting, snow on roofs, and plowed snow that nearly covers mailboxes. It’s great for skiing!

Now if the weatherman can be beleived, we’re supposed to see temperatures possibly in the 40’s next week. Could flooding be far behind if that happens?

Winter vacation in St Thomas (USVI)

January 28, 2007 by Michael

I look out my window today and see snow. Lots of snow. Not only that but it’s cold. Very cold. Did I mention windy? So let’s see… Windy, Cold and Snowy. Hmmmm. A week ago however, I was in St Thomas with my wife and some friends. It was sunny, warm and breezy. Now don’t get me wrong, I love the snow, I love to XC Ski and I love upstate New York because of the seasons we get… but I’ve decided that I also love St Thomas in late January. And I can’t believe it’s over. Just not fair.

Our group rented a beautiful villa called The Caribbean Countess. It was located on the North Side of the island overlooking Magen’s Bay in Peterborg. Renting a villa is really the best if you’re going with a few people. You get privacy and the total cost per person is not really much different than if you were staying at a resort Hotel. In fact you may end up saving money by renting a villa.

We had a really fun time exploring the island. One of the beaches we ended up at more than once was Coki Beach. It had great snorkeling and some excellent “beach food” served by very friendly locals. For more serious eating, we discovered some wonderful restaurants. For lunch, our favorite was Glady’s Cafe in Charlotte Amalie. Only open for breakfast and lunch, Glady’s had a nice atmosphere, excellent food and very reasonable prices. I’d recommend it highly.

For dinner, we found a couple excellent restaurants. In Red Hook, the East End Cafe was one of our better finds. Excellent service, a very nice wine list and great food made this Italian & Seafood restaurant a winner!. We loved the delicious homemade desserts made by Judy.

But the Gold Medal has to go to Mafolie Restaurant in Charlotte Amalie. Perched high on the side of a hill, it overlooks the port and provides a breathtaking view at sunset. A wonderful relaxed atmosphere with excellent service and food that is superb made this our favorite restaurant in St Thomas.

For a great milkshake with a kick (Amaretto, Baileys, Kahlua, etc), go to Udder Delite Dairy Bar. $3.50 will get you one of the best milkshakes you’ve ever had. Virgin milkshakes are also available. It’s right on the way to Magen’s Bay.

A great day trip is to take the ferry to St John. You can either take the vehicle ferry if you’ve rented a car and want to drive around St John or you can take the people ferry. They run every hour during the day. St John is much less developed than St Thomas and has pristine and largely empty beaches, great snorkeling and a much more relaxed pace since the island is 2/3 U.S. National Park.

Something to see on St John are the Annaberg Ruins, an abandoned sugar plantation from the 18th century.

Here are a few images from the trip. Some were taken on St John, a short ferry ride from St Thomas. The Anaberg Ruins were very interesting. The Sunsets and Sunrises were spectacular and the villa that we stayed in, The Caribbean Countess, was incredible.