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we left bright n early to head up to state college to meet our dear friends erin and bert for lunch. we were very happy she agreed to be the E! of honor at our wedding!from state college we traveled past gorgeous fall leaves (which these photos do not capture well - the colors were so bright and amazing!)
and peaceful cows in pastures until we got to our temporary home, the hotel utica. i should mention that i sort of have my own method of vacation planning, so i'd looked up pretty much every 
hotel in the herkimer area trying to pick the perfect one for this experience. since this was a special trip, i wanted something with a bit more style than the average motel 6, and the photos and description of the restored historic hotel sold me on it. it turned out to be a fabulous choice. as we walked to check in i heard a loud squeak and turned to see a cage with two lovebirds inside. seriously. their names were romeo and juliet. ej and i shared a cheezy look and hand squeeze. our room was nice and comfy and included a delicious free breakfast each day (travel tip - always pick the room that comes with free breakfast, eat as much as you can and pocket a snack. then you can skip lunch and use your whole day's meal budget on a swank dinner. if you also use a coupon for a free appetizer or entree at dinner then YOU WIN AT VACATION!)from what we could see, there was not a lot of nightlife in utica, which was fine with us because we were kind of tired. we had passedbabe's macaroni grill on our way into town and it looked ok so we went there to get supplies for one of our favorite vacation traditions - takeout ribs in the hotel room.
while we waited for our takeout order, we had a couple of drinks and perused the local free weekly paper. anyone need a meat saw?
we got a good night's sleep and woke up bright and early to head to herkimer. more farms, more cows.there are three herkimer diamond mines in the same general area, and after some internet research (and watching the herkimer diamond episode of 'cash and treasures' on tv)
we chose to start our digging at the ace of diamonds mine. we paid our entrance fee at the gift shop 
and followed the prospector's directions to a field of gray rocks. ej grabbed the sledgehammer and went straight to work while i wandered around for a while muttering 'i don't get it' and looking at the gray rocks, which all looked exactly the same to me. which rocks had my treasure? not long after he'd started breaking rocks, ej found something and handed it to me.
my mouth dropped open as i took in the size of the thing (bigger than i thought we'd find all day) and the fabulous facets, created by mother nature instead of an expert gemcutter. the stone has one large smooth face that really shows of the interesting inclusions. we found a handful of herkimer diamonds over the course of the morning, some larger or more perfectly formed than the first, but i just loved the first one and i hoped it would become my ring.
overall, mining was dope and we plan to go again in the spring to look for some pieces for wedding jewelry. if you'd like to come along, email us at LzandEJ@gmail.com and we'll let you know when we're going and where we're staying.
we took the long way back to utica, past corning (whose glass museum we hope to visit on our next trip up there) and seneca falls. we meandered through quaint neighborhoods, enjoying the colors of autumn and talking about our dreams and plans for our life together. too exhausted to think of anything else to do, we got more takeout from Babe's (travel tip #2 - even if you won't be in town long, be a regular somewhere. they usually notice and give warm greetings or discounts and it's nice to feel special when you're away from home.)
stay tuned to this blog to read part 2 of our trip and to see photos of the ring!
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