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If You Grew Up in Upstate NY.......


RevWarRifleman

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4 hours ago, RevWarRifleman said:

How many of you swam in the Erie Canal?

 

 

Me & all my buddies did a lot back in the 60's. But as I look back now and remember that water in those days, I wonder how I was able to 

survive in that stuff.  But jumping/diving off those high bridges was a rush.

 

What say you? Got any "war stories"?


heck, yeah! In the late 80s/early 90s, in rochester, we would jump off some of the bridges, old locks, and walls into the canal in our sneakers. We called it “scumming.”  The cops were always looking out for kids scumming, so you had to do it on the down low. I was never as daring as my friends, and would mostly do it off lower cement walls, not bridges or locks (still probably 30 feet high). 
 

A buddy of mine also had a rope on a tree And we would swing out over the canal and jump in.

 

in hindsight, it was pretty dangerous, given all the wood, debris, and other junk floating around there.
 

 

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4 minutes ago, Miyagi-Do Karate said:


heck, yeah! In the late 80s/early 90s, in rochester, we would jump off some of the bridges, old locks, and walls into the canal in our sneakers. We called it “scumming.”  The cops were always looking out for kids scumming, so you had to do it on the down low. I was never as daring as my friends, and would mostly do it off lower cement walls, not bridges or locks (still probably 30 feet high). 
 

A buddy of mine also had a rope on a tree And we would swing out over the canal and jump in.

 

in hindsight, it was pretty dangerous, given all the wood, debris, and other junk floating around there.
 

 

 

My sister had very long hair when she was young. It saved her life. We were at some quarry or lake with a giant wood float in the middle. Somebody jumped on her, knocked her in the head and knocked her out. Somebody else saw a long pony tail floating out from under the raft. He reached down and pulled on it. And eventually my sister appeared. 

 

We are all lucky to have made it this far! 

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2 hours ago, Augie said:

 

My sister had very long hair when she was young. It saved her life. We were at some quarry or lake with a giant wood float in the middle. Somebody jumped on her, knocked her in the head and knocked her out. Somebody else saw a long pony tail floating out from under the raft. He reached down and pulled on it. And eventually my sister appeared. 

 

We are all lucky to have made it this far! 


So frightening!  You are right— all the freak dangerous stuff that we all survived as kids! 

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10 hours ago, Limeaid said:

 

Looks person who wrote that had a POV of NYC person.

 

This is from someone who passed every Regents Exam with a score of 95 and higher.

 

Actually, it's the official designation from New York State.  Everything north of the NYC metro (ie, north of Westchester and Rockland Counties) are part of Upstate New York.   That's from somebody who worked for New York State for more than a decade, including a stint with the old Department of Economic Development (it has a new name these days) that included the "I Love NY" tourism program.

 

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12 hours ago, ExiledInIllinois said:

NYS subdivided into 2 main parts, then subdivided into 9 distinct regions either in Upstate and Downstate. 

 

The Erie Canal in its entirety runs through Upstate New York. 

 

1. UPSTATE:

 

Region 0 – Capital/Saratoga — Albany

Albany
Columbia
Fulton
Greene
Montgomery
Rensselaer
Saratoga
Schenectady
Schoharie
Warren
Washington

 

Region 1 – Eastern Adirondacks — Plattsburgh

Franklin
Clinton
Essex
Hamilton

 

Region 2 – Western Adirondacks — Watertown

Herkimer
Jefferson
Lewis
Oneida
Oswego
St. Lawrence

 

Region 3 – Central New York — Syracuse

Broome
Cayuga
Chenango
Cortland
Madison
Onondaga
Otsego
Tioga
Tompkins


Region 4 – Finger Lakes — Rochester

Chemung
Genesee
Livingston
Monroe
Ontario
Schuyler
Seneca
Steuben
Wayne
Yates


Region 5 – Western New York — Buffalo

Allegany
Cattaraugus
Chautauqua
Erie
Niagara
Orleans
Wyoming

 

2. DOWNSTATE:

 

All the BS areas associated w/NYC

 

Region 6 – Hudson Valley — Kingston

Delaware
Dutchess
Orange
Putnam
Sullivan
Ulster

 

Region 7 – Westchester/Rockland — White Plains

Rockland
Westchester

 

Region 8 – Long Island — Hauppauge

Nassau
Suffolk

 

Region 9 – New York City

Bronx
Kings
New York
Richmond
Queens

 

Where did you find this treasure trove of information?

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15 hours ago, Chef Jim said:

Hmmmm.  The Erie canal doesn't go through Upstate NY.  ;)

 

14 hours ago, Gugny said:

Upstate?  I think you mean "Western!"

 

15 hours ago, RevWarRifleman said:

How many of you swam in the Erie Canal?

Me & all my buddies did a lot back in the 60's.

 

Back in the 60's and 70's the Rochester area was considered Upstate. There was even an insert magazine to our Sunday paper titled UPSTATE. Not sure exactly when the Rochester region became associated with Western NY or the Finger Lakes but it wasn't always that way.

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54 minutes ago, Steve O said:

 

 

Back in the 60's and 70's the Rochester area was considered Upstate. There was even an insert magazine to our Sunday paper titled UPSTATE. Not sure exactly when the Rochester region became associated with Western NY or the Finger Lakes but it wasn't always that way.

 

Just because the insert called it Upstate doesn't mean it ever was.  What that likely means is whoever decided to call it upstate was from NYC.  

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13 hours ago, Augie said:

 

My sister had very long hair when she was young. It saved her life. We were at some quarry or lake with a giant wood float in the middle. Somebody jumped on her, knocked her in the head and knocked her out. Somebody else saw a long pony tail floating out from under the raft. He reached down and pulled on it. And eventually my sister appeared. 

 

We are all lucky to have made it this far! 

"Lucky" is right, Augie! I'm glad your sister survived. I almost punched my ticket at least 3 times in the canal. One by drowning, one by

hitting my head on a rock at the bottom, and the other time almost falling about 60 feet into a shallow, rocky creek going under the canal

on the back side of a spill way. Boys being boys in our neighborhood.     thanks for posting, Augie.

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1 hour ago, TBBills said:

I don't even know what this thread is about, the only thing I learned is people don't like being called upstate.

I like it!

 

Only @Gugnywants to be called Upstate...Everyone else is below him.  Why he puts au jus on a beef & weck and makes it a French dip! 😆  

 

He wants to be better than the rest and still rally around BFLo bar cuisine! 

 

😏

 

Hey... @Beerball I put my pants on one leg at a time AFTER I finish swimming! 😆 

Edited by ExiledInIllinois
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On 3/7/2022 at 7:51 PM, ExiledInIllinois said:

NYS subdivided into 2 main parts, then subdivided into 9 distinct regions either in Upstate and Downstate. 

 

The Erie Canal in its entirety runs through Upstate New York. 

 

1. UPSTATE:

 

Region 0 – Capital/Saratoga — Albany

Albany
Columbia
Fulton
Greene
Montgomery
Rensselaer
Saratoga
Schenectady
Schoharie
Warren
Washington

 

Region 1 – Eastern Adirondacks — Plattsburgh

Franklin
Clinton
Essex
Hamilton

 

Region 2 – Western Adirondacks — Watertown

Herkimer
Jefferson
Lewis
Oneida
Oswego
St. Lawrence

 

Region 3 – Central New York — Syracuse

Broome
Cayuga
Chenango
Cortland
Madison
Onondaga
Otsego
Tioga
Tompkins


Region 4 – Finger Lakes — Rochester

Chemung
Genesee
Livingston
Monroe
Ontario
Schuyler
Seneca
Steuben
Wayne
Yates


Region 5 – Western New York — Buffalo

Allegany
Cattaraugus
Chautauqua
Erie
Niagara
Orleans
Wyoming

 

2. DOWNSTATE:

 

All the BS areas associated w/NYC

 

Region 6 – Hudson Valley — Kingston

Delaware
Dutchess
Orange
Putnam
Sullivan
Ulster

 

Region 7 – Westchester/Rockland — White Plains

Rockland
Westchester

 

Region 8 – Long Island — Hauppauge

Nassau
Suffolk

 

Region 9 – New York City

Bronx
Kings
New York
Richmond
Queens

 

Show off

😊

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