Reddit's Fantastical Voyage Pt. Nine

7:00pm - Deserted picks us up from the airport. Showers.

8:00pm - RIT meet-up.

9:00pm - Garbage plates at Henrietta Hots

11:00pm - I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1

September 25^th

11:00am - Get up. First time sleeping in on the trip.

12:00pm - Dinosaur BBQ

1:00pm - Abandoned subway system

4:00pm - Artisan works outside

6:00pm - Dinner at the Old Toad

8:30pm - Lots of PBR at Lux

12:30am - Off for another night at the airport

4:30am - Get up and stumble through security

6:00am - Flight to Boston via JFK

Ah, decaying Americana. My overriding impression of Rochester is that outside of the university areas the town seems to be slowly falling apart. It's as if if I kept visiting every ten years or so the city would be more enveloped by plants, more crumbled, and less populated until it becomes an empty ruin. And if you are me, you think thats awesome.

The day we arrived we only saw some of the areas near Rochester Institute of Technology and met the Redditors from the local colleges. This group holds the record for most nerdy Redditors on the trip thus far, which is pretty fantastic, and also has been one of the largest turn outs. Utility-belt guy and Mr. Dance photographer, I take my hat off to you. Don't stop doing what you do. We all went out and Tom and I got our first taste of a garbage plate, the local delicacy where a bunch of stuff is piled on a plate and covered with a greasy sauce not unlike grill scrapings. They are cheap and delicious, but I would avoid the salt potatoes unless you really, really like salt.

When the Redditors parted ways there was not much else for Tom and I to do that night, so we headed back to our host's house. Here we were introduced to an amazing new game, I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1. Best game soundtrack in ages, simple (derivative) game play, but it comes together really well with the music. Just by writing these last few sentences the music is now stuck in my head. Would play again A+++++.

The next morning we slept in for the first and only time on the trip. It made us feel groggy for the rest of the day, but it was an opportunity neither of us could resist. We got lunch at Dinosaur BBQ before heading down into the abandoned subway line beneath downtown Rochester. Built in the 20's or 30's, it runs from one side of Rochester to the other, apparently from the housing areas to the Kodak/Eastman factories. It was shut down in the 60's and used solely by the local paper to make deliveries when the weather was bad and is now only used by homeless people, kids getting drunk, graffiti artists, and for epic games of paintball. It is extraordinarily easy to get into considering it is supposed to be blocked off and well worth the trip. Bring good flashlights.

With nothing to do until dinner, we tried to check out a collection of artists' studios on the edge of town, but it wasn't free and we are cheap, so we walked around their garden outside before heading back to our host Deserted's house. After another round of I MAED A GAM3 W1TH Z0MB1ES!!!1 we were passed on to our new host for the night, Askedrelic. We got dinner at a British pub before heading out to a cheaper bar down the street. Many PBRs were consumed; nothing too eventful happened. And then off to another night at the airport. Tom and I would both like to thank the Rochester airport for having actual couches (with cushions!) for us to sleep on. They were so comfortable compared to our normal airport sleeping accommodations we slept through our alarms, but we still made it on the plain with time to spare.

Next stop: Boston.