Road Trip You MUST Take – The Record Archive [PHOTOS]

I had a lot of people asking me where I was headed to while I was on vacation. The simple answer was: "no where." People don't like that answer. It's a sympathetic reaction of, "aww, well that can be fun, too!" Yes, I know, that's why I did it. That and lets be honest, traveling costs a lot of money for the equal amount of fun I can have right here. But, that doesn't mean I did nothing while I was off for the week.

In fact, I did quite a bit when I think about it. It started with a boyband fix (that needs to happen every so often for me to function properly.) New Kids On the Block were in town just over a week ago and it was everything I hoped and dreamed it to be.

I also got the flooring finished upstairs in my house (finally!) I took a trip to my Nana's pool (which I never get to do!) I also weeded out the entire house and had a garage sale (up walks customer who takes a double take: "hey, you're the girl from the radio!" internally: "Yep, that's me...now buy my crap." *smile with teeth*)

On Friday I hopped in the car on a rainy Albany day and headed to Rochester. As a music lover, when I found the spot I was going to visit, it seemed like a must! A couple weeks prior to my road trip, I had lunch with a friend from the Boston area who also just visited this spot and they agreed, knowing me, I had to go!

So where did I head to? It's called Record Archive and it's so super cool! I love all music, I love hard copies of music, I love vinyl and cds and cassette tapes (yes, because why not?!) They have not only all of that, but laser discs, dvds, clothing, pop culture items, electronics from all eras, they even have a bar and you can have a drink while you're searching through stuff. From time to time they'll have performers come in a showcase their talents on the stage set up in the bar area, as well.

I couldn't have had a better experience - well, wait, I do have one suggestion to them. While they definitely have a system and are organized alphabetically if I could have found a 90's and newer section, which is where my heart will always lead me, I could've been in my own little heaven and probably spent a fortune. Instead, I walked away with New Kids On the Blocks very first release on vinyl and a couple other boyband items before heading back on the road.

If you are a music lover and collector, you must go and check it out. My one suggestion is knowing what you're looking for before stepping inside because you may overwhelm yourself otherwise. I had a moment of standing there thinking to myself, "Wait, who do I like again? Where do I start?!" It was such a cool experience! It reminded me of all of the shops I love so much in Nashville. Now if we could only get a place like this in Albany! What a treat that would be!