Alan Doyle playing Rochester is a good excuse for another New York trip.
I took the usual Wednesday night red-eye, arriving in Syracuse on Thursday, August 24. A flight low light was in Chicago airport – my united pass was not good at the united club in my terminal and the person said I needed to go over 3 terminals. No thanks. A light rain preceded my Syracuse landing. Bill picked me up, drove to Dunkin Donuts for an emergency coffee then off for the first of many Onondaga park walks. Then the required nap. We then drove to Borio's to watch the slow sailboat races.
Friday was an all-day tour of Rochester. Tried to get Adam Donle at RIT to join us, but he had singing try-outs. As co-pilot, I could not determine why Google maps had us leave a highway to later join up the same highway. Then we ran into road construction and will forever believe Google maps. Our first stop was for a double IPA at Rochester’s Dinosaur Barbeque followed by the River Walk to the High Falls.
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| I Think We Found the Trail. |
Enjoyed a stop at the River Walk Museum. There was a pedestrian walkway over the Genesee River with a spectacular view of the falls on one side and the Genesee Brewery on the other.
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| View towards the falls... |
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| ...and view the other way. |
Reminder, the brewery had an outdoor cafe with a perfect view of the falls. Need to return to take a tour and check it out. After our walk, we ended up back at the Dinosaur for chili nachos and another beer. We then drove to the East Side and walked around East Street and Park Avenue. There was the usual wow housing. Then we wandered around the Eastman House’s outdoor gardens.
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| The first floor is only french doors. |
The Alan Doyle concert was outdoors in Fairport. The site was a quaint stop on the old Erie Canal whose waterfront has been developed since Randy lived there. The Jumbo Shrimp, a 2 person band, opened the concert and were great. The second band, out of Boston, was more popular but I still liked the first better.
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| Bill and I were again second row. Worth the Trip. |
Alan was third and was his usual greatness. Bill sent Rick Soliway a picture of the High Falls with my usual “where in the world is Carmen Sandiego” question. He recognized it. He was in Rochester for his High School reunion. We wanted to get together after the concert, but I was dead tired.
Saturday was the usual grab a bagel breakfast from Bruggers and enjoy it with a walk in the park. Lunch was ice cream at the mall and the highlight was dinner at the Stevens.
All 5 were there plus Emma, a friend of Mesi.
Sunday: another bagel and walk of the park, farmers market, ice cream at the mall. The day was highlighted by dinner with Tina and watching the Laura-trained Liverpool HS band perform. Laura was out of food and broke, so we all went to Wegmans shopping so mom could buy.
Monday (fly day): Stella’s for breakfast followed by a long park walk. Always great conversation on those walks. As for flying – NOT SO FAST. The flight was canceled and I got on an early exit flight on Tuesday morning.
