Still affected by Covid, the trip originally was scheduled to include NYC but that was cutout mainly due to Leonid and Friends postponing their Connecticut concert. Oh well.
Wendy requested our presence in her family’s cottage on the evening I arrived. I begged off, requesting a Liverpool overnight to clear my head from redeye travel. Bill and I drove north to meet Wendy at her cottage the next day.
Such a beautiful, quiet, and serene cottage. What else to expect from Wendy? Just walking in the entrance and seeing the dining chandelier – Yup, that’s a Wendy creation. I’ll say it again: beautiful, quiet, and serene. You feel the stress of the world melt away by just walking the pathway to the dock to overlook a still inlet. We talked, catching up on family and life and stopped whenever (1) an egret/hawk/eagle flew overhead or (2) a loon took a quarter-mile to complete a water takeoff. Live in the moment.
Wendy, Bill and I took out SUPs to investigate the waterway. Surprisingly I did not end up in the water. Gordon arrived and proceeded to put on a fly fishing demonstration from the dock. Poetic. The sunset was seen from their skiff. So beautiful. The next morning, I missed a Gordon text asking how I like my coffee, being that I was on the deck, deep in a yoga pose and appreciating the goodness that comes into my life.
I am fortunate to have friends in Wendy and Gordon.
Thursday evening was spent at Borio's catching up with Craig, Dick, and Charlie (Bill’s regular Thursday night crowd). Another friend, Phil, joined in. Most of my evening was spent catching up with Charlie due to dinner seating but it was worth it.
Bill had a weekend regatta that was little interest to me so we bid “see ya later” and he took off. My weekend was one of decompressing, walking the neighborhood and an additional Onondaga park walk.
Time for a road trip. Tuesday, Bill and I took off for the first stop, a day visit to SUNY Brockport. Yes, my old college stomping grounds. Well actually one of several colleges but that’s another story… Our plan came together well; we were to walkabout Brockport village first then campus. We parked then walked to the village just in time for the impending rain to start. Time to stop in Barber’s Grill and Tap for a pint and nosh while watching the rain come down. Good times.
The rain let up just as we stepped out to check out downtown and the Erie Canal. Then we walked to campus. There were plenty of “I don’t remember any of this…” but it has been 38 years.
Next on the day’s agenda was Rochester. First stop was walking around Highland Park. I lived sooo close to this park in the ‘80’s and rarely visited. We checked into the downtown Holiday Inn and walked the walking trail to Genesee Brewery. Great view of the High Falls for happy hour.
Then on to Dinosaur BBQ for dinner. We caused a bit of confusion for the Hostess when we gave up our table to sit at the bar for dinner.
Wednesday, breakfast was at a diner near Highland Park. Beautiful area. Then on to Letchworth State Park. Regrettably, I did not see much of NY State beauty until I left it – and now I crave it. Letchworth calls itself “The Grand Canyon of the East”.
I think it’s prettier. Certainly greener.
It’s about 17 miles end-to-end so we stopped at several viewpoints and hiked into some. Then we had our usual late lunch at the Glen Loch Inn near the middle falls. Just beautiful.
We traveled onto Ithaca for our Canopy by Hilton hotel room. Impressive hotel, in the Ithaca main (walkable) commons area. A quick shower then walkabout for dinner. Every place was a 1+ hour wait. We walked, looked over the Carl Sagan Planetary layout in the commons then decided it’s time for a pint. We scored outdoor seating while dining and watching the world go by.
Thursday we went up to Cornell University. What a beautiful campus. Disappointed the Bell Tower wasn’t opened (Covid) but we found great viewpoints everywhere. Incredible gardens.
We discovered the Big Red Barn was again closed for our visit – this makes it twice in the past three years it has been closed. Plan B was lunch at the Cornell Dairy Barn. We got there just in time to see yet another rain drizzle. Bill thought I had been here before with him; nope this was my first Cornell Dairy Barn visit. We settled that he miss-thought I was Vance/Cathy when they were dropping off their daughter at Ithaca College.
So down the Ithaca hills to get to the car. On the way I discovered the Nanotechnology building, tried the door (unlocked!) and walked in. There were several active labs but when walking by an office I spied an ASML shipping box!
We took off for Skaneateles Lake for a village walkabout. But since Howie/Diane were elsewhere we skipped the usual Doug’s Fish Fry and continued to Liverpool.
Tina and Mark invited us to Sylvan Beach for Saturday afternoon. Their Liverpool home was showing for sale so they escaped to an offered beach home for the weekend. It was somewhat cooler and brisk for late July but the sun was shining. And Adam showed up. Good conversations centered on the Del Rosso moving picture known as their family. Mark grilled up some excellent cheeseburgers.
The rest of the trip was spent in Syracuse. Monday, Bill and I went to Syracuse University and walked the campus and Marshall Street. Campuses are so inspiring. A late lunch was a slice of pizza and pint at the Varsity. Indulgent. Tuesday was time to visit the Irish section of Syracuse. We saw the upside-down traffic light and also discovered a monument nearby.
Another late lunch was at Coleman’s for a Smithwicks and split a Corned Beef sandwich. Living large. Wednesday, we met Tina and Mark for lunch. Tina shared that their home sold over the asking price and they got to stay in the home until the end of October. Staying later worked for Tina so they could get in the two weddings, associated parties, and then plan to move out.
