What I did on my Autumn Vacation
I’m home from my trip to New York and Ohio, so now it’s time to catch you up and tell you all about it.
This is the view from the second leg of my red-eye. The first leg was a full flight, so I did not have a row to myself, but the others in my row were quiet and it was fine. The second leg was less crowded, and I had the row to myself. I went against all sense of decorum and took a picture of the snoring guy across the way, plus the woman with her red hoodie on backwards covering her face. Also on the flight, my phone decided that vacation was the best time for the camera to stop working properly. Probably bad karma for taking this photo.
The first part of my vacation was spent with my darling friends Marilee and Paul, who live in Lewiston, New York. They have a business, Spotlight Sojourns, where she writes about travel and he photographs their adventures. The link above is to their post about the historic town in which they live. As you can see from the map that Paul put together for the post, Lewiston is on the beautiful Niagara River.
When you look across the river, you get a view of Canada! What a beautiful border to our two countries! I don’t spend much time on the border of two countries, so I could not stop marveling that WOW, that’s Canada! Right there!
Longtime readers know that my absolute favorite historic figure and personal hero is Harriet Tubman, so I was especially interested in Lewiston’s history as the last stop on the Underground Railroad, commemorated by the Freedom Monument sculpture by artist Susan Geissler. I like this picture because you can see Canada across the river.
Here’s a better picture of the monument, though it lacks the view of Canada in the background. The monument depicts a family of three passengers, real-life stationmaster Josiah Tryon, and fictional heroine Laura Eastman from children’s book, Freedom Crossing.
The same artist created the Tuscarora Heroes Monument, created to thank the local Tuscarora people who helped save dozens of women and children during a British attack during the War of 1812.
I liked this little Peace Garden, commemorating the friendship between the US and Canada.
I didn’t sleep on the airplane, but I wasn’t too tired and enjoyed seeing the sights of Lewiston, including the famous Hibbard’s frozen custard. They have 4 standard flavors, plus two extra ‘flavors of the day’. I enjoyed the black raspberry and vanilla that I had that day, but even better was the cherry variety that we had a few days later.
Paul grew up in St. Catharine’s across the river, and still has family there, so after years of celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving for Ted (born in Ontario), I finally got to spend Canadian Thanksgiving in Canada! Paul’s sister, Voula, prepared a beautiful meal, and we enjoyed the company of her son, Aki, and his wife, Laura.
Monday we took a boat tour of the Erie Canal, which I had no idea I wanted to do until suddenly I very much wanted to do, and was so, so cool.
Tuesday we went back over the border to Canada, this time to visit Nance’s favorite winery in Niagara on the Lake. We walked around their charming downtown, then moved on to see the magnificent Niagara Falls. As you can see, Marilee knows how to prepare for the mist and breeze in the hair department, and I do not.
Wednesday was time to move on from beautiful Western New York to Ohio, so I rented a car in Buffalo and hopped in the car. I’ll admit that I was a little anxious about driving in a big city I am so unfamiliar with, but it was a breeze, and once I got onto Interstate 90, the drive was beautiful, with full fall foliage on display. It was an easy, beautiful drive.
Here I am (or at least my creepy eye) in Pennsylvania for the first time since 2000, and look! There’s a Great Lake behind me! Amazing! My only complaint about the drive was that I did not see a single horse. Not one. Also, no cows. I call BS. Once I got to my destination, I finally had a chance to stop and got a new phone. WHAT A RELIEF. My old one had trouble keeping a charge, and the camera issue was not getting any better. I was having to turn it around and use the selfie side to take pictures. It was incredibly annoying.
Does this beautiful Doggo give you any hint of who was next on my trip? That’s right, I got to spend some time hanging with Birchie! We toured her lovely town, had some good meals (and ice cream!), went to a national forest for a wonderful hike, and explored her neighborhood.
Who knew? Ohio has locks too, just like the Erie Canal! Everything was so beautiful, we had a great time.
After a few days with Birchie and Doggo, we drove to Nance’s lake house. Yes, that’s right, we went to Nance’s lake house! On the way, we saw 4 horse and buggies carrying Amish folks. I took this blurry horrible photo. Finally, horses! We had a lovely dinner of Nance’s excellent cooking, and then Birchie went home and I stayed to visit with Nance and Rick for a few days.
Time spent with Nance and Rick is time well spent. The lake house is beautiful, Nance is an excellent cook, they have a little boat, and their quiet banter is utterly charming. Example:
Nance: Are you going to have tea this morning honey?
Rick: Probably
Nance: What the hell are you waiting for?
Rick: The mood to strike me.
End scene.
Saturday we went for a lovely walk, and then in the afternoon, we were joined by the fabulous Maya! She had an important deadline for work so couldn’t spend the night, but she took the long drive down and back in one day. It was so, so wonderful to have some time together.
Sunday we took the boat around the lake, which was relaxing and beautiful. Here’s a picture of sunrise that morning. It was in the low 30s in the morning, but thankfully warmed up enough for us to enjoy our boat ride.
Later we drove to Nance and Rick’s regular home (and I saw more horses!), and then we went to dinner at their favorite restaurant (which was wonderful!).
Monday we took a walk around the neighborhood and looked at Halloween decorations, and later went to see her son Jared and his family. That’s right people, not only did I spend time with Birchie, Nance, and Maya, I got to meet Nance’s grandson, Theo! OMG, worth the price of an airline ticket right there. I also got to meet Sam, Nance’s other son, when he came by later.
I took this photo on a walk near the lake house. There was some great ‘leaf peeping’ action on this trip. I came home to trees that are a few weeks behind, and gas prices that are about $2 per gallon higher.
Tuesday morning Nance and Rick got up way before the crack of dawn to get me to the airport by 5:30, in time for my 7am flight. Way too early. Thankfully my flight home was uneventful, and due to time zone differences, I was on the ground by 11, home by 1. When I got home, Ted had started dinner for me, so later that day, all I had to do was boil some water for pasta and heat the tomatoes/garlic/shallots/parsley he had prepped.
I had so much fun on my vacation – time with Marilee and Paul (Marilee and I met in grad school, in Latin class, so I’ve known her for almost 35 years – she and Paul moved from SF to NY in 2018, and they love it there), time with Birchie, time with Nance and Maya and Rick. It was a wonderful trip, I’m so glad we were able to make it happen, and I’m so thankful to all of my gracious hosts! Highly recommended.
