Summer is over. [Sad face]

We took Avery and Nora to the airport last Friday for their return trip to Germany. I've been reasonably okay in the past when seeing A off on any of his overseas trips, but this was the hardest time I've ever had. We had so much fun with the two of them and it was such a joy having them stay with us that I had to do everything I could not to just lose it as I saw them meander their way through the TSA checkpoint.

What makes me feel better is that I know they are adults and have to go about their adult lives, and I know that Nora's parents are there and they'll be there if Avery needs anything. He may be thousands of miles away, but he's in good hands

Day Five of the Labor Day Vacay

This is the final installment of this electrifying series.

So we woke up relatively early on Monday, September 5 (actual Labor Day) and headed on the road back to Niagara Falls. We had all filled out the online ArriveCAN app on our phones to get into Canada. After my last horrifying adventure with the Canadian border (in pre-pandemic 2019--I believe I wrote about it here), I was concerned about getting beyond the border without a hassle. In fact, I felt a bit anxious about it the entire drive to Niagara Falls.

As usually happens when I worry about something, the actual source of the anxiety ends up being completely uneventful, and in this case the Niagara Falls Canadian border patrol guard was a perfectly polite and kindly fellow who let us in with a smile.

Nora was excited because it was her first time in Canada and she was able to add another stamp to her passport.

Despite overcast skies, misty rain, and a chill in the air, the Canadian falls were delightful and worthy of multiple photographs. The general eeriness of the cloudy conditions may have made Niagara Falls even more awe-inspiring.

We probably spent a good two hours in Niagara Falls, Ontario--making this easily the most time I have ever spent at this particular natural wonder. (I had previously been to the falls in 1993 and 2015. I don't think Lynda and I stopped there in 2000. If we did, I have no memory of it).

After poking around in the massive Niagara Falls visitors' centre (note Canadian spelling), we set off for Sarnia. Sadly, this is one of the most boring drives in Canada. There is not much to see beyond the drab office parks, shopping strips, and factories along the highway. We did, however, make a pit stop at an A&W restaurant in St. Catharines and a Tim Horton's in the charming small city of Ingersoll (near London). The Ingersoll sojourn only happened because I accidentally blew past the highway rest area.

After Ingersoll, the rest of the journey home was fairly uneventful. There was a bit of a hold-up getting into the U.S. after crossing the Blue Water Bridge. The final hour stretch home was livened up by a 1980s dance music mix on some forgotten Sirius radio station.

So as you can see, we had quite a wide-ranging and active five-day vacation.

Day Four of the Labor Day Vacay

I better finish up this Labor Day Vacay series before a) I forget what happened and b) my readers completely cease to care (assuming they already DID care).

So on Day Four (Sunday, September 4) we collectively agree to check out Watkins Glen State Park, which is on the south end of Seneca Lake, about a half-hour(ish) drive from Ithaca.

We didn't anticipate the huge crowd at Watkins Glen, but we should have. It was the Labor Day weekend, after all. Even though there were a lot of people, and they made climbing the hundreds of narrow steps of the Watkins Glen gorge falls a bit tight and mildly treacherous, they didn't detract from the amazing beauty. Watkins Glen has to be seen to be appreciated.

We returned to our hotel in the early afternoon sweaty and dirty. We cleaned ourselves up, and walked up route 13 to the Barnes & Noble about a mile from our hotel. (It's been a pleasure to discover how much Nora likes books and bookstores). We, of course, got iced coffees from the Starbuck's cafe in the store and spent close to two hours browsing. All four of us bought books. I bought Donna Tartt's The Secret History, a book I have intended on reading ever since listening to the podcast Once Upon a Time at Bennington College.

After the B&N adventure, we embarked on a new adventure: trying to find a restaurant in downtown Ithaca. The city was hopping and every eatery was packed. We were finally able to get into Monks on the Commons (in the Marriott Hotel--a place we'd considered staying in but was booked). It took the wait staff about a half-hour to decide who was serving us, but eventually (9:00 pm or so) we were able to eat. Avery and I had the house gnocchi which was excellent--and probably even better considering how hungry we were.

We returned back to the hotel and prepared for the long journey home.

Next: Day Five.

Day Three of the Labor Day Vacay

I meant to write yesterday about Day Three of our Labor Day Vacay. 

So we fought traffic and much larger crowds on September 3 to view the falls from the city of Niagara Falls, NY (and not Goat Island). The first stop--after thankfully finding a parking spot in one of Niagara Falls' massive parking ramps--was Starbuck's. I must emphasize how much all four of us love Starbuck's. Yes, I know it is a giant monstrous corporate coffee chain, and I'm not necessarily proud of my devotion, but the product is consistently good. So we stopped there, as we did often on this vacation, and I got my iced brown sugar oatmilk shaken espresso and was ready to face the hordes.

The view of the falls was as equally impressive as it was from Goat Island. Niagara Falls reminds us of how small and insignificant we are as humans--at least that is my theory. There is something awe-inspiring to witness this enormous cascade of water tumbling 170 feet. The sheer power, danger, and beauty of the natural world right in front of us.

After about an hour, we were ready to head out of town. It wasn't the falls that we we were tired of, but the crowds of tourists get to be a bit much. So we trudged back to the parking ramp, got in the car, and headed to East Aurora, New York.

East Aurora was home to Elbert Hubbard and the Roycrofters. Roycroft was a collective of artisans, artists, and crafts people and a birthplace of the Arts & Crafts movement of the early 20th century. This description is a bit reductive and sells Roycroft short. East Aurora is a lovely small town and is home to both a revived collective of Roycroft crafts people AND the Roycroft Inn. L. and I spent a few nights at the Roycroft Inn on our honeymoon in June 2000. We hadn't been back in 22 years. I was happy to see it hadn't changed much since then.

After a few hours in East Aurora, it was off to Ithaca, another place we last visited on that June 2000 honeymoon. We checked into our hotel on route 13 (all the hotels in downtown Ithaca were booked), took some time to rest and recuperate from the day's activities, then headed into town to eat dinner at the Moosewood, a famous vegetarian restaurant that--yes--we dined at in June 2000. I had a vegetarian jambalaya and it was splendid. It makes me wonder why I don't just go full vegetarian, but I don't know if I could prepare food as scrumptious as the Moosewood.

Ithaca is a wonderfully weird, funky, freak-flag-flying college town, home to both Ithaca College and Cornell University. It's like a smaller Ann Arbor with better scenery and less pretension. 

Next: Day Four.

Day Two of Labor Day Vacay

So after I putzed* around Progressive Field taking pictures from every conceivable angle and location, we checked out of our hotel (Hilton Garden Inn) and hit the road for Niagara Falls, New York. (Initially, there was some concern about whether we should attempt to venture to the Canadian falls, considering one of our travelers is a German citizen and we weren't sure how difficult that would be to get through the border. Spoiler alert: it was fine. We saw Niagara Falls from the Canadian side on the drive home).

We arrived at our hotel (Double Tree on Buffalo Avenue & 4th Street), which was along the Niagara River, in the early afternoon. Thankfully, we were able to check in early and get all our luggage and perishable food up into our rooms. Seeing that we could easily walk from the hotel to Goat Island, we set off. 

The weather was bright, sunny and warm--but not uncomfortably warm. We saw the falls from the observation areas of Goat Island and then on a whim decided to go on the--I don't know how to describe it--walking excursion of the Cave of the Winds which takes you to the base of the Horseshoe Falls. You are handed rain ponchos and believe me, you will need it unless you want to get your clothes and entire body soaking wet. It is quite an exhilarating and visceral way to experience Niagara up close. It also made me re-evaluate my previously negative opinion of the U.S. side of the falls.

After our Goat Island excursion was over and we returned to the hotel, we celebrated Avery's 21st birthday at the DoubleTree restaurant. I certainly was feeling too tired from the day's activities to go schlepping around for a restaurant, so it was a relief when Avery decided the menu looked favorable. As it turns out, the hotel restaurant had excellent food. The only downside was the air conditioning seemed to be set at roughly 50 degrees Fahrenheit and the live musical entertainment was terrible. Our wonderful waitress was kind enough to relocate us to the outside patio, where the evening temperature was around the mid-70s and we couldn't hear the bad music. (Hey, I respect anyone brave enough to put themselves out there and perform live, but this guy was rough).

A recurring theme of our trip was re-watching the final season of Breaking Bad on our Fire Stick (it was Nora's first time watching the show), so we retired to Avery and Nora's room and watched an episode before going to bed.

*Spell check doesn't recognize Yiddish.

RenFest update and Day One of our Labor Day vacay

First of all, and update on the Renaissance Festival. It was fine. Aside from the temperature being a bit hotter than I'd have liked--I find the RenFest to be more enjoyable by late September when the temps are in the low 70s--it was a pleasant time. It didn't get too busy until about an hour before we left. Even though I'm really not the biggest Renaissance Festival fan in the world, after all we have been through with Covid, I had the tastiest giant turkey leg I have experienced in a long time.

Last Thursday (September 1), we headed off on a five-day vacation through Ohio, the little sliver of northern Pennsylvania that pokes up between Ohio and New York, then New York State, and finally into Ontario before returning to Michigan. We brought Avery and Nora with us.

We arrived in Cleveland at about noon on Thursday. As soon as we parked in the lot on Lake Michigan near the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, we were greeted by the ear-piercing sounds of several blue military jets streaking over the skies of Cleveland. It was the Blue Angels. They were in town for a Labor Day air show and were apparently "practicing" that day in preparation for the big show. They were truly an awe-inspiring sight, but the intense loudness became overbearing after about fifteen or twenty minutes. We made our way on the short walk to the RnRHoF.

I had never been to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before, but I am happy that I finally made it there. I have griped and complained about the hall for years. (Why do some people get in and others do not? Do we really need an institution for what is supposed to be rebellious and/or proletarian music? In other words, the standard gripes). As it turns out, the RnRHoF is anything but austere or stuffy. It is fun and, befitting a building devoted to rock and roll music, quite LOUD. It felt like walking the halls of a college dorm with every room blasting a different kind of music. The only part missing was the aroma of pot or stale booze wafting in the air. 

We spent about four hours in the RnRHoF and could have easily stayed longer. I'm not sure how much "the kids" enjoyed it, but they were at least good sports about it and indulged the old man. The most memorable artifacts? Probably U2's charmingly mundane talent show trophy from 1978 and Jim Morrison's Cub Scout uniform. (Jimbo was a good scout--he earned all three badges. My sorry ass only attained the Bobcat and Wolf badge. Morrison got those AND the Bear badge).

We spent the night in a perfectly pleasant hotel just a line drive's distance from the Cleveland Guardians' stadium, Progressive Field. The following morning, I strolled over to the stadium and took several photos. I have decided that next summer I want to get tickets for a Detroit Tigers/Cleveland Guardians game and stay in the very same hotel so that we can just walk to and from the stadium. I was quite taken with how vibrant downtown Cleveland truly is. I had heard the city had made giant strides but it was good to see it myself.