6/17 - 6/21 - I arrived in Cleveland the night before. It was so good to see Jennifer and Marius. I haven't seen them for almost a year. Family!!!
Jennifer dropped me off at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, while she had an appointment. I've been to Cleveland an number of times and it was good to finally get to the Hall of Fame. I enjoyed it, but also found it to be a bit overwhelming. I'm not good with too much info coming at me at once and there is so much information and different music playing at the same time. I really enjoyed the Elvis area and videos. They didn't really have anything about his movies, but I think that's what made me love him so much. It is such a contradiction in that people are doing what they love, sharing their talent with the world, but the life is so hard leading to drugs and alcohol and sometimes even death. It is such a shame and it's too bad that it's such a tough life.
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| It was funny watching the videos of people talking about the horrors of Rock and Roll. |
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| Zoe waiting at the top of the basement stairs. She seems to have an aversion to going down basement stairs, which is a good thing as you never know what might be down there! |
Marius took me to the Cultural Gardens in Cleveland and showed me the Lithuanian, Italian, and some others. It's a nice area of the city with some lovely homes across the road.
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| Greek gardens |
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| greek |
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| Italian - the most beautiful |
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| Italian |
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| Italian |
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| Marius is Lithuanian and tends to some of the garden |
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| Syrian? |
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| Sunset over Lake Erie (around the corner from Jennifer's and Marius' |
We went to the Waterloo arts and entertainment district for some amazing pizza at Citizen Pie where they are open as long as they still have dough (made fresh daily). The next night, Marius and I went out to his Tree lawn Social Club and Music venue to check it out and listen to some music by Caroline Cotter. She was acoustic and kinda quiet. I enjoyed that she talked a bit and shared about the songs before playing them. I chatted with her for a bit, which was fun learning about how she travels around the world doing shows staying at people's homes along the way. Fun!
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| Cool artwork in the Waterloo arts and entertainment district |
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| Cooling off in Lake Erie. Actually lying down! |
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| Watching the lifeguard training on Lake Erie |
There was a free Thursday concert at the park less than a block away where I enjoyed watching the sun go down.
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| The great lakes seem to have some amazing sunsets! |
I really enjoyed my time in Cleveland and look forward to going back. Of course I enjoyed spending time with Jennifer and Marius, but I also really enjoyed the city. We didn't do all that much due to the heat and busy schedules, but it has a lot to offer. Cleveland has an undeserved bad rap!
6/21 - I headed out around 11 and took my time getting to Niagara Falls. Zoe didn't get much for a morning walk, so we stopped at Presque Isle for a walk. Once again, it was hot, so we tried to stay in the shade as much as possible. We went out on the beach to get Zoe in the water. I mistakenly took my sandals off and the sand was HOT! Zoe seemed OK. It was a relief to get to the water though!!!
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| No way was I going to let Zoe go in the water on this side. The water was clear, but so much algae. |
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| decapitated? |
I debated on whether to go all the way to the Falls since it was getting late, but I'm so glad I did because I think it was probably less crowded than earlier in the day. I got there at 7 and we ended up walking quite a bit. I had parked at the rapids parking area and then we ended up walking essentially the whole park from there. It was still pretty warm, but there were a few spots for Zoe to get to the water. I was sure to keep her on leash in case she slipped as there is A LOT of water moving by!!! I am so happy that I came up here to see this. I've never been all that interested - just a someday place - but it was really so beautiful. The color of the water and the amazing amount of it flowing over the falls. 75,000 gallons per SECOND!!! I assume that must vary depending on how much rain they've had. Now for the photo dump!
At about 9:30 I decided I better figure out where I was going to sleep. Walmart! It was quiet and felt perfectly safe and I got a good night of sleep. AC on all night. I wish it wasn't so loud, but I love it anyway!
6/22 - I got moving relatively early for me (by 8:30) and headed over to the Rainbow Bridge to cross over to the Canadian side of the falls. I considered taking the van so that Zoe could go with me, but I'm so glad I didn't due to the traffic crossing the borders in both directions. I was also afraid I would have had to toss all my fruits and vegetables even though I was just going for the day. The customs agent said I wouldn't have had to. I didn't like leaving Zoe in the van since I don't have a temp monitor, but I was confident the AC would keep working. I knew I had tons of power available, so that wouldn't be an issue. I parked in a parking lot (pretty empty at this early hour) and got a fully shaded spot. I was only gone a bit more than an hour and walked almost all the way to Horseshoe falls. It really is beautiful and I'm so glad I saw the falls from both sides and you're close to the falls on the US side, but can see the falls in totality from the Canadian side. When I got back, Zoe was fine. We walked around a bit, but once again - too hot! When leaving the lot, there were people hanging out at their truck and they helped me get out of the spot. I could have done it alone, but it was super helpful having their directions!!!
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| From the bridge |
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| From the bridge |
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| American Falls |
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| I would have loved to do the zipline! |
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| Horseshoe Falls |
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| Lots of mist! Everything (including me) was wet as you got near Horseshoe Falls |
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| Back on the US side with the beautiful rainbow |
After Niagara Falls, we headed to Whirlpool State Park. It was so nice to go somewhere without many people after Saturday at Niagara Falls. We managed to keep mostly in the shade on our walk, but being humid and in the upper 80s was tough on Zoe. She was a trooper as always though!
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| Whirlpool Rapids |
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| Such a lovely walk along the rim looking at this amazing colored water |
There were stairs down to the bottom, which I would have loved to do 1 - without Zoe and 2 - on a cooler day. I keep talking about Zoe having a hard time with the sun and heat, but I do too! I can handle the heat without the sun. Once in the sun I feel like I'm melting.
Harvest Host tonight in West Seneca and the Rusty Nickel Brewing Co. We went in around 3 when we got here and had an early dinner and some beer tastings. I finally found one I liked.
6/23 - It was a rainy day, but Zoe and I managed a walk in the morning and then headed to Letchworth State park after I stopped for breakfast at a restaurant. It was pretty good and left me with enough to feed me for the rest of the day. On and off rain all day - I was happy to have rain to clean off all the bird droppings from Cleveland. By the time we got to Letchworth most of the rain had mostly stopped and I ended up hiking to all Lower, Middle, and Upper falls. Unfortunately, Zoe couldn't do all of it due to the heat and many stairs. It is a super nice park with a great campground and really nice parking areas, but it wasn't as beautiful as I was expecting. It is said to be the grand canyon of the east, but really??? One problem was that the water was super brown and after seeing the beautiful waters at Niagara Falls, I wasn't so impressed. I had a good campsite (119), but the next site (117) was super nice (and unavailable). The campground was nice, bathrooms and showers were great. Poison Ivy is on steroids here! Thankfully I'm not super allergic, so it didn't worry me too much (but of course I stayed away from it), even with Zoe walking around in it. It is finally cool and I have windows open and the vent fan going and it was just lovely!!!
Lower Falls
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| I really wonder what made the water so brown as it hasn't been raining |
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| stairs back up from lower falls |
Middle Falls - the tallest falls here
Upper Falls
6/24 - woke to a sunny morning and went for a hike from the campsite. It was wonderful because there was no one else on the trail, so Zoe was off leash and running around. It was cool, shady, and breezy in the woods, so it was just perfect!
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| View from window |
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| Zoe and I went for a hike from the campsite. Beautiful woods, but not much for views. This is the end point of the hike. |
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| 127 shallow steps |
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| Why??? |
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| Cool stone tables |
6/25 - We had a leisurely morning after another lovely shower here and then onto Watkins Glen, which wasn't very far away. The roads are very hilly in this area and at one point on my way, I had to step hard on the gas to get the van to pick up some speed going up a steep hill. During or after that my engine?/transmission? was making some unpleasant noise. Kinda like it was doing in Utah, but way worse. It was running fine, but didn't sound very good. Loud ticking noise. But came and went. Ugh! Something is definitely wrong with Big Bertha. I got a brand new van with the hopes of not having any problems...
WOW!!! The gorge trail is just amazing. We started at the top, which means walking down 180 stairs. The whole trail is 800 steps, so not a super easy trail. Dogs aren't allowed, so I parked in the shade and ran the AC for miss Zoe. I would have spent a lot more time enjoying the hike, if she weren't left behind, but it was great anyway.
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| Rainbow falls |
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| I like seeing the rounded carvings from the water |
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| The trail went behind these falls. |
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| Not a bad office view |
The van didn't sound as bad coming back from the hike.
I was so sweaty after the hike in the humidity that I had to rinse off in the shower. It was a fine shower, but one that keeps shutting off like in sinks in public restrooms. It was fine though.
They have a recycle bin here! So exciting! I've been accumulating recyclables and was really close to tossing them, so I was very happy to not have to do that. It's the little things. 😀
6/26 - Did some hiking with Zoe on the rim trail, but due to the heat/humidity we cut it short to avoid the stairs. There wasn't much for views from the rim trails, so I don't feel like we missed much.
After, we went into town and I got a breakfast sandwich from a restaurant that was super yummy. I then left Zoe in the van in the shade with windows open and vent fan on and walked around town for a bit. I found a dress for everyday wear that will be great when it's hot out and I'm just hanging out. I went into a winery and was going to do some wine tasting, but decided I really didn't want wine at 11:30 AM! I stopped at the visitor center to get some advice on where I could take Zoe on Seneca Lake. She told me to go to a park close to town. When I got back to the van, Zoe was panting and it was warm in the van, but nothing dangerous. We went to the recommended park, but the water was pretty gross, so after talking to some locals, I drove another 15 min north and found a much cleaner area to hang out and cool off. The water was nice and clear here, but at waist deep the weeds got thick and tall, so that's as far as I went. It was pretty chilly, so it worked well to cool me off. We hung out here for a few hours and then went back to town and went to the winery for some tastings. I ended up buying two bottles of their NY Champagne - one for Monika and Laurel and one to celebrate my 60th birthday. Then we went across the street and got a great sandwich from a food truck at the Upstate brewery. While I waited I tasted a couple of beers, but didn't like anything, so I just bought a couple of glasses for the lake.
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| Our spot on Seneca lake |
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| Zoe enjoying some back scratching |
6/27 - I had decided that I would see if I could board Zoe with Jet so I didn't have to worry about her. I was waiting around for the guy to respond to me and then agreed on a time. I went back to the restaurant for another yummy breakfast sandwich and was dilly dallying when I realized that time was getting away from me, so I headed to Ithaca. Thankfully my van stopped making funny noises, so the drive to Ithaca was uneventful, even though it was hilly. Phew!
I stopped to walk Zoe for a bit as I had a bit of time to kill before Sue was going to arrive. She and I met at the pet sitters. It was so good to see her and Jet was thrilled to see Zoe. I'm sure it's better for both of them to have each other when away from home. It seems that she did fine there.
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| Quick stop on my way to the pre-wedding lunch at Taughannock Falls. I had never seen it from this viewpoint, so I'm glad I stopped. |
The evening pizza dinner was at Taughannock Falls park on Cayuga Lake.
6/28 - Monika and Laurel's wedding day! Nice day and venue for a wedding. A bunch of us were able to stay at the venue, which was super nice to not have to drive to and fro. Jennifer, Sue, and Marius stayed in one cabin with a king bed and two twins. I could have stayed in there, but it seemed like cramped quarters and I had my own cozy personal space in my van. I was able to shower in their cabin though. I was parked next to the farm house where a bunch of their friends were staying. It was all very convenient.
There was some flower arranging to do and setup in the morning, but we had a few hours in the afternoon to hang out by the lake.
After the brunch, we went back to the venue and many of us took naps. Including me. It was wonderful! Then off to Marge's for dinner. Sadly I have no photos of today!
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