NIAGARA FALLS

For Glenda’s 56^th, we went to Niagara Falls, riding on Amtrak’s Maple Leaf from Manhattan.  It’s a pretty ride in the fall, although it was a bit late in the season for best color. 

We decided to stay on the U.S. side, as the news made us a little leery of going into Canada, even ‘though Ottawa was many kilometers away.  Plus, while the view of the falls may be better in Canada; on the N.Y. side, you’re nearly close enough to touch them.  And the observation deck to the North of the American Falls offers a very good view besides.

For a real close-up experience, of course, nothing beats the Maid of the Mist.  By the way, this is where Glenda’s waterproof cell phone camera worked much better than my standard digital SLR.  (Less lens to get wet.)  Thankfully it was the warmest day of our stay, so although we got soaked around the edges of those silly plastic ponchos, we weren’t cold.  It also helped that I borrowed a pair of Glenda’s tights to use as long johns.  (It’s good to have a tall fiancé).  One aspect of this little voyage for which I was not prepared was the incredible amount of wind generated by all that falling water.  Made it hard to stand!

Niagara’s a tiny little place, and we were both really close to the falls and had an excellent view from our room.

This view also included the fireworks on Friday and Sunday.  (You knew there had to be fireworks, of course, didn’t you.)

We were also across the street from the casino, so the Seneca Nation is richer by several hundreds of our dollars.

There are plenty of places to eat, but many cater to the large Indian and Oriental visitor populations.  To mention a few, we had really great meals at the Red Coach Inn

and Leon's Bistro (the sausage pizza will make you take a double take),

and a mediocre meal (in both food and service) at the Western Door Steakhouse (not worth the surprising trouble to get a reservation).  The restaurant at our hotel made great burgers but little else of note.

Speaking of meals, we had dinner at Delmonico’s in Manhattan on Wednesday night.

Ready to hit NYC

We had a gift card which Glenda had won some months earlier (which will be the subject of another post) and since we stayed in NY that evening to make our 7:15 train the next morning, we indulged.  The service was impeccable and food was divine; the Porterhouse they brought Glenda was immense and properly cooked, and my salmon was cooked to perfection.  We sort of overdid it on the side dishes.  Apparently they’re intended for two, so some of the asparagus got left.  At their prices this sort of meal will be, for most of us, reserved for very special occasions, but it will be worth it.

One other note about Niagara Falls is that a car is more than handy to get around away from the tourist area.  The taxis are not reliable.  We were able to do a little shopping, and also ran the 20 miles up to Fort Niagara on the edge of Lake Erie.

One last thing.  Mixed in with the usual large population of squirrels are dozens of black ones, which was an unusual sight for me.

APOLOGIA

An apology is certainly in order.  I have let my blog lie fallow for more than three months, but they have been three very busy and happy months for me.  On July 5^th, I visited Camden to see the fireworks, and got a lot more than I bargained for.

I am normally reserved around strangers, and am not at all forward with members of the fair sex.  But for some reason this tall dark-skinned lady caught my eye on the River Line train.  Maybe it was the purple tinge in her hair, her height, or the retro outfit, but she definitely stood out.  In any event, I noticed she was rubbing her knee like it bothered her.  I was carrying my cane, as I usually do when I am going to be on my feet for a while, even though I didn’t need it most of the time.  So as we got off at the Entertainment Center, I uttered what has to be the lamest line of all time: “Do you wanna borrow my stick?”

That got a chuckle, but she declined with thanks, and I lost sight of where she went, so I figured that was that.  However, later on I was on a waterfront bench, in good watching position, when she came by and sat on the other end of the bench.  In a complete fit of bravado, I told her she needn’t sit so far away, as I didn’t bite.  Then I waited like Jack Benny and added “much”.

We were so perfectly at ease with one another right from the start, ending the evening holding hands and cuddling on the bench with the fireworks exploding overhead.  I asked her to go with me to Lavallette’s fireworks the next evening, so I ended the night with a date and a very pleasing kiss.  Here is Glenda during our Lavallette trip.

The rest, as they say, is history.  I had thought I would never be lucky enough to meet another woman to fall in love with, but apparently I’m not destined to go through the rest of my life as a lonely old man.  My mind boggles at all the things that had to go right for us to meet: the same train; the same part of the same car; the second encounter.  Glenda told me later that she nearly didn’t come, and was on point of leaving when she walked by the bench.

You all know I don’t believe in divine guidance, nor in fate, which makes our meeting all the more wondrous to me.  I feel so monstrously lucky, and am doubly amazed in that she professes the same wonder and love.  Some would say we have proceeded too quickly, but I say that we have simply accepted the self-evident position we are in.

In any event, stay tuned.  I’ll get this journal up to date over the next few weeks.  Bits and pieces have already been on Facebook, by the way.

WESTWARD HO! - VISIT #1

I've recently returned from yet another jaunt to the west coast to visit friends, by train as usual.

First stop was in Seattle.  Kathy, Bob, and I clambered over about a mile of rocky beach to see the unique treehouse that Pete Nelson built for the show "Treehouse Masters" in 2011.  The story was that a couple owned a piece of beachfront property that wasn't large enough to build a conventional house, so Nelson created a treehouse in the general shape of a lighthouse.  There didn't appear to be anyone home when we arrived.

Neat, huh?

The shoreline has the wreckage of several homes that lost the battle with storms and gravity, and a number of really nice homes still perched on the cliff.  One caught our eye especially for the statue the homeowner had built.

Known as "The Architect", it's supposedly the likeness of the home's builder.  Now that's odd.

But the most fun for me was a visit Kathy and I made to the Chihuly Gardens, where the artist and his students have created some magical structures from blown glass.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Chihuly  I was truly blown away (pun intended) by all the shapes and forms of his pieces.  Herewith a sampling of the ones indoors in the museum (with apologies for the poor photography):

 (This is a detail of the piece below.)

Better still were the pieces displayed outside in the 'gardens':

 (Every curl is an individually-blown shape; all hung on a steel superstructure.)

 (Can you spot the glass ferns among the real ones?)

But the masterpiece, for me, was in the airplane hanger-sized 'conservatory':

Breath-takingly awesome.

The Chihuly Museum and Gardens are in the large complex of attraction around the Space Needle.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Space+Needle/@47.620506,-122.349277,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x5490151f4ed5b7f9:0xdb2ba8689ed0920d?hl=en

Including the EMP museum, which I really need to visit next time.  Really freaky structure - which is wrapped around the monorail tracks.

As I've said before, there are a lot of homeless in Seattle.  But, not surprisingly, there are lots of wealthy folks as well.  Take the houses I mentioned before along the shoreline in the Magnolia district, or these floating houses along the shore of Union Lake.

But enough commentary - back to sightseeing.

I visited the waterfront area, home to the 'wheel',

and the Pike Place Market, a rambling twisty structure housing hundreds of vendors selling (like any flea market) a large assortment of flowers, food and gee-gaws of all kinds.  It also contains this very precisely-labeled public restroom.

Outside a fireboat was making an exuberant display, for no apparent reason.

And in a park near one end of the Market there was this sculpture.

It's entitled the 'Tree of Life', and there are leaf-shaped cut-outs, but it still looks like a diving whale to me.  I guess I'd never make it as an art critic.

And of course I cannot stop and smell them, but I will stop and photograph flowers, especially if they're yellow.

On to Sacramento!