Niagara Falls Splash

 I have been to Niagara Falls twice.  On my trip last week, Niagara Falls was sort of on the way home.  It was a fabulous day weatherwise.  So, we went to the Falls.  The Canada side was hard to get to, so we knew that we were just doing the American side.  It was past the season to see the Falls.  Maid of the Mist was closed for the season.

The thing about the Falls for me is the power of the water.  It is the magnificence of the sight of the rushing water.  Niagara Falls makes me feel especially close to God.  The water reminds me of Baptism.  The power of the Holy Spirit rushing in, the power of the water rushing over the Falls.  As far as an attraction, Niagara Falls is the whole package.

Niagara Falls was a great day stop.  It is one of the wonders.

Travel After the Pandemic

 I have been very close to home for the past 18 months or so, it was a pandemic thing.  I am not one to thumb my nose at advice and just go places and risk getting a deadly virus. I was also busy with my grandchildren until August. Then my uncle died.  In Virginia.  So, I went to the funeral.  I drove. It went okay and I didn't feel scared staying in hotels and eating places and wearing masks.  It went okay.  I didn't get sick.

My sister is my travel partner.  We have been a few places.  We drive/ ride well together. She usually thinks of the trips.  And she did it again.  She wanted to find our ancestors.  The thing is, when you visit cemeteries you don't need to wear masks. We had never traveled east before, not together.

Last week we packed up the car and drove east, in the gloom of a rainy week.  We were chasing daylight saving time's end and my sister's jury duty.  We had this one week. We drove first to northern Ohio. Then on to New York state. We stayed in Seneca Falls.  We visited William Henry Seward's house in Auburn, New York.  He didn't invite us to tea.  But we toured the house.

From there we went to Tully, New York and found three cemeteries where my ancestors are buried.  My sister seems to have a talent for finding the graves. After a couple of days of rain, we had beautiful clear weather. We stopped back in Auburn and saw Harriet Tubman's house. Roads were closed and the detour took us all over town.  That evening we stayed in Seneca Falls and packed..  

The next day we drove up to Niagara Falls.  Both of us had seen it before, but it was worth a peek.  The day was glorious.  And from there we drove to northern Ohio where we spent the night before looking at cemeteries in Geauga County. We visited the Century Village at Burton, Ohio.  It was lunch time and so we found an Amish eatery.  We had delicious food and the best raspberry creme pie I have ever eaten.  Then we found the cemeteries and the graves.

And we started toward home and stayed in Indianapolis on the way home.  Construction delayed our trip and rain made some of the days unpleasant, but overall it was a fantastic fall vacation.  I look forward to more traveling as we come out of this pandemic.

Blue Ridge

 

The end of August when I drove east I had to cross the mountains.  Living in the flatlands, the mountains always invite awe in me.  It is east to see why they are called the Blue Ridge Mountains.  It is easy to see how they created a barrier for settlement.  While the mountains bring awe, they don't call me the way the ocean does.  This trip I didn't get to the ocean.  But, I did cross those blue ridge mountains.

Hurricane Ida

 

In the midst of my travels last week there was a hurricane.  It created devastation across the country.  That hurricane traveled right through the way I traveled in the mountains of West Virginia. It came through on the day that I was driving through alone, a little worried.  There was rain, but not driving torrential downpours. There was rain going through the mountains. I can't claim that it is fun to drive through the mountains in the rain. But, it wasn't that bad.

I stopped at most of the rest stops between my house and Virginia. I stayed overnight in West Virginia going and Kentucky coming home. For me the worst driving was Indiana and Illinois where there were few rest areas and even few gas stations or restaurants.  But, my point in writing this is there was a major hurricane that came through on the day I traveled home.  I went through rain. But, my biggest complaint is the emptiness of southern Indiana and Illinois.  I was greatly blessed.

Flip Side, NYC

 I have never been to New York City. Not even close to it even though my brother lived on Long Island for many years.  I never visited him during that time.  I have seen a lot of New York City on television and in the movies.  I even had ancestors who settled there or at least passed through when it was New Amsterdam.  I am a little bit Dutch.

I don't have any specific thing I want to see in NYC except perhaps a Broadway play.  That would be a dream.  I could never measure up to the fashion and the pace of life in New York.  But, I would like to see it once.  I find that experiencing something is the only way I can really understand it.  I want to experience NYC once in my life.

I realize that it is the flipside of wanting to visit Yellowstone.  But, it is what it is.

Yellowstone

 I was a child the last time I was in Yellowstone National Park.  I have been there only once.  My sister was a toddler who got shingles on our trip.  I remember seeing bears and hot springs. Even back in the 1960s there were traffic jams. We camped in an overflow campground in a tent.

I would like to see Yellowstone again before I die if I can.  I would prefer to stay in one of the hotels instead of camping this time around.  I would like to see as much as I can.  I don't really care to hike in the back country.  I think I would make a delicious meal for a bear.  I can't run very fast.

So, I am making tentative plans.  I can't go this year.  I am still baby sitting the grandchildren.  But, maybe next year I could get my act together and make some plans. I am starting to research it. Everybody needs a dream.  And Yellowstone is one of mine.

If the Pandemic Ends--Where Would I Go?

 Maybe the pandemic will end someday, not someday soon, but someday. If I survive and am able to travel, I am thinking about where I would go.  I love to travel.  Travel makes me feel alive.  I obviously can't go everywhere.  I am too old and not rich enough.  But, maybe I can go somewhere.

I have never been to New York City and it feels like if I am able, I need to see it before I die.  I have read so many books watched so many movies set there, I want to see it in person.  I went to England as an exchange student in 1973 and vowed I would be back.  I haven't been back and I would love to go.  I would love to see Wales and Ireland and go back to Scotland as well. The rest of the world is a question mark.  There are lots of places that I would like to see, but how to choose which one or ones?

On this Friday it is worth pondering, if the world were once again within reach, where would I go?  Where would you go?

Tuesday Trips

In my current schedule Tuesday is one of my days off.  I schedule various appointments and shop early on Tuesdays. I have a Zoom meeting on Tuesday evening.  Tuesdays are pretty good days.  But, like everybody else I am getting fatigued with staying home due to the pandemic.  The times I have gone out I get concerned with the numbers of people who don't wear masks or distance themselves.  They act like there is nothing different, nothing going on around them.

I don't have that freedom.  I have several of the factors that make me a target for the virus.  I am old with conditions that leave me open to the worst effects.  I have type A blood.  I feel like the virus is creeping around like a snake trying to get me.  So, I hide.  It is all I have these days.

I am thinking about taking a drive today, Tuesday.  In my car I should be safe enough.  I can go out and see something different.  Perhaps I can find a different place to walk my imaginary dog.  If I stay out in the air, I should be safe enough.

I am looking at the map.  There are many small towns around and some nature areas.  Bug spray, sunscreen, some water to drink and snacks.  I think I will go off and take a trip somewhere today.  Not far away, just somewhere different, something else to think about.  Maybe I will have some places to talk about in future posts.

Somewhere.... I went sailing...

I wanted to go somewhere before I was not able to travel because my dream of chilling with the grandbaby came true.  I thought about just visiting a friend in Chicago or taking a bus tour of new Orleans.  But, neither of those options really seemed attractive.  When I prayed about it and dreamed about it, I knew that I longed to see the ocean, to see wild whales if at all possible.  I turned my attention to an Alaskan cruise.  I had never really been to Alaska before and I had never been on a cruise.

I booked passage on the Norwegian Pearl and went sailing.  But of course to get to the boat, I had to fly.  Seattle was the sailing point.  And I got to the boat via bus and the picture below was the waiting area to get the bus to the boat. 

I went with a purple luggage theme for this trip.  Rolling wheels were the best.

I got to the boat and immediately had a life boat drill and then the boat got underway in short order.

The Puget Sound looks like a great place to sailboat.

This sailboat reminded me of Sleepless In Seattle.  I am not sure why.  But there were a lot of boats in that movie.

I looked and looked for orcas.  They might have been there, but I didn't see them.

As we pulled away from Seattle, I was impressed by the skyline.  The last time I was in Seattle it was 1966 and the Space Needle on the left was the biggest building.

I wondered if any of the mountains in the distance was Mt. Rainier.

I wish the photo were clearer.  The Space Needle, the skyline, a sailboat, and a cruise ship.

Looking out the bow of the ship.

I was fascinated by the ship's wake.

Some of the little towns we passed as we headed out to the ocean.

As we got out into the ocean, the sky cleared a little.

Once we were on the ocean, the swells got bigger.

Those swells don't look that big, but they tossed the ship around quite a bit.

And blue sky over the ocean.

On deck seven I could walk already around the ship.

Big waves or swells on the ocean. I love the colors of the water and the sky and the foam.

It looks like modern art.

The large swells did not help some people enjoy the trip.

Despite all the rocking and rolling, I did not feel at all seasick.  That was not true of everyone on the ship.

And the sun went down on the first night of the trip to Alaska.