Arriving in Rochester

[vaneramos]

From left: bigmacbear, djjo and gmjambear at the Lilac Festival this afternoon


djjo and I arrived in Rochester yesterday for the Rochester Rams' Northern Exposure weekend. Fortunately we have plenty of time between events to visit our hosts and tour this beautiful city, which is new to me.

You can always tell when you've crossed from Ontario to the US. Driving, you notice the state of roads is poorer in Michigan and New York. Arriving by train yesterday I was struck, not for the first time, by the multitude of derelict buildings in Buffalo and Rochester. While Southwestern Ontario experiences urban expansion, upstate New York's population has declined considerably over the past century. To a photographer this is not necessarily a bad thing.

As good people go, bigmacbear and gmjambear are in the upper ranks. You know you're in good hands with these guys, and they show you a good time, too. I've met them several times before, but this our first extended visit without too many other distractions. I'm enjoying the opportunity.

This afternoon we explored Rochester Lilac Festival. More about that in a later post. This evening we'll attend the Rams' bar night. I glimpsed some hot men when we stopped at the Forum last night; looking forward to more meeting and greeting.

Comments

[leafshimmer.livejournal.com]

That's a really nice photo. Would be great to see one including your sweet self, too!

What you write about the deterioration when you cross the border definitely rings a bell. I'm really sad about the decrepitude of all public facilities here in Boston. The only exceptions are community institutions that get their money at the extreme local level (the Medford Public Library comes to mind). The subway system evokes film from the declining years of late Soviet Moscow. I have a friend visiting this weekend with bad knees and it's frustrating how few of the escalators in the system are in working order.

Hope you have a wonderful time. Lilacs are fab, but if you see a wisteria vine in bloom, please recall how much your friend Shimmer enjoys those clustering blossoms.

hugs

[rsc.livejournal.com]

if you see a wisteria vine in bloom, please recall how much your friend Shimmer enjoys those clustering blossoms.

And take a deeeeep breath. I didn't realize until last month what a heady scent wisteria has. (Italians, apparently, love wisteria -- we saw it everywhere.)

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

My friend missprune, who grew up in Rome, also made a comment to that effect under the photo. I found the scent fairly subtle, in fact it was better smelt under the bower than up close to the flowers.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Gary did take a photo of me and Danny in front of High Falls. I don't think I'll post it here because there are so many other things I want to show, but if you follow the links I will post to my galleries later, you should find it.

[rsc.livejournal.com]

Arriving by train yesterday

How long did you have to sit in Niagara Falls waiting for US Customs and Immigration to do their thing?

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

90 minutes. People on the train were getting restless and irritable. They didn't seem to realize this wait was scheduled. In fact we left the border station right on time, at least on the way down. Danny and I played cribbage and knitted.

[fuzzbearmark.livejournal.com]

Great to see you guys this weekend. Yes, Mike and Gary are the Best
-Fuzzy

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Hey, it was good to meet you!

[artricia.livejournal.com]

Highland Park. Lilacs. Mmmmm.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

You seem to have been everywhere!