It’s been a minute. Well, it’s actually been a four-month roller coaster of travel and adventure and recovery. Now, I finally have a minute to sit down to document all the things.
September / October
Since getting to the Buffalo area, I was able to do a little site seeing around the area. In September, I drove down to the Fredonia / Dunkirk area – a smaller college community, which I thought might be another possible location. I spent the day driving around, looking at houses I found on Zillow and touring some of the sites. The pictures above are from the Dunkirk Lighthouse.
Even though I didn’t make it to the top of the lighthouse, I did make it up to the second landing before my fear of heights got the better of me. Luckily, I had some good company with a gal from Ohio who shared my reluctance to chance going up any higher. She and her friend also gave me some good tips for other areas to explore in NY.
There’s just something about a lighthouse. It’s like can imagine being on a ship at sea (or on a giant lake) and seeing that beacon in the darkness, warning of a rocky shore but also of life and the care to keep me and my crew safe. That’s nice.
I also had time to stop at the Darwin Barker Museum in downtown Fredonia. It’s a small museum with some of the city’s history, including artifacts from the visit of the Marquis de Lafayette. It also featured Helen Pettit Barker who was an activist who assisted with the Underground Railroad and advocated for education and libraries, inviting Elizabeth Stanton and Mark Twain to Fredonia.
In September, I was in Florida with the rest of the staff from the company where I work for our annual meeting. We enjoyed some time together and relished some really great views from the Opal Sands on Clearwater Beach. This year, our theme night was Havana Nights. There were a lot of great Cuban dresses and hats and shirts on display, and the evening was calm and quiet, watching the sunset from the hotel’s patio.
The Boyton House is a private residence that has a lottery for tour tickets once a year, and I was able to land a spot to tour this Frank Lloyd Wright home in Rochester in late September. Visiting the FLW houses that are actually still used as a home is a rare treat. With respect to the home owners, they ask that you don’t take pictures of the interior spaces. There’s a nice video on YouTube with interior and exterior photos and narration. For more interior and exterior shots, there’s a tour with the homeowner. They also added a modern garage in the same style as the house, and it blends seamlessly into the property.
In early October, we had a team meeting down in Kissimmee, FL, and after we worked hard all week, a small group of us went to Universal’s Epic Universe theme park. There are several different worlds, but one of the highlights is definitely the merry-go-round in the center of the park near the entrance. Each one of the carousel’s animals not only goes around, they each spin and go high up in the air as the merry-go-round turns. It was also beautifully adorned. As I watched it while waiting in line, each time go-round is a different pattern. The third picture is from the How To Train Your Dragon world.
The most epic part was definitely Nintendo’s. You are completely consumed by this one; I literally had to ask someone how to get out. I’m not a really a rides person anymore, but the Yoshi ride was my speed and had great views of the world.
When I was in Florida, I also had a chance to get together with my cousin and his wife and kiddos. We met for a late breakfast outside of Jacksonville at the Metro Diner and enjoyed some good laughs and time to catch-up. I feel very lucky when my travel takes me to places near relatives and friends.
When I got back to NY, I met up with my stepson and his boyfriend at Presque Isle State Park outside of Erie. We had a good afternoon on the beach, and Jasper, their puppy, definitely loved being in the lake and beach and seeing all the people. For fancy dinner, we ate at Sheetz – one of the best gas stations in PA for fast food.
Believe it or not, it’s still October, and I had one more trip to San Antonio, TX, for work.
The trip started out with a visit to the San Antonio Museum of Art with a friend who lives in town. I’ve been to SATX multiple times for work and never really get a chance to explore, so it was wonderful to see the exhibits at SAMA. These were some of my favorites. I joked with my friend that the first piece is a picture of Arthur and me from ancient times.
So, that’s a wrap on September and October. Come back for more travel and adventure in November in December in my next post.
The Adventures of Ms Haps & Arthur 