Category: Good Reads

New York, New York

I’m in New York – not that part of New York though. NYC is great, and it’s beautiful in its own way, but ol’ Ms Haps isn’t really city gal anymore, so I’m spending a lot of my time in northern NY. To start, I had some time to kill before I moved to the Buffalo area, so I decided to spend some time in Rochester – more specifically Irondequoit. I found this great AirBnB garage apartment for late July through early September. It was really nice to be in a residential neighborhood again and not in an apartment complex.

I decided not to unpack everything from the car. I had purposefully packed the fall/winter clothes in separate bins from the summer/spring and left those in the back of the car. I tried not to unpack too much either since we were there for about five weeks.

Arthur settled in pretty quickly, but he didn’t have a lot of windows to look out.

He had a good time playing with the fishing pole / feather and looking out the window when he wasn’t hiding under the covers for his daily naps.

One of my first adventures in Rochester was visiting the Susan B Anthony historical home. When I stayed in Syracuse last August, I had visited Seneca Falls and the Women’s Rights National Park, and I guess I missed that Susan B Anthony lived for many decades in Rochester.

The tour was good, and it was interesting to learn more about the Women’s movement, about her arrest, and her questionable stances on some issues, particularly on race and abortion. You can Google it, but in a nutshell, her efforts for white women overshadowed other important debates at the time.

In August, I attended a book club at Laughing Gull Chocolates. They choose books with a food-based theme, and in August, the book was Be Ready When Luck Happens by Ina Garten. I was able to get through about half of the book before the meeting, and it was a lively discussion with a lot of women from different walks of life in the Rochester area. It was good to get out and meet the people and have a chat about a book written by one of my favorite Food Network chefs – the Barefoot Contessa. While she did have some luck in her life, she also had a lot of opportunities. In the end, it was one of those situations where she saw it as “luck”, and the rest of us saw it as privilege with some struggles.

I also was able to plan a last minute trip to Minnesota in August as well. It’s such a great time to visit, and I was able to see my parents, spend time with friends, and go to the Great MN Get Together – the MN State Fair.

(L to R) Traffic in rural MN. One of the five beautiful lakes in my hometown. Hot tomatoes. Not pictured: the blackberry ice cream from the Dairy Freeze.

When I’m home, I always visit my grandparents at their cemeteries. I was so fortunate to have three grandparents for a lot of my life in my hometown. My dad’s mom passed away only 4 years ago at 99, and my mom’s parents were with us until 2010. Visiting them reminds me of their love and our time together and how much they poured into me, my brother, and my cousins. One of the many reasons I love returning to MN.

It’s been over a decade since I’ve been back in MN for the state fair. These are the most iconic parts of the fair for me – the map of all there is to see, the 4-H building that I was fortunate enough to compete in, and the water tower on Snelling that announces the fair all year long.

Everyone has their favorite foods at the fair, and these are mine. (L to R) A root beer float from the 1919 Root Beer stand – a MN favorite. Sweet Martha’s Cookies from the OG stand near the 4-H building (yes, I bought a bucket). The roast corn on the cob, dipped in butter and salted and peppered. I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t do something dumb; I left my wallet at that stand this year. But it also wouldn’t be MN, if someone didn’t turn it in. The gal who grabbed it for me also gave me a hug – so Minnesota. 🍫🍫

(L to R) MN apples! Arts & Crafts! Tractors! When I was growing up, we had a 60, so it was great to see that model on display.

There was an evergreen competition in the Horticulture building, and this is my other favorite landmark on the fairgrounds. I got there around 7AM when the gates opened, and I was done by 11:30. It was the perfect morning.

More from NY next time – Corning, injuries, and back to a familiar routine.

Extra Time in Maryland

From 2012 to 2014, I lived in Maryland – Mount Washington (north of Baltimore), Columbia, and Laurel. I moved there after living in Minnesota for over 30 years, and it really became like a second home to me – new friends, new experiences, and a lot of new places to explore. Whenever I get back there, I’m flooded with great memories and time with friends.

After our stay in Bangor, we left a little earlier than we had planned and camped outside of Gardenir, ME, at another really great Boondockers Welcome location. It was a short drive, and we left after work, dumped our tanks, and headed south. There was a beautiful sunset over the banks of the Kennebec River, which I wish I could photographed – reds, oranges, pinks, and yellows mixed in with the blue sky and sparse clouds.

On Saturday, we were up early, Arthur was drugged (the only way to travel it seems), and we were driving to our stay in Connecticut – our 24th state. It’s a miracle that this doesn’t happen more often, but we got lost on the backroads of CT. 🍫 I think I misread the address, and after a long day of driving through rain and Boston traffic, I was all turned around. Luckily, our hosts were great and delayed the start of their camping trip to help us get settled in. Located outside of Ashford, I felt comforted by all the beautiful trees and our peaceful surroundings. It was a reminder that, even though we’ve been all over the country, there are probably locations that I would love to live that we didn’t visit or spend a lot of time in.

Arthur enjoyed the views, too. This is his “please stop driving” face. 🍫🍫

The next day, we were on the road early again – our final leg of the drive to MD. We really only encountered traffic around New York City. And I cannot explain the relief I felt as we drove down a familiar stretch of I-95, approaching Baltimore, and as we headed into to suburban Columbia. Driving around the country and not really knowing where you’re going wears on a person, so when the roads are familiar, the relief is real.

My friend and her foster pup, Shaq Attack, were my hosts while we were in MD. She had a great driveway where we parked. In CT, we discovered that Estella is not a fan of GCFI outlets. This didn’t seem like a big deal until it was. 🍫🍫🍫🍫 More on this later.

Action shot of Shaq Attack, playing with one of the toys I got him while I was visiting.

Part of the reason we stopped in MD was because I had a work trip, and I needed a place to park that was Arthur-friendly. During that trip, the cat sitter from Rover messaged me and said that there was a loud beeping noise, and she couldn’t tell where it was coming from. There wasn’t really anything I could do from TX, and my friend said she couldn’t hear it, so it had to wait until I got back.

Work hard. Play hard. Sweat a lot. At our staff meeting, we ventured out on a scavenger hunt (my hunting team) in the San Antonio afternoon heat (it felt like 100) and then had an 80s dance party. I hand-beaded that shirt and wore jelly shoes (neon is back!) and had a lot of fun dancing and doing karaoke and eating queso and tacos.

Back to reality in Maryland after the meeting, I came back to Estella’s house batteries completely dead. Turns out, when you don’t plug in the RV for over a week, and run the lights, the batteries die. I tried starting the engine to recharge the batteries; that didn’t help. What I didn’t remember until later was that I need the house batteries to pull the slide-out in. You may be thinking- why didn’t you just get a battery charger and trickle-charge the house batteries. I did think of that, but when I crawled under the van, the batteries were tucked up behind the rear tires, and the terminals were not visible…. I made a lot of phone calls, but I ended up solving my own problem by rigging a cord to a non-GCFI outlet in my friend’s house.

Before I go, some other highlights from my stop in Maryland.

I went to see Richard Osman speak at Midtown Scholar Bookstore in Harrisburg about his writing process and his new book, We Solve Murders. I grabbed lunch with a friend at Ever Grain, had lunch with another friend at Gettysburger, went to get some blood work done, went shopping, and spent some lovely evenings out in Columbia with friends, and solved the NYT Letter Boxed in two words. After the beeping while I was gone, Arthur had a great time in MD.

And one last picture of me, eating two pieces of cake, instead of dinner, with my co-worker. The strawberry cake was better.

Fun in (& around) Flagstaff

The first stop on my weekend of fun in Flagstaff was a stop at the Grand Canyon National Park. I’d never been, and it was overwhelming beautiful. The pictures don’t give you the sense of grandeur that you get on the Rim Trail. It was the most epic national park I’ve been to so far.

There was a bit of a winter storm the Friday before I left for Flagstaff, but they’re used to that sort of thing, so the roads were clear sailing, and the scenery was beautiful. In addition to the national parks, I also gotten to drive through many national forests, including the Coconino National Forest on the way to Flagstaff and then Kaibab. There was a bit of fog, too, which added to the mystic of the Saturday morning drive.

The parking lot at the Grand Canyon visitor’s center was covered with snow, so there was a lot of improvised parking. That turned out to be quite amusing when I left in the afternoon and the snow had melted. I think I ended up accidentally took up 3 parking spaces. Oops.

While I was in the park, I took one of the shuttles to the village area. I went to the restaurant in the Bright Angel hotel for lunch and had some pot roast, which was a delicious, warm treat on a cool day. They had a small museum with some history around the hotel, and I learned about Mary Colter who had designed many of the buildings still remaining in the Grand Canyon area and reminded me that I saw something she’d designed in Santa Fe as well.

After lunch, I wandered around the village area and saw the Lookout Studio, Kolb Studio, Hopi House, and stepped into the Verkam Visitors Center. I took the South Rim trail to the Yavapai Point, which had numerous great views of the canyon. It was also paved, which was a great surprise. I also learned that my hiking shoes were on their last leg – at least for my old feet. 🍫🍫 Toward the end of the day, it slowed me down.

After my time at the park, I drove back down to Flagstaff and checked into my hotel. I had a great room, and I laid down to relax. Honestly, I was not feeling the best, and I couldn’t put my finger on why. I did look up altitude sickness, and I did have some of those symptoms. It seemed to pass after I took my nap, so I headed out to find something to eat. I ended up at a brewery (Dark Sky), and the food was good; the beer was fine.

On Sunday, I grabbed breakfast at a great spot – The Station Cafe and Lounge – and drove around Flagstaff to check out the library (where there was a quilt display and used books for sale), the university, and to find a place to inflate my tires. I also noticed that someone had taken the caps from my tire valve stems on two of my tires, so I stopped a bought some of those. It was surprisingly difficult to find a place to inflate my tires where the actual device worked. 🍫🍫🍫

Unplanned Adventure

By midday, I was ready to do some more exploring, so I headed out to Winslow, AZ. On the way, I kept seeing signs for a giant meteor crater, so of course I stopped to see it. On my way out of that area, I did find a place to inflate my tires for free.

It was an amazingly large crater.

I had lunch at this beautiful hotel in Winslow, AZ. Where I had a lovely salad for lunch in the Turquoise Room and enjoyed a delicious glass of prickly pear lemonade, and they even gave me a to go cup for the road. Then, of course, I stood on the corner, and it was remarkable.

Books on the Road

Time is on my side.

I thought it would be nice to keep a running list of the books I’ve been able to read or have listened to while I’ve been on my journey. These are the books so far:

  • The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
  • On Mystic Lake by Kristin Hannah
  • Leslie F*cking Jones by Leslie Jones
  • My Life with the Walter Boys by Ali Novak
  • The Floating Girls by Lo Patrick
  • We’ll Always Have Christmas by Jenny Hale
  • The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell
  • Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
  • The Martian by Andy Weir
  • Homecoming by Kate Morton
  • The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods & Nick Biadon
  • Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn
  • Fourth Wing and Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros
  • A Court of Thorns and Roses, A Court of Mist and Fury, A Court of Wings and Ruin, A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J Maas (Yes, I fell into this rabbit hole.)
  • Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire, The Assassin’s Blade, Empire of Storms, Heir of Fire by Sarah J Maas (Also, this rabbit hole. Starting Kingdom of Ash next…)
  • Kingdom of Ash, Tower of Dawn, Queen of Shadows by Sarah J Maas (Yes, I finished the series.)
  • The Story Collector by Evie Woods
  • Dark Wives by Ann Cleeves
  • Moriarty: The Silent Order by Charles Kindlinger
  • Finding Me by Viola Davis
  • This Summer Will be Different by Carley Fortune
  • The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny
  • We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
  • Where are You Now? by Mary Higgins Clark
  • Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Grams
  • Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout
  • I Curse You with Joy by Tiffany Haddish
  • None of This is True by Lisa Jewell
  • The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
  • Calypso by David Sedaris (an excellent re-listen)
  • Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman
  • Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
  • Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz
  • Be Ready When Luck Happens by Ina Garden

Other great books I’ve read or listened to lately:

  • Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
  • Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan
  • The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
  • The Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman
  • Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner
  • A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny
  • The Raging Storm by Ann Cleeves

I welcome recommendations, so let me know of any great books you’ve read or listened to lately. You can probably tell by my list that fiction is my preference.