Where we're heading next:
Home Sweet Home
Quote of the Day
Peanut, "Wow, mom, now we can say we've been to all 50 states! What are we gonna do next?"
Homecoming Weekend at Cornell! We have absolutely no ties to this university other than I treasure the area (the campus, Ithaca and surrounding landscape), and find the students to be really cool – not pretentious or stuffy.
We’re actually staying in the Statler Hotel so we’re in the heart of it all, student style. In fact, right when we got downstairs the football team was standing on the sidewalk just outside the lobby. We stood right in front of them, and Little Man's mouth was agape at their "immense size and toughness." It was a sea of red. The marching band came right through the Valet, and led the football players up the street. You'd think we were alumni at the level of emotion we had, being smack in the middle of this huge tradition.
Timing was perfect when we hiked the 160 steps up the clock tower, too. It was time for the 11:30am bells. No one else was up there so the girl in charge chatted with us, telling us how one becomes a Bell Ringer, which is a tough position to attain. She was so sweet and actually let Little Man gong the bells: Da, dee, da, Duuum… What a thrill for him!
We took an endless walk across campus to the Cornell Dairy Bar for homemade ice cream. It was particularly long because Peanut took a spill on the sidewalk. I’m certain that every person on campus heard her scream and I was sure this was going to be E.R. trip #5. Thankfully, a Biology Professor showed up and let us into the building. Again, aren't the residents wonderful? This was enough of a distraction to get past the worst of it. They had an amazing collection of glass replica sea life and also cases full of rare stuffed birds – Peanut flipped out over a 1.5 inch Bee Hummingbird and the Quetzal. (I've told her the Guatemala freedom story for years.)
We eventually made it for ice cream. Then we heard a campus tour guide tell his group that the Final Exam in a particular class is to “create an ice-cream flavor”. If it’s the class’ chosen one, they’ll serve it in the store. Cool! Our favorite flavor was Bavarian Raspberry Cream with Fudge. And we naturally grabbed a bag of cheese curds for the return walk to the hotel.
Campus Bookstores are a new thing for our kids and they LOVED it. Thanks to Gigi back home, I taught them that Cornell stands for “Come Over Right Now Eat Lots Lollipops!” We got some t-shirts, and at the counter Little Man recited the acronym to the check-out person, following up with, “Or it can just read that one word! What’s the word again, mom? Oh yeah, CORNELL.”
Drizzle! What happened to our 75 degree weather? That’s all right. We’re from the Pacific Northwest and it won’t keep us from enjoying ourselves!
En route to Ithaca we stopped at Taughannock Falls, which are pretty drippy this time of year, but taller than Niagara! It’s still a lovely park and we decided to drive down the road, and hike along the river to the bottom of them – about 2 miles round-trip. (Grandma stayed in the car to relish some silence.)
Since the river is mostly dry right now, we could actually walk in it. We felt like we were walking on an enormous, lumpy concrete slab. This gorge was carved by glaciers and this used to be a sea bottom. Pretty cool. The trees are just starting to turn and I get giddy just thinking about all the color that lies ahead.
It was nice to be back on this side of the Niagara River (away from the black squirrels that look so foreign) and into the U.S.A. We are once again on track. And now we’ve seen all 5 of the Great Lakes. Yay! The kids have officially
consolidated their memories, and believe that the Great Lakes are simply ONE entity, where we just keep driving out of our way to put our feet in!
The first big town we got to was Rochester. Unlike Cleveland we had two immediate options for Tourist Information Centers. The woman behind the counter directed us to a very memorable lunch place and she seemed so tickled that we were going to take her recommendation. I said, “Well, that’s why we came here!” I really can’t get over our luck though.
Can you say Tea Party? We literally walked in the door to La-Tea-Da and the owner said, “Welcome! Have you been here before? Well, wonderful, you’re here now. Let me show you where to get dressed up! And we have a Harry Potter bathroom right here.” It was like we’d gone down the darn Rabbit Hole!
Little Man's outfit was pretty clever considering most of his choices were very ruffly and pink. He wore a pair of Native American leather chaps and when he found a black fur stole, which he called his buffalo coat.
Here’s what was on the kids’ plates: a proper pot of tea, heart shaped pb&j, chips, a chocolate covered strawberry, a tea cup full of chicken noodle soup and the highlight: a jumbo pink marshmallow. They got to choose their teapot to boot!
Did I mention that Doodle learned to skip? At 3 1/2 years old! She's the most adorable thing I've ever seen!
Our bus pass expired in a few hours and Grandma and I still wanted to see a couple of things in Niagara Falls. Peanut was so desperate to see the Butterfly Conservatory, however, that we decided to go the distance. At the entrance I asked how long it usually takes to walk through and the woman said, “Oh, not more than half an hour” but I knew better.
Heartfelt thanks showered Peanut afterwards as we all more than enjoyed ourselves. What an incredibly brilliant, magical world -- the best display of butterflies we’ve ever seen. in fact, it's the biggest conservatory in North America. And...as I could have predicted, we were there no less than 2 hours. This was a rare experience in Peanut’s life where she actually got her fill of nature – we didn’t rush her.
These are her 3 best pictures and this is her journal entry:
“We went to the butterfly place and I saw all kinds of butterflies: orange ones and pink ones and lots more than these. Butterflies feed on sugar water and oranges; we got to see them do this. Some of them had fake eyes on their wings, thinking to the predators it was an oval eye. They would be fooled!
Mom wanted Little Man and Doodle to see poison dart frogs and a turtle that was there, too. We could not find them! Finally we found Little Man and Doodle and showed them the turtle.
Now, the secret about the oval eyed butterflies was that inside, on their wings, was bright, beautiful, shiny blue. Mom kept trying to take a picture of them but they rarely opened their wings when they landed, so mom could not get a picture of them -- not even when they were flying because they were flapping their wings. Mom’s camera battery ran out so I had to try to take a picture of them now. Mom found two on a wall with their wings open but I scared them away by accident. We kept on trying and trying and finally Grandma found one perfectly posing on a wall, and I got two great shots of it. And before we left, a butterfly with wings the color of a wheat field at sunset landed on me.”
One of my biggest dreams was to visit Foz do Iguacu in Brazil. Remember the movie The Mission? It was filmed there. Tomcat and I were able to go for our 10th anniversary and it was even more breathtaking than I'd imagined. I'll never forget turning the corner of the slippery path, feeling the spray as the waterfalls loomed around me, and feeling tears fly out of my eyes. An Italian man
next to me also had tears and we stood there staring at each other, crying and jabbering in our own languages, sharing the same emotional 'wow'.
There's no way Niagara Falls could compare to that, right? Keep in mind there aren't any toucans flying around either! Still, I adore waterfalls in general and was really looking forward to seeing these up close and personal. Detouring out of the 50 states for a day, we went to Niagara Falls on the Canada side.
The kids thought there was a fire outside our hotel when they saw smoke. They (and now I include Grandma) were in utter disbelief the next morning to see Horseshoe Falls directly below us. Grandma was overcome at her “luck at seeing this”. She said it over and over all day long.
Walking the Journey Behind the Falls (tunnels underneath) was pretty cool. They have informational plaques along the way and lookout points where you can feel the spray. The kids were fascinated with the story of the youngest survivor to go over the Falls unintentionally. He was a 7-year-old boy, in just a swimsuit and life vest. I guess they had a boating accident above the Falls. His sister was rescued before going over and the captain of their boat died. We discussed “what-ifs” for the rest of the day. Ugh.
Everyone visiting Niagara takes the Maid of the Mist boat tour, as they should. We were looking snazzy in our rain ponchos, taking pictures, enjoying the sunshine when all of a sudden the boat turned and we were immediately SOAKED! We were in the middle of Horseshoe Falls. It was exhilarating and hilarious all at the same time. Pounding, pounding, water that just kept coming and coming! Such a roar! Peanut turned around with her moon face luminous and screamed, “Thanks so much for bringing me here! I LOVE this!” And Doodle turned around, her face literally dripping with inches of water, trying to copy her big sister, but she couldn't talk and just started giggling. It occurred to me that Little Man was missing and I looked down to find him in a huddle in the corner of the boat. Crazy kid. He actually remained the driest! Let's just say it wasn't his idea of a good time. Not even close. Although he liked talking about it afterwards!
Tolls! I completely forgot about the frenzied days of scrounging around for change on the car floor before arriving at the tollbooth. Fortunately, Grandma always carries a change purse full of quarters (for our laundry).
I’ve thought for some time that New York is my favorite state and now I’m 100% sure of it. The people are so generous and mushy once you break through their tough exteriors. Plus they get gorgeous countryside and one of the coolest cities in the world to call their own.
Pulling into Buffalo at dinnertime, I started to roll my window down at a stop light to ask someone where we should go, but the light turned green. Next thing you know, the car has raced up to meet us, rolled down the window and screamed across traffic, “Hi, did you need some help?” I asked where we should go to eat with kids – maybe some Buffalo Wings? He said he knew the perfect place. “Follow me, it’s on my way home,” he said as he proceeded to turn completely around and take us deep into downtown in the opposite direction. With a point from his finger and a nice smile, we landed at a busy slice of heaven, Anchor Bar Restaurant, with more than an hour’s wait. Bummer! The host suggested take-out, which we happily did. Nothing beats a picnic of messy, greasy, plump Buffalo Wings with bleu cheese dressing in the car. The kids had “pizza logs”.
It’s been a long while since I felt that kind of weight in my belly. Lucky for us we got totally lost trying to cross the Peace Bridge into Canada and our guts had a wee bit more time to digest.
The trouble with this part of the country is that places are so close together you can think you can stop every 20 miles and still make progress, but this just isn't so.
We saw a sign for Kirtland, OH and thought of Sister.
She's Mormon and I remembered that the Mormon pioneer women broke up all their china for the Kirtland temple to make the walls sparkle. Why not have a side-trip? I walked into the L.D.S. Visitor Center and the man said, "Good morning, are you a Christian?" I know they're bold, but this took me back. I said, "Excuse me?" He repeated himself pleasantly, "Good morning. I'm Elder Christiansen." I told him what I thought he said and we both got a good laugh. Anyway, he told us how to get to the temple (which isn't owned by the Mormons anymore) and the walls didn't exactly sparkle. Oh well. Here's a picture for you anyway, Sister!
We also couldn't resist one more stop at the lake when we saw a sign for Geneva on the Lake. Until you see the Great Lakes with your own eyes, you cannot possibly imagine their magnitude.
Someday we'll make it to Upstate New York, but not at this rate. When we crossed over into Pennsylvania, we had to do the turn-around-back-into-Ohio for a picture under the state sign. Then back around again and on our way! (We're ignoring this dip into PA by the way and saving it for the end of our trip when we actually do something there.)
Peanut has had a growth spurt! When we left, her shoes fit; three days later, she’s got blisters. Unbelievable. This was a blessing in disguise, however, because we went searching for a shoe store and found Little Italy and Coventry in the process. It was nice to end our visit with these charming and alive neighborhoods fresh in our minds.
Hershey Montessori School was a must-see for us. It’s out in the middle of nowhere – pure farm country – which turns out to be just 45 minutes East of Cleveland. Anyone committed to a Montessori education will be interested in a fully operating Adolescent Farm School.
There are only a few and I couldn’t wait to see one with my own eyes. Several parents back home are waiting to hear what we have to say…
I drove all around the grounds which were at once bigger than I expected and smaller than I expected. Hmmm. I found some students right after their lunch, lounging on a hammock, and 3 girls walked right over, eager to talk to my kids. The boys pretended not to notice us but when I asked for a picture of them, the boys raced over and jumped behind. It was hysterical. They just as quickly retreated.
The Students
Of the 3 girls one was a Day Student, one a 5-day Boarder and one a 7-day Boarder. They were charming and genuine and spoke clearly and in complete sentences. I didn’t get the feeling they were trapped in the American Mainstream, but I can’t say for sure. They seemed to have real things to say. Peanut wanted to know what they could do in the forest. Right now one girl is learning how to price a tree, another’s favorite class was “bees” where she got to wear a real bee suit and work in the hives, another learned to tap the trees and gather sap to make home-made syrup.
We had seen a boy carrying 2x4s into a barn and this peaked Little Man’s interest. He wanted to know if they were allowed to operate farm equipment and they confirmed that they do learn how to drive a tractor. They love their camping trip once a year to an island (in Lake Erie maybe?) and their weekend activities. I mentioned that we’re not really comfortable with a boarding school situation and the Day Student said with a hint of envy, “Well, they seem to really like it here”.
The Buildings
They’re building a new schoolhouse (it mentions this on the website), but it’s actively under construction and it is gorgeous. The grounds are amazing. Surrounded by forest, with a huge pond and immaculate buildings. This place is out in the country but has some serious style. Peanut was very impressed and sure she’d like to go to school there. Little Man said, “No way am I going there”. Remember he’s the one who said once, "Mom I wish I were a baby boy whale and you were my mama whale because then I could stick with you forever." Scary.
Thanks to Eric's post we found yet another great thing to do outside in Cleveland on a Monday. His #10 was Lakeview Cemetery and we hit it on such a beautiful day. I'm telling you, this city has the most lush landscapes, even for those eternally resting. What a beautiful and special
place and Oh! the old, old money displayed in the grandiose stones, mausoleums and monuments. The two most important residents are John D. Rockefeller, first in our country to make a billion, and James A. Garfield, our 20th president.
We visited Wade Chapel (one of only 4 rooms left in the U.S. decorated by Tiffany) and I am so appreciative of the woman working there. She spoke to Peanut respectfully and very clearly interpreted the enormous mosaic on the wall which was quite a challenge. Then we left and I got to answer 800 million more questions regarding heaven and hell. Remember after our Southwest trip when the kids played Native Americans endlessly? Well, I think this might end up being the "hell" trip. It's been nothing but hell "I want to know exactly what hell is like -- who can I ask?" and the devil "who's real name is Lucifer in case you didn't know" ever since our visit to this tiny chapel.
Garfield's monument would lead one to believe he was one of our more important presidents. You got me. He certainly was quite a distinguished man for his age -- preacher, teacher, lawyer, general -- and his grand finale is pretty interesting. He was the 2nd president assassinated.
Well, we only had 10 minutes until closing and we wanted to make it to the top balcony for the spectacular view of the city. And here's where we met our first cranky person in Cleveland! He was in charge of the monument and I asked him point blank if he was mad at us for some reason. "No", he calmly said through pursed lips and piercing eyes. I assured him we'd hustle.
We sprinted up 65 steps in no time. Gargoyles! Yay! I love gargoyles and now Peanut does, too. Wow, Lake Erie is enormous! There's the city! (Barely. I don't care what the locals say, this city has a smog problem.) Back down the 65 steps, a statue of Garfield, continuing down to the kids' new vocabulary word "crypt" and there he lay with a U.S. flag over his casket and his wife next to him in her own casket. Creepy. The kids already know I'm going to be cremated, and then they're to go with Tomcat to sprinkle my ashes somewhere I wanted to go but never managed. So, back up the stairs for a few postcards and out the door to watch chipmunks under the prolific Sour Cherry trees. A true delight!
The one thing I had planned to do in Cleveland was to tour the Botanical Gardens. From across the street we could see the glass building but had no idea it would stretch across so many acres. The kids were immersed the minute we
walked in the door when they found a HUGE cockroach upside down crying for mercy. Now, as a Texas child I've had cucarachas fly across my face at night, and I’ve stepped on enough barefoot to feel absolutely no love for these living creatures. Still, I keep these sentiments to myself, and sure enough we ended up carrying this cockroach with the broken hind leg past the docent to an outside flowerpot.
Of all the enchanting gardens, nothing could surpass the Hershey Children’s Garden. Back at home Green and I made a wee Children's Garden between our houses a few summers ago but the kids always prefered to be underfoot. It's gotten a tad wild, but I’m utterly inspired and motivated to make it really special again. The kids L O V E D this child-centric space and I also found some new plants to try like the “purple Beautyberry”.
Would you believe it only got better from there? We’re going to be on t.v.!!! Someday, maybe, sort of. Hanging out in the Madagascar Garden, a film crew showed up and invited us to participate. They’re updating their Public Relations piece on Ohio in High-definition video. The girls and I followed the Director and walked around sniffing tropical oregano with leaves the size of a bay leaf, and pointing upward to the seedpods hanging from the Great Baobab tree and touching thorny cacti. (Little Man couldn’t participate because he was donning a “I HEART NY” shirt, but he was really only interested in their equipment anyway.) I have to say we made being movie stars look easy because we were so sincerely interested in the garden to begin with. Add Madagascar to our list!
With NYC in sight, we decided to pack one dressy outfit on this trip. I have “packing light” down to an art form so this kind of cramped my style; we needed a nice pair of shoes for each of us, a nicer sweater, make-up, hair product, etc. Well, after a quick search for happenings in Cleveland, this all proved worthwhile. I found The Carousel, a dinner theater in Akron, showing a matinee of The Wizard of Oz. We donned our fancy attire and I have to say it was exceptionally nice to see everyone looking so scrubbed. Grandma cleans up particularly well!
We had no idea what to expect, but I’d read that you can judge a city's commitment to the Arts by whether or not they have an Opera and Cleveland does! All I can say is that when we walked in the doors, each kid let out a sigh of disbelief. The room was set to impress -- especially for those under 4 feet tall -- gorgeous red carpets, mood lighting, white linen tablecloths with loads of knives and goblets.
When I whipped out my travel scissors to cut Doodle’s spaghetti, the family behind us was intrigued. We started chatting and they said, “You came all the way to Cleveland for this?” I said, “No, we came to see Ohio.” However, now I can honestly say my intuition brought us here for the perfectly decadent oversized Midwest desserts – how does Fried Cheesecake sound?
An hour or so later the show began. We didn’t budge for nearly 2 hours as we were appropriately blown away with Dorothy and Toto. It was an interactive play so Munchkins were running through the crowd, the Wicked Witch was overhead, the middle aisle was transformed into the Haunted Forest, etc. To top it all off, we were handed 3D glasses so that The Emerald City would appear truly green.
Little Man obsessed over the set design and construction wanting to know p r e c i s e l y how things were made to operate as they did. This all played into his continually convincing himself that none of it was real. "It's not a real tornado, just music. The witch isn't really melting into the floor. Is the dog's real name Toto in real life? Dorothy isn't really crying. Those monkeys aren't real monkeys, right?" On and on and on.
We were all appropriately thrilled and impressed. In fact, the next morning Peanut announced to a stranger in the hotel elevator, “We went to The Wizard of Oz last night and got dressed so fancy and my mom put a braid in my hair that looked like a crown. It was the best show I’ve ever seen!”
Note: She’s only ever seen The Nutcracker…once.
We’ve clearly missed something here. For one thing, a Tourist Information Booth. For another thing, a Population.
I know Cleveland has a lot to offer. First of all, its neighborhoods full of historic homes and 100 year old sycamore trees are breathtaking. Preparing for this trip, I believe I'd read enough online posts to know what to do and where to stay. We’re there, baby – we even booked the Gliddon House – but we’re all alone! What is going on and where is every one? There are barely any students walking the streets and we're right next to Case Western Reserve University. We tried downtown: a ghost town. We found a trolley: it had a few tours and we had missed them all when we called at 2:05pm. We found a boat tour: it only operates on the weekend.
We tried Lake Erie for heaven’s sake and couldn’t even find a spot to put our feet in. (Well, I actually found a path between two beautiful mansions on Lake Shore Blvd., but Grandma refused to trespass so we continued our search.) Finally, we found Edgewater Park, a perfect spot to spend the day, but alas, we were practically alone. Several sailboats in the lake, 3 kites in the air, a confident, old guy sunning himself on the pier and our family running wild. It was pretty fun actually!
In my opinion, Cleveland is on the brink of something great, but it’s missing the vibrancy of a city that knows it. There’s a surplus of museums, but we didn’t want to be inside when the weather was so perfect outside. We wanted to watch locals and feel like we'd actually been here, done that. Where were the outdoor vendors with all the food, the local musicians, the flower shops, the tours and even the hustlers? On 3 different occasions, other tourists asked me for information. Ha!
Cleveland, the mistake on the lake, needs someone to design a cool tourist map, organize the few tour companies, put up some signs and maximize this market. We wanted to love this city but feel as though somehow we missed it.
In true Willie fashion we are on the road again! Grandma is with us for the entire New England tour, but somehow she missed the group shot at the airport.
On the airplane today, Little Man walked up the aisle to say hello to Doodle and I. He had a bit of blood on his bottom lip and I said, "Oh my gosh, did you lose your tooth?" He was positive he hadn't and we had to go back to the bathroom so he could see for himself. Never mind that I could clearly see the hole in his gum! A true mystery. We suspect the tiny tooth went deep into a sandwich never to be seen again. I explained to him that the Tooth Fairy is a very reasonable person and if he drew a picture of his tooth and put it under his pillow, I'm sure she'd be satisfied! (He knows I'm the fairy so he wasn't too worried!)
Cleveland seems like a ghost town thus far, but we're staying in University Circle and I can tell it's a wonderful spot. The evening was warm and we had a delicious tapas dinner which included fresh Ohio pears, so we're off to a good culinary start anyway. Can't wait to dip our toes into Lake Erie!
