While we were gawking into the senate chambers, looking around a sign that indicated it was
open only for senators and their staffs', the clerk came out and invited us in. He gave us a
great, personal tour of all the art work, a discussion of all the logistics, and lots of interesting (but,
unfortunately, forgettable) trivia.
One of the problems that I have had is that I get to visiting and forget to get any pictures.
I guess that is partly excusable in that we are here for the people, not the pictures.
Wednesday, May 29
On Wednesday morning, we started heading west for real. We drove from Concord toward the
northwest and Burlington, VT. From there we took the ferry across Lake Champlain (of
which my friend, David, says "is a very good lake, but not a Great Lake" – blame him, not me).
From Lake Champlain, we continued west through the Anirondacks to Watertown, NY.
For the whole ride – through New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, we saw the most
spectacular lilacs. Lilacs are the state flower of New Hampshire, but there is a profusion
of them through the whole area. In addition to individual plants, we saw entire lilac hedges
and areas where they seem to have gone wild and just filled up meadow areas. Most of
these were in bloom, from white to deep purple, and even driving by in the car we were
treated to the sweet aroma.
Crossing the ferry was Lili's first boat ride, and she seemed to have loved it. For most of it,
she had her head erect, facing into the wind, and her sensitive little nose testing all kinds
of new and different aromas of which we can only guess.
Thursday, May 30
Probably the biggest single disappointment of the trip so far was the atrocious weather we
encountered when we stopped to see Niagara Falls. Having missed the falls entirely, we
were determined to make another attempt to see them today. As we left Watertown, the
weather was pretty stormy, but we had 175 miles to go to get to the falls, so we tried to
keep up hope.
Friday, May 31
We woke up this morning to very stormy, wet conditions (although warm). For all of the
days that we had really bad luck with the weather, yesterday was certainly very good luck.
We hit the break in the weather just right. Today we pretty much just drove all day – with
a brief stop in Cleveland for lunch. So far we have been pretty lucky when we have just
picked a restaurant out of the blue. We prefer not eating in chains, and so, if we see
something that looks reasonable, we go ahead and stop. Today was no exception. We
stopped at a Chinese restaurant, and it was pretty good. It was relatively plain, in that it
was Cantonese cuisine, rather than the spicier fares that we prefer, but it was good, none
the less.
We drove as far as South Bend East (why don't they call it "Southeast Bend" – another
great mystery of life), and stayed in a KOA there. This was most notable in that it was
probably the nicest KOA on this whole trip. It was very clean, had a lot of trees and
foliage, and was just a very pleasant stay.
Saturday, June 1
On last Tuesday, while we were still in Concord, NH, we got word that my mother's health
was failing. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease nearly a decade ago, and for the
last several years has been virtually comatose. The people at the adult foster home in
which she has been living have taken excellent care of her, and she had been pretty much at
a plateau for some time. On Tuesday we heard that she had lost her ability to swallow.
Although we had pretty much decided that it was time to come home, this news had
encouraged us to hurry more than we might have otherwise. This morning we heard from my
brother that she had died in her sleep in the early morning hours.
I was a little surprised at how much I grieved, since I had acknowledged to myself quite
some time ago that she was ready to die. I decided that I was not grieving her death – it
could only have been a relief to her – so much as I had given myself permission to grieve for
the loss that we had experienced gradually some time ago when she no longer was the
person I knew as my mother.
Despite this news, we continued home. We stopped for a little while in Amana, Iowa to see
the community and to do a Volkswalk. Despite the cold, wet weather we had been
experiencing up until now, today was downright hot. The people that I had heard talking
said that it was 95 degrees, and about the same humidity.
After a short stay at Amana, we continued on to Laramie, Wyoming for the night. One of
the problems with traveling with a dog is that the dog cannot be left in the car, and, for
some reason, restaurants don't like them to come in. As a result, all day today we could only
eat food we had in the car or at drive-thru fast food places. It doesn't take many days of
this for us to get very tired of fast food.
Sunday, June 2
Laramie, Wyoming appears to always be windy. After getting up to the wind, we were just
eager to get back on the road. Fortunately, there was a gas station about a block away from
the camp, and after we gassed up there, it was pointed out to me that we had a flat tire.
Just as I pulled over to the edge of the gas station lot (these are "gas" stations, now, not
"service" stations) and started to move the baggage around to get to the spare tire and the
jack, a very interesting man stopped by to ask if he could help. He was a young man (anyone
younger than me is a "young" man) with many tattoos on his arms, wearing a leather, Harley-
Davidson vest, and riding a bicycle. He pitched right in and helped me get the tire changed.
He also joined me in a look of dismay as we let the car down off the jack, only to find that
the spare was also flat. He jacked the car up again, took the tire off, took it over to the air
hose, filled it up, replaced it, and guided me to the nearest tire store for repairs. In what
otherwise could have been a very discouraging morning, he was a ray of bright sunshine, and
made my day.
The weather had cooled off some over night, and we drove relatively comfortably to Twin
Falls, Idaho for what should be our last night on the road.
Tuesday, June 3
The final day of our trip was very uneventful. The weather was nice, and we got home late
in the afternoon. Lili was relieved to be able to go out into the back yard – the first time in
more than a month that she had been outside without a leash on. Linda and I were just glad
to be able to sit back and put our feet up. Dorothy is right – "There's no place like home!"
We had lunch at Nancy and Bruce's with my Aunt Dorothy, then later in the evening visited
with Aunt Dorothy and my cousin Scott. (As kind of a coincidence, we could not visit with
his brother, Dana, because he was, at the very same time, in Portland visiting with my brother.
Next time I guess a little better coordination might be called for.)
As we pulled into Watertown, a young man – presumably a GI from nearby Fort Drum –
pulled up and beeped at us. He had apparently seen our license plate, and, being from
Eugene, he was glad to see somebody from his part of the world.
When we finally got to Niagara, the weather had cleared up nicely, and, although a bit
muggy, was really good for strolling around. My limited ability with words cannot describe
the falls other than to say that it is sufficiently breathtaking to be well worth a second
shot at seeing them, and we were delighted with the cooperation of the weather. After
wandering around to see the various falls from the American side, we took shifts (one with
the dog and one on the boat) to do the Maid of the Mists tour. That is a tour boat that
goes past the American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls, and right up to the base of the Horseshoe
falls. Although I took more pictures at Niagara than I have at any one location since I got a
digital camera, and although I took a few of those from the boat, I couldn't get any from
right under the falls because of the copious "mist" (more like a heavy rain) to which we were
exposed.
Of note at Niagara Falls is the sign we saw in conjunction with all of the construction that
was going on. I don't know if it was meant in jest, but both of us kind of had the impression
that this is the way the people of New York who are in charge of the park think. "All we
need is a little time and construction, and we can make anything better."
Fortunately for us, one of us had
some common sense. Despite the heat, we started out on the walk we had planned on.
Fortunately, less than a mile into it, Lili just laid down in the grass and refused to go any
farther. After a couple attempts to coerce her into continuing, we decided to throw in the
towel. That was probably a good idea, because we were certainly not acclimated to the heat,
and would probably all have suffered if we continued.
