A silk purse in the making

Well, sow's ear might be a bit harsh. But what would you call having to drive 1000 miles and back to retrieve a used whitewater raft bought on e-bay by your slightly deranged adorably eccentric husband? It's not the way I originally wanted to spend the time off I get between the spring and summer semesters. [Note: from now on, I am trying to take all of my generous allowance of vacation days each year, instead of just letting some of it go. I'm calling it retirement practice.]

Said raft [which might figure in some future adventure travel plans! and was a really, really, good deal, dear] resides presently near Chattanooga, Tennesee. So the silk-purse making got started when I saw what interesting side-excursions could be incorporated into a road trip to that area. By taking a full week to get there and back, we're planning to:

• visit our wonderful little great-nephew and his parents in Arkansas
• tour Mammoth Cave, which we've always regretted not stopping to see back in '02 on the way home from taking our daughter to college
  
• see the Great Smokies, where we'll try to follow our son's advice and find the treasures hiding behind the bustle of this busy park
• do some major-league historical tourist-ing, of the Civil-War variety, in the Chattanooga area
• and we might find time to test out the raft on some of the great rivers around there

A rather silky purse, indeed!

---

So, there will be a blog hiatus of, hopefully, not too long a duration while we're preparing and getting off of this expedition. But I hope the photos and stories that eventually sprout from this quite varied week of traveling will be worth it.

In the meantime, my faithful readers might want to avail themselves of a new section of my website as a time-wasting alternative. I recently finished web-izing a series of emails that reported on our 2005 trip to Seoul, South Korea. I call it a "Korea Diary" and it includes a selection of photos from this fun and very interesting trip. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday: westward and home

A Canadian stroll

Now to fulfill the deferred promise of more Niagara Falls photos.

What an amazing place this is! Sure, it has a tacky reputation as a trite honeymoon destination. And it's been featured in enough movies (including the film-noir classic even called just Niagara) that we all feel like we've seen it, and seen it enough.

But when you're actually there, the hype and triteness disappear and you just have to marvel at the prospect of SO MUCH WATER tumbling on downstream. (For more information, including some of its fascinating history, the Wikipedia Niagara Falls entry is particularly comprehensive and well-referenced.)

Henry and I visited in 2002 on our way home from taking Sally to Pennsylvania for college, and did a fair amount of exploring—including riding the Maid of the Mist boat and hiking to Cave of the Winds—but stayed on the American side of the border.

This time I was careful to pack my passport and so was able to visit the Canadian side, where the panoramic views are even better. We also got a nice bit of exercise, very welcome after sitting in meetings for two days! Here is the view of the falls you get from about midway across the bridge to Canada:

And, to give you an even better idea of the length of our walk, here's looking back downstream at the bridge:

Although a bit chilly, especially after our dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe (one of the few eateries open on a low-season weeknight), we thoroughly enjoyed the walk and simply could not stop taking pictures.

I've put almost all of the ones I took in this Flickr set (over 70!) if you want to see more Falls than I'm showing here. And I dare you to take fewer if you're there at a time of perfect light (late afternoon) like we were.

In addition to the Falls themselves, we loved the flowers everywhere, reinforcing the impression that we were in the Buffalo area at the best time of the year. Here are some gorgeous tulips along the Canadian walkway, and the most spectacular grove of dogwoods I've ever seen, between the parking lot and the visitor center on the U.S. side.

---

I need to reiterate that you need your passport to visit the Canadian side of the Falls. We had to show ours to immigration officials both on the way over and on the way back. And, for quality of views, at least, the Canadian side just can't be beat.

On top of that, it's enough to give us an inferiority complex to compare the two sections of the Falls; while both spectacular, the American Falls, which is on top here, is definitely the little brother of the Canadian, or Horseshoe, which is below:

---

Gorgeous long shot views like these are what the Canadian side specializes in, but to really appreciate the power and awesomeness (the poor, over-used awesome really does fit the bill here!) you need to get closer. And even though it's impossible to convey what it's really like, without sound, spray, and visceral thrill, I did my best.

These last two shots are what Horseshoe Falls looks like when you're too close for it all to fit in a frame. The first one still gives you some perspective with riverside vegetation (and check out the double rainbow!). But for the second I was right at the lip of the falls. Nothing but water, light, and more—and more—water, hypnotically filling your world. How wonderful to be able to—safely—be so close to such elemental force.

---

Wordless Wednesday: my new desktop

Summer plans (and fun with calendars)

Summer plans this year must take the World Cup into account, at least from mid-June to mid-July. If traveling during that time (which I will be!) stops will have to be arranged in towns with sports bars around game time. (In west Texas, this might be difficult....so you see why I have to plan ahead.)

You can also watch all of the games online at ESPN, which I've done during some previous events. I was very impressed by the video quality. Since we don't yet have country-wide, free, wifi coverage, though, I'll still have to find sports bars when traveling. But for those game days when I have to be at work...fortunately I can probably find jobs to do while watching.

To help all of us make these plans, I've made a Google calendar with the games, times, and TV information, and thought I'd share it with you. We just put up a calendar for summer work schedules at the Library and it was so easy I decided to do one for this
much more importantmore trivial purpose. I got the information from ESPN's website, and I think there was a mistake in their times for the semi-final games. So I just left the times off these, but will add them when I find the correct information. I'll also be updating the match-ups after group play when we know who will be advancing. Here's hoping both the US and England keep playing a long time!

Shufflin' around Buffalo

I admit it. When I hear "Buffalo, New York," the first thing that comes to mind isn't gorgeous flowers (like the tulips in my latest Wordless Wednesday post, taken in the churchyard of St. Joseph's in downtown Buffalo) or great urban architecture. At least, those items didn't used to come to mind.

But that's why traveling is so great! Even to random cities that host library conferences! You get to learn that stereotypes don't tell the whole story—about anywhere.

Granted, if I'd been in Buffalo a few months ago, the snowy stereotype would no doubt have been verified. But last week, it was beautiful there and a totally unexpected experience.

I wish I'd had more time to walk around and explore more of their lovely downtown, and I'm especially sorry I didn't even get to the Erie lakefront (although I could see it from my hotel room window). But they keep us pretty busy at these meetings (put on by the Government Printing Office, the same outfit that ran the shows in Tampa, Florida, last spring and Washington last fall).

My roomie and I did take a short walk, though, around the delightful downtown that our hotel was on the edge of, and I was so impressed with the buildings. As well as the scale of their downtown, which is rather small, like ours, unintimidating while still being interesting.

That's part of their county courthouse at the top of the post. And their city hall, a really stunning art deco exhibition, is on the left.

We were very intrigued by the obelisk in front of it, having seen it from down the street earlier, and spent some time guessing what it was memorializing. But none of our guesses approached the touching particular-ness of it. Here is the inscription that was along one side:

WILLIAM McKINLEY DIED IN
BUFFALO SEPTEMBER 14, 1901
VICTIM OF A TREACHEROUS
ASSASSIN WHO SHOT THE
PRESIDENT AS HE WAS
EXTENDING TO HIM THE
HAND OF COURTESY

What a poignant reminder of what was, in my memory at least, a little-recalled American history footnote. Another reason to travel: to see where history actually happened.

More great buildings are all over downtown, including the gracefully shaped office building above on the right, and this one, the aptly-named Liberty building, with not one, but two Statue of Liberty clones atop it!

---

Now, to be fair, snow isn't the only thing that stereotypically comes to mind when you hear "Buffalo," and its other claim to fame will be the subject of my next post (along with more of those wonderful flowers) . But, here's a hint:

Wordless Wednesday: a second spring