The Hotel Life

Whilst on a road trip in the USA, we find the Hampton Inn brand of hotel suits us very well indeed.  Generally well located, they offer a reliable and consistent product at a reasonable price.  The Hampton Inn in downtown Buffalo is unusually plush and our room particularly spacious.  There is, however, one individual quirk which we’ve not seen previously.

All over the ceiling, by every sprinkler, in fact, is a “no hanger” sign.  Someone at some point must have used one to hang a coathanger with disastrous consequences.  The notices have provoked a different response from each of the three of us and those responses are quite revealing:

Mark: “Well, who on earth would do such a stupid thing?”

Me: “Oh, just think of the mess if all those sprinklers went off”

Mary: “As if I could even reach one"!”

The other Hampton Inn quirk which has developed since our last stay in one is the post it note highlighting clean sheets and duvet covers.

What?!  Like weren’t they clean before?  Surely, it’s no more than could be expected in any hotel?  Welcome to the practice of “pre-emptive advertising” – by highlighting the fact that everything is clean, there’s the vague suggestion that elsewhere, that’s not necessarily the case.

But for me, it simply makes me wonder about the times when there isn’t a note there, especially when the post it note only appeared on the second night of our stay last week!  Ewww…

Time to shuffle off

Someone’s been threatening to burst into song all day.  If you’re not familiar with the song from 42nd Street, then perhaps you won’t guess that we are now in Buffalo.

We drove along one of the Finger Lakes this morning from Ithaca, heading towards Rochester.  Thankfully, it was warm and sunny and the rain of the last few days appears to have moved on.

The landscape here is of rich farmlands dotted with a farm here and there, the buildings frequently dwarfed by several large silos.

The Amish farms are easy to recognise, because there are no electricity cables connecting them to the grid.

Of course, the large number of black buggies parked outside the large barn on this Sunday morning also gave the game away.  Perhaps the whole village was there inside, attending a service?

Throughout the last few days, we have come across the Erie Canal (cue another song) and here, it was wide and rather fuller than I imagined.  The couple in the motor boat were travelling at a rather faster speed than would have been permitted on a British canal, that’s for sure!

Soon, we were approaching Rochester and the lush green fields gave way to broad avenues and busy streets.

Whilst stopped at traffic lights, we spotted the neon sign in this sandwich shop.  I think it could have been phrased better, don’t you?

Our destination was here: Susan B Anthony’s house.  We’d already “met” her yesterday in Seneca Falls, but here her story was the focus and our guide, Linda, was a storyteller of the first degree.  She added a few additional details to the story we heard yesterday and did so in such a way that we were all captivated by her every word.

We continued a little further down the street to view the statue of Miss Anthony chatting to Frederick Douglass over a cup of tea.  The bright sunshine made photography difficult, but I wasn’t complaining!  Frederick Douglass was another figure in the story we’ve come to know better: An escaped slave, he made his way north by means of the Underground Railroad and perhaps we’ll encounter him again when we find out more about that?

Whilst in Rochester, we wanted to take a look downtown too.  The distinctive skyscraper bears the name of the Eastman Kodak company, no longer the major employer it was, sadly.

 

We were heading for the Rennes Bridge, to view the High Falls.

Quite a landmark in the city centre, the falls were surrounded by a rather scruffy collection of former warehouses and factories.  But on a lovely Sunday afternoon, that didn’t matter to us, especially when the sound of a railroad whistle caught our attention as it chugged over the bridge above the falls, completing the scene nicely!

From Rochester, it was just a couple of hours drive to Buffalo, our stop for a couple of nights.  No sooner had we arrived than we were out looking at the wonderful architecture.

So many fine views of contrasting styles and materials.

Interesting modern details, such as the US Constitution written on the windows of the Courthouse.  Yes, of course we searched out the 19th Amendment following our theme of the last couple of days and sure enough, there it was, repeated several times over the course of the windows.

The Liberty building had distinctive figures up there on both rooftops.

I liked the expression here

and when we remembered to look up, the reward was clear to see.

Buffalo is a surprisingly monumental city and we are delighted we included it in our plans.  We’re going to head out and visit America’s oldest State Park tomorrow, taking our passports with us “just in case”.

Fingers crossed, the sun will still be shining.

Inspiring Women

We are in Ithaca, in the Finger Lakes region of NY state and home to Cornell University.  Thankfully, we woke to dry weather this morning and having enjoyed breakfast here at the hotel, we headed out in a northerly direction to Seneca Falls.

We didn’t go far for our first stop, though.  The Taughannock Falls are on the edge of Ithaca, just the other side of Lake Cayuga and were the first place on our list.  In little more than five minutes we’d got out of the car, taken our pictures and were ready to go.  We continued our discussion of why people appear to consider it acceptable to wear pyjamas beyond their bedrooms, prompted by observation of two men, old enough to know better, at breakfast in the hotel.

Hmm.  What happened to standards?

We drove swiftly on through rich green farmlands, past Amish farms with interesting washing lines, travelling too fast to capture the quilt and the horse and buggy adequately.

The men were working in the fields whilst the women – oh, the women!  They were at home in the garden, playing volleyball wearing full length dresses in pastel shades of blue, pink and lavender and each had a white cotton bonnet on her head, too.   What a lovely sight, full of joy and spirit – simple pleasures indeed and the picture will stay in my mind for a long time.

We carried on along the road with the buggy lane on each side and were soon approaching the city of Seneca Falls, our focus for the morning.

Sadly, we couldn’t park any closer to the Women’s Rights National Historic Park Visitor Center!

We were here because this is where the landmark Women’s Rights meeting took place in 1848, demanding full and equal rights with men.  The statue in the picture above shows Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony being introduced to one another by Amelia Bloomer; all three women were key figures in the movement and inspired thousands of others to take up the cause.  Seneca Falls, the home of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, became the location for temperance and abolition meetings which were used to address women’s issues.

I’ve written before about how we admire the National Parks Ranger service and this morning, one of their number gave an excellent talk at Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s former home.  One particular sentence he spoke about married women’s lack of inheritance rights gave much food for thought and explained why so many women felt the need to take action:

“A wife could be a heartbeat away from destitution; that was her husband’s heartbeat”

We took time to explore the former Wesleyan Chapel where that first meeting took place, and of course browsed the Visitors’ Center, feeling we had not only seen everything there was to see, but also in my case, learned a whole lot too.

The travelling companions gathered up the maps and we headed for Syracuse, where the Erie Canal Museum was on our list.

Four lines of railway tracks used to pass through this city centre but on this Saturday afternoon all was looking rather bleak and empty.  One cop car lurked in a far corner so we parked very carefully!

The huge Erie canal passed through the city too, right alongside those railway lines and here, there was a weigh house so the charges and tolls could be calculated.

Now, little remains of the canal but a bit of metalwork here and there and the museum sitting alongside in the old Weigh House.

Does all of this look a little bleak and foresaken?  You bet it was.  Even the charming young woman in the museum couldn’t really bring the place to life and after watching a short film about the heydays of the canal and taking a look around, we decided we’d had enough.

Sorry Syracuse.

We headed back to Ithaca wondering if it might be time we cleared out the car a little   I had 50% off coupons for Michaels and JoAnns burning a hole in my pocket, so we made a couple of shortish stops and I saved quite a few $$$.

Dinner tonight was at the Moosewood Kitchen, in Ithaca, where the food was delicious and “different”. 

As I’m sitting here typing, I’m thinking about those women at Seneca Falls who worked tirelessly to create a world where women like Mary and I can go about wearing trousers, spending our own money and have exactly the same rights as anyone else.

And then I think about the women playing volleyball in long dresses and bonnets.  Their choice?

Into New York

The state, that is, not the city.  We hadn’t been driving long before we crossed the border and entered Columbia County.

We were heading for Albany, because last time we were in these parts (on our New York to Montreal road trip a couple of years ago) we sailed right past the state capitol, and this time we thought we’d stop by.  We had heard good things about the building itself and thought it would make a good stopping place on our drive up to Ithaca.

But when we arrived, it was tipping down with rain, the traffic was horrendous and it was hard to find our way around, let alone find a  parking place.  But we are nothing but determined, so with map in hand, we stopped by the side of the road for a few minutes, gathered our wits and took one last go.  We found an empty space just about fifty yards from the front door!

We were delighted we’d persevered, for not only was this one of the most exuberantly designed state capitol buildings we’ve seen, we managed to join a guided tour inside and were pleased to see all the hidden details.  Like the Million Dollar Staircase.

There were so many beautifully designed and lavishly decorated parts of the building, we could have spent longer here, but of course, we were on our way further west and so had to make on.

Still, we had time for a quick peek inside the House of Representatives

and a photograph of the state seal.

We couldn’t miss out on seeing the war room with the amazing painted ceiling, situated in the Governor’s suite.  What a treasure!

Close by, in a cupboard, wrapped in acid free tissue paper for sure, were all the flags and colours of the state, including quite a few battle scarred ones.  It was interesting to see them all wrapped up like that – I wonder how frequently they get an airing?

Once the tour was at an end, we hurried back through the rain to the car, from where I snapped a quick shot of the building.  I’d have loved to have had chance to walk around and get a proper picture of the front, but in this weather, really the sooner we were in the dry, the better.

Once out on the open road, the skies brightened and we hoped that was it for the rain today.

But the clouds were never far away and the lush green countryside got the occasional soaking to keep it so for a few weeks yet. 

We were heading westwards along US 20 mostly, staying off the Interstate in favour of the smaller, more scenic route.

Around lunchtime, we took another break in Cooperstown where the main focus of all things centres on baseball, for it was here that it’s claimed the sport was invented.  I’m not sure that’s strictly true, but the Baseball Hall of Fame is here and every other shop is baseball related too.

So, what were we three non-baseball fans to do here? 

Have lunch of course!  Asking for recommendations from a charming gentleman in the information booth led us to the Depot Deli, where Jung entertained us with her lively chatter and satisfied our appetites with delicious sandwiches.  Great place, lovely people and exactly the kind of experience which makes road trips like these special.  She’s the third or fourth person we’ve found ourselves chatting to and she’ll appear in the travel journal, bringing it to life and prompting conversations which begin “do you remember the Korean woman in the deli in….where was it? Cooperstown”

The other claim to fame is that Cooperstown was the home of the Fenimore Cooper family, which includes James, author of the Last of the Mohicans amongst other work.  But feeling full and ready to move on, we didn’t explore further than the loos at the back of the Cooperstown General Store, where there was a priceless notice on the paper towel dispenser.

Thankfully, it worked first time.

The last part of the journey to Ithaca was rainy…

At times, it stopped and the sun tried to shine, but then it rained some more.

As we neared our destination, we looked at those clouds and hoped we’d get there ahead of the storm.

We did, just.  But half an hour later, going out for a pizza, we had to make a run for it.

We are staying at the Homewood Suites, whose mascot is a duck.  Why?  Well, there is a long and convoluted explanation at the reception desk which made us smile but which we instantly forgot.  I think, however, that it is most appropriate considering the weather we’ve had all day today!

His name is Lewis, by the way.

In the Berkshires

(that’s “Birkshires” and not “Barkshires” by the way)

Overcast and showery weather meant that we didn’t feel too bad about planning a day which was going to be mostly spent indoors.  We had a few ideas up our sleeve, for this area is packed with interesting places to visit and beautiful homes to see.

 

We began with somewhere we’d been before but were eager to see again.  The last time we were here, we knew little of Norman Rockwell’s work but were immediately captivated by his art and the insight it offered to the world at that time.

The museum is a fine, modern building set in parkland and from the minute we stepped inside, we remembered what made it so special.  There’s the same warmth about the place as emanates from the art on the walls and a feel-good atmosphere soon brings a smile to the face.

Of course, there are many familiar images on the walls here, including this one of Ruby Bridges going to school and during her introductory talk, docent Meg gave us an overview of Norman Rockwell’s life and work.

He frequently worked from photographs, taking care to create as near exact image as he could to prepare for the final painting.  I found it interesting to see the preparatory work and the features which didn’t quite make it to the last and final painting.

In some cases, pretty major changes were made to emphasise a point, make a statement or simply to strengthen the composition.

Above all, the observations and attention paid to every small detail never fails to amuse and I could spend ages standing and looking at each picture for that very reason.

Another side exhibition was showing in a couple of rooms.  Here, the unknown illustrations by Edward Hopper provided a contrasting style to the permanent Rockwell collection, depicting a rather more glamorous world of theatre and the arts.

Before we left, we wandered over to Norman Rockwell’s studio, in a barn which had been moved from its original site next to his former home in Stockbridge.  It’s always interesting to see such places and here the neat and tidy nature of the man shone through, even in his absence.

Our next stop was in Stockbridge for a spot of lunch and a mooch around the main street depicted in one of Rockwell’s most familiar works.  On this dreary, rainy day, sadly it wasn’t looking at its best, but the iris along the pathway to the library provided a glorious shot of colour and the friendly service in the village cafe made for a happy hour or so.  Later, buying a couple of things in the Yankee Candle store, the assistant pointed out the location of one of the paintings we’d seen earlier, because this shop is in what used to be the old town hall.  The window in The Marriage License is now the shop doorway and the shop assistants now stand where the young couple are shown in the picture.

Decision time now.  Should we visit the home of Sculptor Daniel Chester French, recommended by Jane and Allan?  Or perhaps visit Naumkeg Museum and Gardens, reputedly rather more than the “cottage” description we’d read earlier?  Or had we reached cultural saturation point for today?  Probably so.

Mary remembered passing the Crane Paper Mill yesterday, where the paper for US banknotes is made and where there was a small visitor centre.  We were there in less than half an hour and noting the very limited opening hours on the sign, counted ourselves lucky that on this particular afternoon it was open.

There was a small museum on site and a guided showing about the manufacture of banknotes, particularly focusing on the security features of the new $100 bill.  This family owned company, now run by the seventh generation has the monopoly on this business and though social stationery is still manufactured by them, the vast bulk of their work is the banknotes.

Examples of their products were on display in the museum and I found it interesting to read the kind responses sent to those who had written following sad events.  I liked the card sent by former President Johnson and his wife on their return “to private life”, though I doubt vey much that it was anything of the kind.

A small shopping opportunity here, a rather larger one on the way home at an outlet shopping centre and the day was done.  Just time for a couple of cups of tea to spill over the road atlas back at the hotel, for us to clear it up and dry the pages with a hair dryer before it was time to go out for supper.

There is never a dull moment on a road trip!