So starved for Big City entertainment, we have braved some of the hottest streets of summer to suck up the goodies available here. My friends Julia, Ruth and Sally, who grew up in the nearby suburbs like Winnetka, conveyed enough of the thrills to make me dream about a trip to Chicago since college. The Continue Reading »
…and I always thought a Boilermaker was a whiskey shooter/cocktail named after the workers who stoked the steam locomotives with coal. It is a shot of whiskey dropped into a beer, and drunk without removing one’s lips from the glass, eg. chug-a-lug. Sounds like a college experience, but since underage students don’t illegally drink on Continue Reading »
In Bloomington, Indiana, Steven visited the fountain he played in as a young child (age 3-7). He lived in a residential speech training program for severely hearing impaired children on the campus at Indiana University. Nowadays, they wouldn’t institutionalize such a young child for speech training, but in the 1950’s that was the best choice Continue Reading »
Both sides of the River have gorgeous falls. Clearly the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side are the most dramatic with a 2200 foot crest and a 177 ft. drop. At 700,000 gallons per second, the falling water creates so much mist and wind that the bottom of the Falls are completely obscured, and the Continue Reading »
Steven’s pal Kate from 3rd grade, and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame made Cleveland, Ohio a travel destination. We missed the Rock Museum as we arrived an hour before the Cleveland Browns game. Chaos and expensive parking made us choose pretty walks as the best way to experience Cleveland. The Peace Garden and Continue Reading »
I somehow mistakenly believed that Toronto was a mid-size Midwestern Canadian city, provincial in nature. I was surprised to find a booming, sprawling metropolis filled with new high rise resident towers and cranes atop steel carapaces all around the City, capturing the view over Lake Ontario. There is a wonderful mix of old and new, Continue Reading »
Actually, 1865 islands. Formed from a precambrian rock bridge, Canada claims more of the individual islands. The USA claims more land area (some of the islands are quite large and have schools and businesses for year round residence) and more of the water surface in this part of the Saint Lawrence River exiting Lake Ontario. Continue Reading »
After a quick trip through Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, we reentered Canada below Montreal. Ycch…another perilous border crossing, and stupidly on a Friday night. Mainly Quebecois heading home, they brought us to a standstill for an hour. Passengers were out of their vehicles, picnicking, riding skateboards, and throwing frisbees and footballs across the freeway. Continue Reading »
It was an epic battle, like Good v. Evil: Sally and Steven v. Ben and Jerry. Trying out a vegan diet, we met our nemesis, real ice cream. Let’s face it….soy ice cream sucks. So does coconut, almond and every other non-dairy version we have tried. I will tell you that we had to rely Continue Reading »
We have managed small day hikes on parts of the Appalachian Trail (the “AT”) as we have headed up the East Coast from Georgia this last year. Sometimes we hiked in snow (Virginia), sometimes without a trail while walking on the same Appalachian Mountain ridge in Newfoundland, and finally, the windiest part of the trail, Continue Reading »