Monday, July 7

Cleaned Up, Packed Up, & Loaded Up

Sadly our wonderful weekend house party has ended and we are now the "wav-ees" driving down the driveway rather than the "wav-ers" who wander down the length of the wrap around porch bidding departing guests a safe trip.

Our three car convoy met up at Sugar and Spice for a last parting breakfast before heading off for next steps - either home or more barnstorming.  These barnstormers have a driving day in front of us ... west to Rochester, NY for another visit with more old friends.  After spending a good chunk of the day in the car we arrived at our Hotwire hotel just before dinner time.  (Our unofficial, unscientific survey shows that Hotwire has better prices than Hotels Tonight.  We'll continue to update you on our experience. Tonight's hotel was on both sites and it was about $50 cheaper on Hotwire.)

One of our favorite things to do on long driving days is to listen to books on tape.  Since we set out on this trip we have been listening to "Cooked" by Michael Pollan.  Although the book was interesting we felt it was a bit too long in spots, but what it really did was inspire us to cook upon our return.

Dinner was delightful. Sinbad's, a Lebanese restaurant, on Park Avenue in Rochester was the choice of my high school friend, Lynn and her husband Chris.  It is one of their favorites. My falafel platter was most statisfying.  But the best dinner related surprise was the delightful Lebanese wine we enjoyed.

After dinner we strolled around the neighborhood so we could see a recently restored Frank Lloyd Wright house.  It is privately owned but we had a leisurely gander at the exterior. It is beautiful and it gets us excited for our upcoming visit to Taliesen. 

With Lynn at Frank Lloyd Wright house in Rochester, NY

Not a Frank Lloyd Wright house... it was green when we occupied it in the 70s!

Then we partook in a Rochester tradition dating back to our high school days and headed to Abbott's Frozen Custard in Charlotte for a cone, then wandered out on the pier that juts out into Lake Ontario.  

Chris photo bombing our ice cream picture....

Having kept our friends out until after 11:00 p.m. on a "school night" we took our leave and headed back to the hotel and started planning the next leg of our trip.... Ohio here we come!

A&L