Corning and Rochester - Day 2

Our second day started with breakfast at a local family restaurant in town after we checked out. They served typical breakfast fare of eggs and bacon and such. Peter and I shared blueberry pancakes and a plate of eggs, toast, hash browns and sausage while Gabe and Justin had their own selections.

After eating we headed over to the George Eastman Museum. He's the founder of Eastman Kodak. Here's a short excerpt from their website:

The George Eastman Museum is located in Rochester, New York, on the estate of George Eastman (1854-1932), the pioneer of popular photography and motion picture film. Founded in 1947 as an independent nonprofit institution, it is the world’s oldest photography museum and one of the oldest film archives. The museum holds unparalleled collections—encompassing several million objects—in the fields of photography, cinema, and photographic and cinematographic technology, and photographically illustrated books. The institution is also a longtime leader in film preservation and photographic conservation.

Upon arrival we joined a tour of the grounds around the museum. It was led by a well informed elderly gentleman whose name I did not catch. We all enjoyed his stories very much. Very educational that's for sure.

After that we rushed to a second tour that took us through the various galleries around the museum. The lady that led that one went quite fast. She wanted to give us an overview of the whole place and we could return later to the rooms we were most interested in.

We decided to join another tour right after that. This one was led by another gentleman and his son. They were giving a tour of the Eastman residence. But, after around 20 minutes, we had had enough of tours and walked around on our own. The fact that the last tour had a large contingent following the man and his son around meant the rooms they weren't in were empty. Perfect for shooting.

I have to say, the home and grounds were really cool. I also liked the old cameras and equipment they had on display. As well, there were galleries with different photographic themes. One of the temporary ones they had was of American National Parks. It was pretty big.

We left the museum at half past 3:00 and headed out to do some shopping. We found a Walmart where I bought some socks and a set of dry bags to put my camera equipment in if we ever happened to be out on the water again (like we were when we went kayaking on the St. Lawrence back in 2014).

After a stop at another mall closer to the border we stopped for dinner at a place called the Riverstone Grill on Grand Island (just west of Buffalo, New York). Peter found out about it when it was featured on the TV show Man vs. Food. There the host, Adam Richman, attempted to down their 68 oz "Bone in the Stone" steak @ $52 (or something like that).

While Gabe order the salmon and Justin had a 30 oz steak Peter and I decided to share the Bone in the Stone (for an extra $5 surcharge). The huge steak comes with two ribs sitting on a couple of pounds of fries (regular and sweet potato fries). It's probably 2"-3" thick. Since Peter likes his steak rare and I'm more of a medium guy, we compromised and had it done medium-rare.

When our order came (some 30-40 minutes later) Peter tried to carve it in half through the two bones. This proved to be futile since they were joined at one point. So he just sliced a bit off for each of us. Unfortunately our particular piece of beef had quite a bit of fat and, even worse, a lot of gristle. We could hardly cut through it, let alone chew it. We ended up eating only about half of it, the rest being inedible. A huge disappointment.

We finished eating at 8:30. When Justin checked the border crossing times and found out that the lines were massive we decided to stay on the American side to watch the fireworks at Niagara Falls.

We arrived at the Falls around quarter after 9:00 and staked out spots along the railing by the American Falls. From our spot we could see the Skylon Tower and casinos on the Canadian side. A nice backdrop to the fireworks we hoped.

Unfortunately I didn't know about potentially seeing fireworks beforehand and hadn't brung my tripod. It may have been useless anyway given the size of the crowds. So I just set my exposure anywhere from 1/8th and 1/10th of a second and hoped for the best. I was pleasantly surprised some of my shots were all right.

After the fireworks ended we attempted crossing the border again. Since it was right there, we decided to cross at the Rainbow Bridge. Big mistake. The line was incredibly long. And so, so slow. There was no way we'd be crossing there anytime soon.

Instead we hopped out of line and drove 10 kilometres north to the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge and crossed there. The line up was less than 5-minutes. I'm guessing we saved at least an hour of waiting. After dropping the guys off, I got home after 2:00 in the morning.

Corning and Rochester - Day 1

My friends and I drove down to Corning and Rochester last weekend. We wanted to see the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning and the George Eastman Museum in Rochester.

It was my turn to drive this trip. To save some time I slept over at Peter's condo on Friday and we picked Justin and Gabe up Saturday morning. Originally we were aiming for 8:00 a.m., but were a little late.

We took the 401 west to the 427 and connected with the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) to Niagara Falls. The quickest way over at that time was at the Rainbow Bridge. We got through the border quickly which was nice.

Our first stop over the border was to a mail depot in Niagara Falls. Justin and Peter mail ordered some items there. So we went to pick them up. After that we headed towards Corning.

We made it about 100 kilometres past the border before we got hungry. By this time it was shortly after 1:00 in the afternoon. We had made it to Warsaw, New York. Time to eat.

We parked on Highway 20A (Buffalo Street) and walked over to Main Street where we found a BBQ restaurant called the Rock and Roll Bar BBQ. It looked all right, so we walked in.

For lunch we ordered the full rack of ribs for $23.99 as well as an order of their beef brisket for $15.99 to share. Each order came with with two sides. We had the coleslaw, corn bread, mac and cheese and fries. I have to say we thought the portions were a bit small for what we paid. But it was enough to satisfy our hunger for the time.

We hit the road again by 2:30. An hour and 45 minutes later we were in Corning. We walked around downtown briefly before heading over to the museum. Peter had bought advanced tickets that were good from 4:00 p.m. onwards. We got there shortly before 5:00.

Here's a description from their website:

Founded in 1951 by Corning Glass Works (now Corning Incorporated) as a gift to the nation for the company’s 100th anniversary, The Corning Museum of Glass is a not-for-profit museum dedicated to telling the story of a single material: glass.

The Corning Museum of Glass cares for and displays the world’s best collection of art and historical glass. When you visit, you’ll see more than 3,500 years of history displayed in the Glass Collection Galleries, from the glass portrait of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh to contemporary sculpture made in glass.You can learn about the science and technology behind innovations in glass through hands-on exhibits in our Innovation Center. There, you can explore the concepts behind optics, vessels, and windows, and meet the innovators who have changed our world using glass.

Glass is brought to life through live, narrated glassmaking demonstrations, offered all day, every day. If you can’t make it to Corning, watch our live Hot Glass Shows on three Celebrity Cruise ships, or on the road with our traveling hotshop. We also offer a traveling design program, GlassLab, aimed at helping designers explore glass as a material for their work.

It's a pretty cool place - both the building and the demonstrations and exhibits inside. I think we all really enjoyed the visit. Though, Justin did get a bit bored near the end when Peter and I ran around trying to take more photos. That's the problem when traveling with us. We can't put down our cameras.

We left around 7:30 and headed back up to Rochester where Peter had booked us rooms at the local Motel 6. After checking in we headed back out to grab a late bite. The girl at the front desk had directed us to a nearby Appleby's. That would suit us fine. We all ordered the 8 oz. steak. Not very original, but what can you do?

We got back to the motel by 11:30. Justin and I shared a room on the second floor, while Gabe and Peter took the one on first floor. They had noisy neighbours and Gabe found a bedbug on his bed. Needless to say, they weren't happy campers.

My Trip to Sarnia

I went to Sarnia, Ontario recently. My aunt and uncle from New York were visiting, so we packed up the car and drove out there with my mom and grandma. My aunt and my mother spent their teenage years there. It was my first time there as an adult.

Our first stop on our trip was the cemetery. I know it's an odd place to start, but my grandfather and uncle (both of whom I never met) are buried there. Whenever my mom, grandmother and aunt go there I think it's the first place they head to.

After that we toured the city. First we went to Cantara Park. They have a beach there among other things. There were a few people sunbathing and some young people playing volleyball, but it wasn't too crowded. We had lunch at one of the picnic tables there then continued looking around.

Next stop was Point Edward Park and the Blue Water toll bridge to the U.S. I didn't know Sarnia was right on the border of Lake Huron and Michigan state. But, you could see the bridge over to Michigan from here.

After that we went into town. We found the church that my mother used to go to when she lived here. It's called St. Andrew's Presbyterian church and it's on Christina Street, right beside city hall.

Next we headed a bit south and found the spot where their family restaurant used to be. There's a parking lot there now. I guess that's progress for you.

Nearby Sarnia Collegiate Institute where my mom and aunt went to high school followed. Lastly we went to their old family home (where the above shot was taken). I believe they last lived there some 40-50 odd years ago.

All-in-all it was pretty cool visiting these places with my aunt, mom and grandmother. I managed to capture it all digitally with my camera for posterity's sake. I'm sure they were happy about that too.

I went to Ottawa

I went to Ottawa this past weekend. My friend's friend's friend was getting married there so a few of us decided to hop into a car and make a road trip out of it.

We left Friday morning and got to Ottawa in the early afternoon. Upon arrival we promptly crossed the border into Quebec where we grabbed lunch at St. Hubert. It's a French version of Swiss Chalet. They used to have a lot of them here in Ontario, but in recent years they've disappeared.

In the early evening we headed over to the ByWard Market for a walk through, then crossed the Rideau Canal to check out Parliament Hill. We snapped a few pictures outside before finding out there was a 6:50 p.m. guided tour. The tour was pretty neat. Being that it was the end of the day we were able to see some things that the general public rarely get a chance to view. One such thing was the library. I have to say it was quite fantastic.

After the tour we headed back to the ByWard Market and grabbed a bite at Wonton Mama. It's a "Pan-Asian restaurant featuring simple yet delicious dishes from China, Thailand, Vietnam and Japan" (according to their website). The food was fine there.

The next day was the wedding. DY and Diane attended it. I went to Doors Open Ottawa with Daphne. It's an event held in many cities around the world (including Toronto) where "residents and visitors are invited to discover first-hand Ontario’s hidden heritage treasures, some of which have never been open to the public."

Daphne and I checked out about 8-10 buildings including the former Union Station (train station), the National Capital Commission and Cartier Square Drill Hall. We also dropped by Notre Dame Cathedral (which wasn't an official Doors Open participant) across the street from the National Gallery of Canada. I have to say it was really nice looking inside.

Since Diane and DY were busy the whole day, Daphne and I had dinner on our own. We picked a diner called Zak's in the ByWard Market. The food was under par and overpriced. I suppose that's what you get for eating in a tourist spot.

The weather on Sunday morning wasn't that great. It was raining lightly, but steadily. We took Diane and DY by Notre Dame because they hadn't seen it yet. Afterwards we walked across the street to the National Gallery which was also part of Doors Open Ottawa and spent a couple of hours there.

After the gallery we decided to get lunch. Diane wanted to drive back over the border into Quebec to eat again. We gave it a go, but the GPS system that she bought the previous day after she got lost after dropping Daphne and I off downtown kept telling us to drive into the river. Since we didn't feel like going for a swim we decided to head back to the highway and drive towards Toronto. When we felt like it we would stop somewhere and grab a bite along the way.

Not long after we hit the 401 we stopped in a town called Prescott. We found a place on Diane's GPS called Wok House Restaurant which served Westernized "Chinese" food. It had things like chicken balls with phosphorescent red sauce and things like that. We shared dishes of beef and broccoli, beef "chow mein", battered deep fried shrimp and friend rice instead.

After lunch Daphne took the wheel as I figured I needed a nap. She drove a little while before asking DY if she wanted to stop by Kingston as we were driving through. I wasn't so keen on the idea because it was getting later and we probably wouldn't be getting into town until after 10:00 p.m. as it was. That would be a bit late for dinner as far as I was concerned. But, they decided to stop anyway.

Kingston isn't the most interesting town as far as I'm concerned. It's kind of quaint. We didn't really get to see too much as our time was kind of limited. We stopped by a nice coffee/dessert shop for a bite. That ended up being our dinner. By the time we hit the road again it was probably 9-10:00 p.m. I was the first to be dropped off and I got home at just after midnight.

All in all it was a good trip. Nobody in our room snored. I have to get Daphne a walkie talkie so we can communicate though. Sometimes she wanders off without telling me. Then I have to look all over for her.