Parking in the snow

WHAT AN AMAZING trip we had to Rochester and Toronto. Emily's master's recital was beautiful and we had an adventure going across the border and visiting my crazy Canadian family. Fun memories.

It started snowing in Rochester Saturday morning and it was still snowing when we left Monday morning. It never stopped. People in town just shrugged and said it was a brutal winter, though I took great relief in seeing a TV news guy standing in front of a downtown snow pile and declaring it cold outside. Doesn't matter where you go, I guess.

Rochester has a beautiful downtown. But like all bigger cities, there are parking issues. No free parking, no spots open and our parking garage was its own force to be reckoned with. Blocks and blocks of parked cars seemed permanently attached to the street.

Emily lives a few blocks from Eastman School of Music campus, thankfully. I don't want anybody in downtown Quincy bitching about the lack of parking, EVER - compared to cities of equal or bigger size, we have acres of space to park the automobile. And I do mean acres.

Not actual image from our trip. It was too dangerous
to take our own photo.

The plows were out and tried to keep up, but it was a losing battle. If you want a thrill or want to take your own life into your hands, try driving on a major highway packed with 3 days of ice and snow. You are allowed to go 65, but we were lucky to hit 20 in some spots - especially coming off the highway. Sheryl has a special technique that will slingshot you off the guardrail and in the right direction when you hit that ice. We survived.

We ate breakfast in Leroy, New York. We crossed Niagara Falls but couldn't see a thing because of the snow and fog. Yup, it was snowing in a fog. We got stuck in traffic outside of Toronto because a crash closed the entire highway - five lanes of no fun. We saw huge chunks of ice on Lake Ontario. People were ice skating on the lake. We drove past the CN Tower and Skydome and Air Canada Center, and we really need to go back to Toronto when we have more time to explore one of the great cities on earth. But only when the snow is gone!

It was a whirlwind trip, and it's nice to be home - no major airplane issues, lots of snow in St. Louis - but almost none compared to Rochester. We got to the store about 5 p.m. and parked right by the door. I think we only walked about 30 feet, Wow. It is really nice to be home.

A big thanks to Steve Rees, who watched the store and sold stuff left and right. And a big thanks to Sheryl's nephew, Evan Boyer, who watched our dogs and got a major kitchen renovation project started.

This morning we drove to the store and again parked nearby. Absence makes the heart grow fonder of little old Quincy, Illinois!