New York Trip: Friday and Saturday
Oct. 12th, 2009 10:36 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
windinthemaplesFriday, our last full day in New York, we packed up and headed to Ithaca, a Boulder-esque college town at the base of one of the Finger Lakes. It is one of the most spectacularly situated towns I've ever seen, surrounded by waterfalls and picturesque forests. More importantly, though, it is now home to my dearest, much admired, thoroughly crushed upon ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
joe_fisher.
We got into town with a light rain falling. Daniel made some phone calls while Rhiannon and I took Graeme and all of my oversized, breakable purchases to a shipping store and then combing through a very nice crystal shop. (I got two tumbled eggs of labradorite, a bright pebble of apatite, a spar of black tourmaline, and a couple brightly sparkling herkimer diamonds.)
Daniel finished his phone calls and we went for lunch at Moosewood Restaurant, a place I've only dreamed of eating at after flipping through all their famous veggie cookbooks. It was very cozy and comfy and nommy. Every meal at the restaurant has a different small menu, every day. As we left at the end of lunch, we saw the staff seated at a table with a bottle of wine, planning out the dinner menu. The foods were all very homecooked and accessible. It was a little disappointing, because everything was something I could make at home without much fuss, but it was still tasty and fun to be somewhere so famous in the vegetarian world. I had a cup of mushroom barley soup, half of a hummus pita sandwich, a mug of Ithaca chai, and a warm and happy apple and cherry baked dessert with a crumble topping.
After lunch, we were still waiting for Joe to get done with his chores so he could join us, so we walked to the nearby Ithaca Commons, a nice pedestrian mall like Boulder's Pearl Street, and went to Autumn Leaves, a nice two-story used bookstore. Daniel and Graeme stayed behind outside Moosewood, where they played with leaves and sticks and tree planter dirt for about two hours. I found a couple great pagan books, an astrology book geared towards women, and even a couple children's picture books that work well for my pagan parenting purposes. :)
The rain had slacked off to a misty afternoon when we heard from Joe and made plans to meet in his neighborhood, a short walk to Ithaca Falls.
Joe is wonderful. He has the best energy I've ever been around, I get a contact high just being near him. He's the kind of guy who seems too good to be real and yet is. He gives the best hugs, like he's trying to pull you through his ribs and into the warmth of his core, and he is just golden. Good, funny, smart, capable, joyous, warm. He's the best. I'm worried about things like washing dishes and planning a SpiralScouts event and he's off doing superhuman feats in his daily life like building homes with his bare hands and teaching people how to convert their cars to biodiesel. He is a Renaissance man of the first order--just as polished in philosophy and carpentry as he is in baking and biology. A whirlwind of goodness and energy and accomplishment.
He, acting as our tour guide, squished into our car with us and took us to Ithaca Falls and on a longer hike to Taughannock Falls in the hush of twilight. Both were extraordinary places to see. After hiking the last, we drove to the local Greenstar Co-op for dinner before parting ways and having to drive back to Greenwood.
Rhi was pretending to be excited to be at Moosewood. She'd never heard of it! :D
Oh, Autumn Leaves. You had us at "Hello".
Ithaca Falls
One of the smaller drops at Taughannock Falls
My guys hike ahead at Taughannock.
Taughannock Falls
The boys tuck into dinner at the co-op. :)
On Saturday, we packed up and cleaned the house and drove to a mall near the airport in Buffalo to meet Sarah and Jenn. We walked through Teavana, watched Rhiannon eat some burritos in the food court, and then took her to the airport for her flight home. I miss her already. It was such a luxury to get to spend an entire week together.
After Sarah had a meeting with her tattoo artist, we met back up (with her sister, Laura) at Amy's Place for a farewell brunch. Mmm. Their vegan French toast is the bomb. We had a great time and it was especially nice to get to spend some time with Laura while we were in New York. She's so nice and so funny, really a cool person to hang out with. It was a fabulous meal together.
We shuffled out to the parking lot, hugged and hugged and hugged some more, and then drove off into the sunset, so to speak, to our flight home and luggage hauling and back into our Chicago life.
Thank you, everyone, for the memories. New York treated us well and our friends made it that much more perfect of a vacation. :) <3
You can view more photos from our travels at My Flickr page or at Sarah and Jenn's Flickr page.
joe_fisher. We got into town with a light rain falling. Daniel made some phone calls while Rhiannon and I took Graeme and all of my oversized, breakable purchases to a shipping store and then combing through a very nice crystal shop. (I got two tumbled eggs of labradorite, a bright pebble of apatite, a spar of black tourmaline, and a couple brightly sparkling herkimer diamonds.)
Daniel finished his phone calls and we went for lunch at Moosewood Restaurant, a place I've only dreamed of eating at after flipping through all their famous veggie cookbooks. It was very cozy and comfy and nommy. Every meal at the restaurant has a different small menu, every day. As we left at the end of lunch, we saw the staff seated at a table with a bottle of wine, planning out the dinner menu. The foods were all very homecooked and accessible. It was a little disappointing, because everything was something I could make at home without much fuss, but it was still tasty and fun to be somewhere so famous in the vegetarian world. I had a cup of mushroom barley soup, half of a hummus pita sandwich, a mug of Ithaca chai, and a warm and happy apple and cherry baked dessert with a crumble topping.
After lunch, we were still waiting for Joe to get done with his chores so he could join us, so we walked to the nearby Ithaca Commons, a nice pedestrian mall like Boulder's Pearl Street, and went to Autumn Leaves, a nice two-story used bookstore. Daniel and Graeme stayed behind outside Moosewood, where they played with leaves and sticks and tree planter dirt for about two hours. I found a couple great pagan books, an astrology book geared towards women, and even a couple children's picture books that work well for my pagan parenting purposes. :)
The rain had slacked off to a misty afternoon when we heard from Joe and made plans to meet in his neighborhood, a short walk to Ithaca Falls.
Joe is wonderful. He has the best energy I've ever been around, I get a contact high just being near him. He's the kind of guy who seems too good to be real and yet is. He gives the best hugs, like he's trying to pull you through his ribs and into the warmth of his core, and he is just golden. Good, funny, smart, capable, joyous, warm. He's the best. I'm worried about things like washing dishes and planning a SpiralScouts event and he's off doing superhuman feats in his daily life like building homes with his bare hands and teaching people how to convert their cars to biodiesel. He is a Renaissance man of the first order--just as polished in philosophy and carpentry as he is in baking and biology. A whirlwind of goodness and energy and accomplishment.
He, acting as our tour guide, squished into our car with us and took us to Ithaca Falls and on a longer hike to Taughannock Falls in the hush of twilight. Both were extraordinary places to see. After hiking the last, we drove to the local Greenstar Co-op for dinner before parting ways and having to drive back to Greenwood.
Rhi was pretending to be excited to be at Moosewood. She'd never heard of it! :D
Oh, Autumn Leaves. You had us at "Hello".
Ithaca Falls
One of the smaller drops at Taughannock Falls
My guys hike ahead at Taughannock.
Taughannock Falls
The boys tuck into dinner at the co-op. :)
On Saturday, we packed up and cleaned the house and drove to a mall near the airport in Buffalo to meet Sarah and Jenn. We walked through Teavana, watched Rhiannon eat some burritos in the food court, and then took her to the airport for her flight home. I miss her already. It was such a luxury to get to spend an entire week together.
After Sarah had a meeting with her tattoo artist, we met back up (with her sister, Laura) at Amy's Place for a farewell brunch. Mmm. Their vegan French toast is the bomb. We had a great time and it was especially nice to get to spend some time with Laura while we were in New York. She's so nice and so funny, really a cool person to hang out with. It was a fabulous meal together.
We shuffled out to the parking lot, hugged and hugged and hugged some more, and then drove off into the sunset, so to speak, to our flight home and luggage hauling and back into our Chicago life.
Thank you, everyone, for the memories. New York treated us well and our friends made it that much more perfect of a vacation. :) <3
You can view more photos from our travels at My Flickr page or at Sarah and Jenn's Flickr page.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-10-12 04:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 08:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-12 04:43 pm (UTC)So glad the trip was wonderful for all. It sounds like a lot of fun was had and many experiences were shared. And a safe trip home to boot! How did Spiral Scouts go?
no subject
Date: 2009-10-12 04:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-12 06:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-12 04:48 pm (UTC)OH- Tell Daniel I said Happy Birthday! :DDD
no subject
Date: 2009-10-12 04:50 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-12 05:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 08:04 pm (UTC)We feel the same way about you. Anytime, anywhere, you're always invited to join us. :)
(Let me convince you of the many wonders of bitterly cold, dirty, urban chic Chicago. ;) )
no subject
Date: 2009-10-12 05:32 pm (UTC)Ah, well do I know the "but I could have made this at home" disappointment!
no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 08:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 12:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 08:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 07:20 pm (UTC)Reading these posts over again makes me so happy...in that sad-nostalgic-sort-of-way. ;-; I miss you so much!!!! <3
no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 08:11 pm (UTC)We miss you, too! I keep flipping through your Flickr page and eyeing my calendar. We need to make some plans! :) I'd love to get to see you again before we drive our stuff down to Florida at Yule. Daniel is being so brave about offering to sit Graeme for a few more solo-dad weekends. :D
Florida, Diana's Grove, we have so much to discuss! :)
no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 08:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-16 03:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-16 12:21 pm (UTC)