Racine, Day 2 - Sept 30, 2019

  

Later, we drove to North Beach and walked, barefoot out to the rather flooded beach. (They have had a rainy September) It was nice and warm and people were enjoying the beach. Then, we drove to Wind Point Lighthouse, built in 1880 to protect the point on the north side of Racine harbor. At 108' tall, it is one of the tallest on the Great Lakes. We sat for a bit by the water's edge.

   Today was initially foggy as warm weather arrived. Eventually, it got into the 80s, but not for a bit.
   We went shoe shopping in the morning, but didn't find what Barbara was looking for. Then, we found a diner where we had breakfast for $10! Barbara had oatmeal because her stomach was queasy and Mark had the 3-egg, pancake special.

   We went for a nice walk around the harbor, watching people fishing and boats going in and out of the narrow channel into the very protected harbor. They do have to get the boats out before winter.
   Then, we went to Pico's Mexican restaurant. Barbara had a burrito bowl and Mark had chicken with mole sauce. It was very good and....only $20 total

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To Racine, Wisconsin, Sept 29, 2019

  We realized last night that we needed to arrive in Racine, early enough to visit the Racine Art Museum because it is closed on Mondays, the day we had planned our visit. So, we left Elyria 

before the sun came up and drove about 400 miles to arrive in Racine early enough to spend part of the afternoon at the museum.

   Most of the drive was in rain. Mark drove around Chicago which had a lot of construction and traffic jams, despite it being a Sunday. (Jecca and Willy were also driving in rain back to Concord after going to a wedding in Maryland)

   Joanne Polster recommended that we visit the Racine museum for its crafts which is why we decided to stop here. She used to visit it when she worked for an arts and crafts council. It is a very accessible museum of only 2 floors and not large galleries, but has one of the largest craft collections in the U.S. The exhibits were about the 1969 "Objects: USA" exhibit in Washington, D.C. "which launched a new chapter in contemporary craft" according to their pamphlet. It focused on huge shifts in craft - the scale, materials, topics, and intent. It pushed the envelope in the craft world as it combined craft with fine art.

 We thoroughly enjoyed the museum and are grateful that Joanne pointed it out to us.
    We were really hungry when we were done with the museum and the drive, and went to an Irish pub that dates back to the 1880s where Barbara had an Irish stew and Mark had a reuben. Then, we checked into the Hilton Harbor View on the docks and then took a drive, still in the rain, to check out the beach and various neighborhoods on the water. The city seems very livable and beautiful.
   Next stop - the hot tub for the bones/muscles!

Binghamton to Elyria, OH, Sept 28

  Today we drove 385 miles in good weather until the last 20 minutes.
  We left Kathy and Jay's around 9 and stopped at Wegman's on the way out of town for some fruit and a few snacks to add to the ones Kathy gave us.

   The drive in western N.Y. was beautiful, although the leaves are not in full fall foliage yet. We are staying at a Country Inn & Suites. We went to a supermarket for salad and a rotisserie chicken. Before digging in, we went into the hot tub to rest our bones and muscles for a bit.

Binghamton, Day 2 September 27, 2019

  Today was another lovely day after a chilly start.

  Kathy and Barbara went shoe shopping (for the wedding.) Barbara found a few that she liked, but all the shoes she liked were a half size too large. They also went to Michael's to get a gift card for Sage who turns 11 next week. Mark went to the Honda dealer while they shopped to figure out some of the car's bells and whistles and how we can use the bluetooth to listen to audible books from the library. The car was only recognizing Mark's phone, even though Matt had given us a lesson that day before. While there, Mark charged the car.

   After a lunch with Jay, Kathy, Mark and Barbara took a 4 mile walk along the rail trail. It was summer weather and we were all hot. Mark bailed on the final 1/2 mile, (it was not a loop), Barbara had blisters and Kathy was limping from her inflamed Achilles! (Darn getting older!)

    Then we had a lovely meal of roasted corn/fennel soup, speidis and salad. We all tried to eat less than we had the day before. We stayed up and chatted all evening. Nice day.
 

To Binghamton. September 26, 2019

   Today we left Bridgewater around 9 a.m. and drove to Binghamton. We stopped outside of Oneonta at a barbecue place, Brook's.

    We arrived at Kathy and Jay's where we are staying. Around 5, we went to Linda Smith's house where there was an old "neighborhood" reunion. All the Smiths of our generation were there - Linda,  Jerry from France, Diane, Bob. Also there was Bob Robusto and Tina Smith. Jerry came over for a Peace Corps reunion in Denver and then went with a friend to Yellowstone and then to NYC before she flew back to France and Jerry came to Binghamton. The Smiths will have a big gathering of the clan this weekend.

   There was a lot of laughter around the table with everyone involved which was heart-warming and wonderful. The food was good, but it was the joy that was so impressive.

Bridgewater, Day 2, Sept 25, 2019

   Today was another lovely day. Alice had P.T. in the a.m. and was put through her paces by Moises. Sandy went out to shop and Barbara had a lovely time with Alice. Cal and Mark went out to get new surgical stockings for Cal and also went to the lumberyard to get lumber for rebuilding the deck off the kitchen which Rob and a friend are going to tackle.

    Later, Ted came over with a delicious lemon/poppyseed loaf for the folks.
    Sandy made a nice meal of pork tenderloin/potato/veggies.

    After dinner, we went to see Matt and Maureen Huberman's new house in Taunton. Mark had been there in the summer (helped with some painting), but Barbara had never been there. We met the 3 chickens that came with the house and we gave them a whale print made by Nicci Aguiar as a housewarming. We didn't see Maureen as she teaches voice one day a week at a local center.

Westward to Wedding! Sept 24, 2019

 

We  left the island on the 9:15 a.m. steamship and the weather was so beautiful that it was hard to leave! We spent over a week packing and planning to leave because we have to be ready for several seasons of weather AND a wedding! It is our first big road trip with the Clarity, so it will be interesting to see how we do on hybrid mode.

   Today we stayed in Bridgewater. Alice has been home from the rehabilitation facility for a week and was impressively moving right along with her walker.  Both Cal and Alice looked really good and, of course, happy to have Alice at home

. Marryand John were both there on the back deck when we arrived. And, then, Ted and Bev showed up, so it was very merry. And, later, Jackie also dropped by. Mark made a nice steak/potato/salad/veggies dinner. Sandy came in later after running errands.