Rochester

Just got back in from our big trip yesterday evening. Let's see how well I'm able to reconstruct this week-plus. I left off last Thursday (or technically the Thursday before last as it's Sunday now and all) and that night I went to see the Blueshift Ensemble perform at Crosstown Brewery. It was good, they were doing the music from Iceberg again. At the end everyone in the audience got to play balloons. Then back home to try and sleep for a little bit before waking up at an ungodly hour.

So I woke up at that ungodly hour of like 3:15 am. Mary Beth didn't even bother going to sleep at all. Our taxi came like an hour later and we were off. Our gate was right by the Interstate barbecue but it was sadly too early for them to be open. The first leg went very smoothly. And we got a pretty spectacular sunrise as the plane was taking off with bands of red glow saturating the horizon. And while we were flying, I kept seeing a bunch of rivers or valleys filled with fog and it was some nice imagery. Our layover was in Philadelphia and I seized the opportunity to get a cheesesteak from the Geno's in the airport. It was alright but, you know, I couldn't pass it up. There was a little delay before our next flight got there. Oh yeah, and we saw Daniel (of Crockett Hall) on the first plane, after we landed I asked where he was headed to and he said Rochester. His girlfriend is from there and they were going to a wedding. So of course he was there on the next flight as well. Don't often have that happen. But we got in and Mary Beth's parents picked us up. The rest of that day was pretty sedate. I think I took a nap for a bit. We had dinner and all that. They made some Rochester hots. This time Mary Beth and I stayed outside of their home and rented an air b&b. The place was pretty nice. It was in this enclave as the land drops down to the bay with all these small twisty roads. There was one road off the side that had what seemed like a near-vertical drop. It's not one we drove down and probably not one we COULD drive down in our car. But we had a nice little house all to ourselves and there were two cats living there. Two maine coons named Missy and Sissy. They were very floofy and very friendly. One was more openly friendly than the other but the other one would go crazy for pets if you came and found her on her perch. The one cuddled with us in bed too. She'd jump on top of us and start kneading and Mary Beth said that one night she was headbutting my face while I was asleep. They were the most gracious of hosts.

The next day was Saturday and Mary Beth and I got up and went to the Rochester market. It was nice and we had empanadas from Juan and Maria's and also a white hot from Zimmerman's. The weather was lovely. Well actually this day it rained just a little but only right after we left the market. We drove around a bit and made a surprise stop at House of Guitars and I picked up a few cds: Yoko Ono: Fly, Inner Circle & The Fatman Riddim Section: Heavyweight Dub / Killer Dub, Philip Glass: 50 Years of the Philip Glass Ensemble, Excepter: Debt Dept., and The Velvet Underground: Live at the Boston Tea Party '68 & '69. Then it was over back to her parents' to hang out a while. I mostly just remember a low key day and maybe I'm forgetting something, but that feels like just about it.

Sunday was another low key day. I think there a shopping run or two. The night was the big family dinner. Mary Beth's aunts and uncles came over: Aunt Laurie, Uncle Denny, Aunt Cathy, and Uncle Rick. It was good seeing and talking to all of them, but some awkwardness did eventually erupt with her dad shouting at Rick. But the food was good! And everything else was nice. Her dad barbecued a pork butt (I think) with au jus.

Monday is the day Mary Beth and I went on our first big excursion. We drove down to Seneca Falls to see some museums and Finger Lakes along the way. We stopped off at Canandaigua Lake to have a look. We stopped at a little park and enjoyed the view. Then we did the same at Seneca Lake. Another nice view. We walked out on this pier. Walking out we heard this bird shrieking somewhere in the rocks. Then as we were walking back in the shrieking had stopped and we see what I think was a weasel running away down the rocks on the side of the pier. Next we make it to Seneca Falls and go to the Women's Rights National Historical Park (which is a museum right next to the Wesleyan church where the First Women’s Rights Convention was held in 1848). It was good and a nice bit of history. Next we went down to the street to the National Women's Hall of Fame. It's in a pretty small space that they've outgrown but they're talking about how they're moving in six months to this old Seneca Knitting Mill building right across the river/canal from the Women's Right National Park. So that should be pretty interesting! I was even admiring the mill building before we went over there. Laurie Spiegel is being inducted into the hall of fame this year which I'm excited about, but I guess since that ceremony hasn't happened yet the 2019 inductees didn't have their plaques displayed yet. Even though it was closed that day, we went and drove by Elizabeth Cady Stanton's house and looked at it from the outside. There was also a little park right there by the canal and we sat and enjoyed that view and even got to see a boat go into a lock. Next we took another little jaunt to another closed-for-the-day house: Harriet Tubman's. There was a gate so we didn't get as close a look, and it was a bit of a drive away, not in Seneca Falls but Auburn. All in all it was a really nice day with perfect weather for our park jaunting. Oh and coming back in we grabbed a garbage plate and ate it down at the park by the beach at Charlotte. Then we took a nice walk down the long, long pier. The water's high so it was spraying on us a bit as we walked out, but it was an adventure avoiding the streams of water. Then we spent the night hanging out with her parents again. Oh, I missed that the night before we grabbed Pontillo's pizza and ate some of it that night and the rest on the drive down to Seneca Falls.

Tuesday was another day of sight seeing, but this time within the city of Rochester. We took a little look at the Frederick Douglass monument and then over to Mount Hope Cemetery. Took a good walk around, looking at Susan B. Anthony's and Frederick Douglass's graves. It's a nice place to walk around on and the hills (they're not kidding about the "mount" part) made it very scenic and wanderable. We took a stop at Nick Tahou's for a REAL garbage plate. That's such an awesome place. Then to the Susan B. Anthony House. That was a guided tour, quite good, and it's pretty cool to see that house. It was pretty awesome and powerful those two days being at such a ground zero for women's suffrage and rights. After that it was a nature-within-the-city vibe. We went to the Genesee Brewery and sat out on the roof with a magnificent view over the High Falls, a waterfall right in the middle of the city (history lesson: it was the center and basis for the flour mills that were the backbone of Rochester's early days). Next we went over to Maplewood Park. We were right by Kelsey's Landing (last stop on the underground railroad) and then took the trail down to see Lower Falls (another huge waterfall!). We also walked up to Middle Falls, which aren't as big but you get to go on a bridge right over them. So much waterfalls! It was really cool. Then another evening back with the parents and I guess our last night in the city.

We got up early on Wednesday and said goodbye to Mary Beth's parents before heading out on the road, taking their old car which I guess is now my new car. It's a 2010 Kia Forte. So we start our trip back home with a few detours. First we were going to stop in Buffalo for lunch. At the last minute, since I'd been enjoying the waterfalls so much the day before and we were making good time and early (we had time to kill in Buffalo before the place we were going to eat lunch opened up anyway), Mary Beth decided we should stop by Niagara Falls. So we did! Now uh that's a big waterfall. I know you get the better view from the Canadian side, but it's amazing how right next to it you are on our side. And it's still pretty impressive, Horseshoe Falls. There's also American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls which aren't the huge main attraction of Horseshoe, but are pretty impressive and you get to go right over them pretty much. If we ever go back it'd be nice to take a boat right into it or go down to the paths on the bottom (which you need a poncho for and all). But it was a nice impromptu diversion! Then we went into Buffalo and had wings at Anchor Bar (the place that invented Buffalo wings). They were really good. Much, much etter than any "Buffalo wings" I'd had before. Now I see the appeal (when you get them done right)! So yeah, nice then it was back on the road to continue our journey!

Detroit / Chicago

Our big, major stop on the trip back was Detroit! We'd never been before so that was pretty nice. When we got in we had dinner at Polish Village Cafe in Hamtramck (what a cool name). It was very delicious food! We were tired so we pretty much just went out to our motel and crashed. Well, I'd picked up these Shirley Temple sodas in Rochester and had a few left so I put one in a bucket of ice since we didn't have a fridge. So that was me being fancy.

In the morning we got up and went to have our big busy jam-packed day in Detroit! First we had breakfast at a place called The Breakfast Club. It had the menu of a more "hip" and modern kinda take on a diner but the atmosphere and staff of a really old-school diner. The sweet potato puffs (kinda like sweet potato tater tots) were spectacular. I had a creme brulee french toast and it was good but pretty over-the-top, like I was just eating a big hunk of a cake for breakfast. Then we had a big museum explosion. First we went to the Detroit Institute of Arts. It's a pretty damn huge museum. It has a really nice modernism section (yeah, okay, the main thing I'm always there to check out). They had some nice pieces by Whistler, Rothko, Monet, and bunches more of amazing stuff that I'd have to wrack my brain to dredge up (nice mix of metaphors there, Robert!). But it was a lot and we got a lot of out it. We checked out this little gallery across the street in this old building called the Scarab Club. It had a really awesome contemporary exhibit of some women artists. Very chaotic stuff. Then we went and looked at the Detroit Historical Museum. It was pretty cool. They had some displays like you were walking in the street of the city in the olden days (across a few decades in the 1800s). There was an exhibit of a bit of the auto assembly line. The only downside was (Fucking) Kid Rock apparently gave them a bunch of money to put his name on the music wing. Otherwise, the music wing would have been pretty awesome. Then we went to the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. That building is really cool, especially the round section. We went through the main exhibit which is this somewhat literal path through the stages of slavery up through emancipation and the current day. The different galleries are different rooms, made up like their environments. You go through a slave ship, downstairs into the hold and there's lots of details about all of it and it is, of course, pretty harrowing.

The next part of the day is lighter with food and other stuff. We swing by Mudgie's to eat a delicious sandwich. I wanted to run off and do my own nerdy shit so I ate quick and hopped in the car to go to Detroit Modular. It really should be called Royal Oak Modular as it's out in the suburb of Royal Oak which is about a half hour drive from the city. But I made it with just a little time to get a little demo. Had trouble finding it 'cuz it's not really its own building and the name isn't on the outside. But I called the guy and he let me in. He was nice to accommodate me. I got a nice look at the Basimilus Iteritas Alter. Ended up picking up a Make Noise Optomix and a Dave Jones O'Tool +. Having the oscilloscope may just open up so much for me in understanding whatever it is I'm doing whenever I'm doing it! Then I drove back to Stormy Records. This is Windy and Carl's record store and Windy was working there so that's pretty awesome! I picked up some cds: Les Rallizes Dénudés: France Demo Tapes, The Dead C: Rare Ravers, Eliane Radigue: Songs of Milarepa, Kites/Prurient: The Hidden Family/+White+, Parlour: Simulacrenfield, Flying Saucer Attack: In Search of Spaces, and Unwed Sailor: Firecracker single. They had a bunch of Windy and Carl stuff of course but I was too goofily nervous to actually get any with her there and all (ridiculous!). And I don't have any of their stuff outside of comps but everything I like so I dunno. Some point! And I picked up a t-shirt that says "Stormy Records Windy and Carl's record store dogs always welcome" and there's a picture of a dog. I had a few more record stores on the list but I'd spent so much time driving out to Detroit Modular that I figured I'd done good and was ahead and met back up with Mary Beth at Batch Brewing Company. I got another sandwich! It was good stuff. What did we do next? We went downtown to this cocktail bar called The Standby. I had a very tasty non-alcoholic thing. Our server got excited when we told him we're from Memphis 'cuz he's super into garage rock and Goner Records (makes much sense in Detroit!). Also, wandering around downtown back to our parked car we saw a giant mural on the side of a building with Stevie Wonder. That was cool!

On our last day, we got up and hit up John K. King Books. It's a huge used bookstore, one of those multi-story buildings with stacks and stacks of books just coming out everywhere. I picked up a few: Travesty by John Hawkes, Chaos and Night by Henry de Montherlant, Set This House on Fire by William Styron, and The Tokyo-Montana Express by Richard Brautigan. Then we hit the road heading out once again. We took a little stop in Ann Arbor for lunch. We ate at Zingerman's! It's quite the place, we had delicious, huge deli sandwiches. Then walked around the little area and I hit up Encore Records where I got a bunch of used cds: Boris with Merzbow: Gensho, Do Make Say Think: You, You're a History in Rust, Eno ⦁ Hyde: Someday World, Brian Eno: Reflection, Yuka Honda: Memories Are My Only Witness, The Haters: In the Shade of Fire, Fuck Buttons: Street Horrrsing, Low: Double Negative, Tortoise: A Lazarus Taxon, Earth: Angles of Darkness. Demons of Light II, John Coltrane: First Meditations, John Hassell/Brian Eno: Fourth World Vol. 1: Possible Musics, DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid: Optometry, Don Cherry: "Mu" First Part / "Mu" Second Part, Thelonious Monk: Criss-Cross. Then what? Hit the road again!

We hit our next stop which is Chicago with pretty good time. We get in much earlier than expected. Our first stop is Quimby's Bookstore. They have a focus on zines and graphic novels and lgbtq and feminism. I didn't pick up anything but Mary Beth got a bunch of stuff. Next, it was early and we had a bunch of time on our meter and Reckless was nearby so I took another unexpected record shop stop. Well, after wandering around aimlessly. We were going in the right direction and were only like a block away when I stupidly thought we'd gone in the wrong direction so we turn around, go the other way then realized my mistake. So that was fun walking up and down Milwaukee Ave. But we finally made it and I picked up a few more cds: Emily A. Sprague: Water Memory/Mount Vision, Laibach: The Occupied Europe Tour 1985, Coil: Porto, Arca: Mutant, Oren Ambarchi & Robin Fox: Connected, Arca: By, Oval: O, Gong: You, Saloli: The Deep End, Earth: Hibernaculum, and Popol Vuh: Affenstunde. Next thing is we took a drive down Lakeshore Drive with the sun setting (or mostly just set). We ended the night at Kuma's Corner with some amazing gourmet-ass burgers and heavy metal music. They also had Sprecher root beer on tap. Fuck yes! And I mean, one burger we got had pears brie on it and the other had dates. Damn ass good! Been hearing of it for years but never went.

Last Part!

Then after eating we checked into our hotel Friday night. It was a relatively nice place (by our standards) right in downtown. Too bad it was only for one night (but I guess that's how we afforded it!). We got up in the morning after a comfortable night of sleep and went to Little Goat Diner (a place we ate at last night). Had a really delicious breakfast. I wouldn't've gone for more french toast, but what I got had this amazing balance of flavors with onion brioche and egg cooked right in the middle inside the "toast" and fried chicken and barbecue maple syrup. Holy damn! We took a little constitutional walk around the blocks and then headed back home. We made good time. We had a late lunch at a Culver's somewhere in southern Illinois. I don't remember if this was the case last time but Illinois no longer has a slower speed limit! So it was slightly less annoying driving through than in past years (7% less annoying!). We made good time and made it back home in the early evening. Trudy didn't come out to see me at first, but I found her under the bed. She had to wait to hear Mary Beth before being coaxed out, though. One sucky thing is I found that she'd gotten under my desk where some papers and stuff had fallen and peed. And one of the things that had fallen back there was my autographed Damo Suzuki poster. I'm hoping I can salvage it, that's pretty pretty pretty annoying. Not much else, I was tired last night and now it's today and I've made my way through a few hours of posting this stuff! Oh yes, and I also came home to a cd in the mail yesterday: Belly Full of Stars: Brokendatapool. Very nice packaging and I'm very excited about this!