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Minnesota to Toledo, Ohio
Thursday, May 8, 2008 The purpose of this trip was to move our graduating son from Syracuse, NY to his apartment in Manhattan, NYC, NY. Molly and I decided to drive from Minnesota rather than fly and then rent a van or truck to move him. We were challenged driving through Chicago with all the tolls and having to find the correct lanes to pay them. We often wondered why Chicago couldn't do their tolls like the turnpikes do, with less stops. As we were leaving Chicago, we ran across quite a bit of construction and the beginning of rush hour which slowed things down quite a bit. As it was my turn to drive, I got to enjoy that part of the drive. Along the entire trip to Syracuse, we were listening to the book on tape by the scheduled graduation keynote speaker, former news anchorman Bob Woodruff. See:
In_An_Instant . He and his wife wrote the book about his Iraq bomb injury and recovery. The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, but long. When we arrived in the Toledo area it was close to 9 p.m. which limited our dining choices. We decided
to go to downtown Perrysburg, a suburb of Toledo, and eat at Stella's which ended up being a very good move. See:
Stella's . The food, atmosphere, service, and live jazz music were just perfect. I very much enjoyed my prime rib and Molly, her crab cakes and wine. We got to see the statue of Commodore Perry overlooking the square and behind him the Maumee River that empties into Lake Erie. See:
Historic_Perrysburg . We then drove by some beautiful mansions that overlooked the river on the way to our hotel to end our long day of travel.
Toledo, Ohio to Syracuse, NY
Friday, May 9, 2008 After we left Perrysburg, OH; we headed to Syracuse. We decided to stop in Erie, PA for lunch. We drove around the town of Erie and stumbled into some sketchy areas, saw the lake, and thought about taking a drive out on the peninsula, but decided against it due to time constraints. After some searching, we decided on a restaurant that looked cool on the outside but didn't seem very busy until we went inside and saw many groups of women eating there. A possible good sign. We had a very
good lunch there. It was a renovated Fire Station in the heart of town, called Pufferbelly on French. See:
Pufferbelly . I enjoyed 3 little cheeseburgers. Molly had something healthy. We left there thinking how lucky we were to have eaten at 2 good restaurants in a row. We happily pushed on into Buffalo where we encountered some traffic as it was close to rush hour there. When we arrived into Syracuse, we completed the book on CD within sight of our hotel which was surprisingly perfect timing. We met our son at the hotel, and drove to one of his favorite dining establishments--an upscale grocery store, Wegman's. There we all enjoyed the delicious Asian buffet. See:
Wegmans . We then went back to my son's room to help him pack. Later, we went to Phoebe's to meet his girlfriend and her parents who saw Sweeney Todd at Syracuse Stage right across the street from Phoebe's. See:
Syracuse Stage ,
Phoebe's , and
Syracuse_University_Drama . We certainly had a full 2 days, so far.
Syracuse, NY
Saturday, May 10, 2008 This morning was the Senior Cabaret, when the graduating seniors of the Drama Department made short performance presentations for their fellow seniors and
families. A couple of excellent singing examples from Ian Joseph may be seen here:
Rain_Keeps_Falling_Down and
Forest_For_The_Trees .
This highly emotional event was followed by an amazing lunch at Delmonicos with my son's girlfriend and her parents. See:
Delmonico's_Italian_Steak_House . I felt that I absolutely had to have the Delmonico's 24 oz. Delmonico Steak which was not as filling as I thought it might be. Molly, of course, ate something more healthy. The food and company were great fun. Next, was the College's Graduation Ceremony at the Carrier Dome. This was a smaller version of what was to come tomorrow. The keynote speaker was Vanessa Williams. See:
Vanessa Williams . Dinner was to be a bit more informal. We stumbled into Funk'n Waffles. See:
Funk'n_Waffles . Here I enjoyed a Pulled Pork Waffle which seemed to go over my daily meat quota. Afterwards, we went to see Sweeney Todd and sat in the front row which was excellent except for the theatrical blood splatter that hit my shoes. All the drama student actors seemed of professional caliber. The actor who played Sweeney Todd, was simply amazing and quite menacing. See:
Sweeney Todd review . This was followed by more hours at Phoebe's, giving us another late night.
Syracuse, NY
Sunday, May 11, 2008, Mother's Day Today was the big day, Graduation Day. This was held in the Carrier Dome with the entire University. Thanks to Ian Joseph and his mother for picking us up and using her extra tickets to give us excellent seats for the event. The keynote speaker was Bob Woodruff. See:
In_An_Instant . It was a long but impressive ceremony. We then went back to our hotel room as we had to change hotels, packed up, checked out, went to our son's room, and continued to help him pack up. We then went to our next hotel and met up with our son's girlfriend and her parents and after an unintentional scenic drive (we got lost) ended up at
Carrabba's Italian Grill , where I enjoyed the Spiedino Di Mare, shrimp and sea scallops coated with Italian breadcrumbs, grilled and topped with lemon butter sauce. Molly had the Salmon, our son had the Lobster Ravioli. The desserts included Tiramisu and vanilla ice cream with a caramel sauce. This was followed by a late night swim in the hotel pool.
Syracuse, NY to Manhattan, NYC, NY
Monday, May 12, 2008 After checking out of
the hotel, we went with our packed van to our son's room to get his bed and strap it to the roof of the van. This proved to be a bigger challenge than anticipated. We wanted to secure it and make it waterproof as there was a good possibility of rain. We wrapped it with 3 different tarps, plenty of rope, and bungey cords. I used the metal bed headboard as a further way to secure the mattress. After some adjustments, we were off to Sam's Club for a few more items before heading to NYC. We didn't make it very far when we heard the tarp flapping. Sure enough, my favorite tarp ripped right in half. After securing it, we drove a bit further and heard it flapping again. We removed this tarp. To make a long story short, we stopped often to resecure the tarps as they became shredded along the way. Luckily, it didn't rain until we reached Manhatten. The drive from Syracuse to Manhatten was very scenic going through the windy Catskill Mountains. If I wasn't so pre-occupied with the mattress on the roof, I might have enjoyed the scenery. As for my poor son and
wife, they were crammed in the front seat and on the ice chest, as the van was fully packed. Upon arrival at his apartment complex, like regular New Yorkers, we double-parked in front and proceeded to unload the van and carry everything up to his 5th floor apartment. We were grateful for the arrival, later, of one of our son's friends who helped carry up some of the heavier items. After moving in and luckily finding a parking space in front of the apartment complex, we walked to the next block and ordered an excellent NY pizza--1/2 mushrooms and 1/2 pepperoni. By now you can guess who ate which portions. We then got to sleep in our son's Manhattan apartment, looking forward to a full day of sightseeing, tomorrow.
Manhattan, NYC, NY
Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Well, I was super excited today, got up early and got ready for the day. Once the others were up, I went downstairs to move the van as the street sign on that side of the street indicated that the street sweepers were scheduled this morning. I drove all around the neighborhood looking for a parking spot and finally found one,
thanks to my son's eagle eye. After a Starbuck's stop, we got on the subway to Columbus Circle, walked toward Times Square, passing Carnegie Hall and the restaurant that my son will be working at. It was a beautiful spring day, sunny and warm, and the blossoms were in bloom. I've heard of NY referred to as Urinetown, but did not encounter any of those types of smells. Molly bought our daughters a couple of Pashmina scarfs from one of the street vendors. I was awestruck staring at all the enormous lighted billboards, tourists unloading from buses, street workers, and others in the crowd. At one point, I felt I was in a sideshow of a circus with the barkers from Bubba Gump Seafood and other nearby restaurants encouraging us to come on inside. Next, we took the shuttle subway from Times Square to Grand Central Station. As we emerged from the subway station, we got a bit confused and walked into the Lincoln Building which had a nice little bronze study of the Lincoln Memorial in the opulent main lobby. See:
Lincoln Bronze . We were then directed to
Grand Central Station which was, embarrassingly and prominently, right across the street. It is
truly a magnificent site. There was a myriad of food choices on the lower level and we grabbed a quick bite. We looked in at the
Grand Central Oyster Bar and Bistro which is really quite beautiful. We then took the subway to the
Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) . First we went straight to the roof garden and overlooked Central Park and the skyline. This was a very popular site as there were many sitting out in the sun enjoying the view or taking a nap. What seemed incongruous to me was a sign that said that taking pictures was not allowed and yet, everyone, it seemed, was taking pictures. We enjoyed the Impressionist galleries and Sculpture courtyard and I took way too many pictures. We then walked to the
Guggenheim Museum and briefly looked inside the lobby and bookstore. The link to this temporary exhibition of
9 cars suspended inside the rotunda will most likely only work until May 28, 2008. Next, we stopped at a small deli where I enjoyed a garlic cream cheese toasted bagel, much to Molly's dismay. Yum, yum. Next stop was the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a long walk but worth it as the views of the harbor and skyine including the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building were
spectacular. Lots of people on the boardwalk. What was also cool is that you can see the Statue of Liberty from the middle of the bridge. You may wish to view a podcast of a
walk across the Brooklyn Bridge . From there we went on the Staten Island Ferry and viewed the south of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. It was a gloriously warm and sunny day and we were most appreciative of the free ferry ride. Next, it was back to Times Square to grab a quick bite and see the superb 3 hour dramatic play,
August: Osage County . Also in the audience was
Matt Dillon which caught our attention. Then, after some walking around to choose the best subway ride back to our son's apartment, we concluded our very full and satisfying day.
Manhattan, NYC, NY to Toledo, Ohio
Wednesday, May 14, 2008 Woke up and hiked to the place I had to park the van, going down a slope through a park and up a number of stairs to the neighborhood that overlooked the George Washington Bridge (GWB) and the Hudson River Palisades. It was another beautiful day in Manhattan. We said our goodbyes to our son and hit another
deli before departing NYC. As we crossed the GWB, leaving NYC, we sang praises to my friend Mike who strongly discouraged us from our original idea of staying at a hotel in New Jersey and crossing the GWB during rush hour. The line of cars and trucks waiting to cross the GWB going into Manhattan went on for miles and miles. Many thanks to Mike for helping us to avoid this nightmare. The next scenic stop on our way home was driving through the
Delaware Water Gap area that is between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This was an extremely scenic area with a huge bluff and large river in front of it. We stopped at the
PA Welcome Center which had a distinctive architectural style. We had lunch at a Cracker Barrel Restaurant in the middle of Pennsylvania after we passed most of the Pocono's. We arrived again in Perrysburg and ate at a Mexican restaurant,
Casa Baron Restaurante , that did not seem very Mexican as the salsa seemed to be Pace Picante Sauce and the chips seemed store bought...so, I had some ribs served with potato casserole and spoon bread, instead, which were great.
Toledo, Ohio to Minnesota
Thursday, May 15, 2008 Not much to report, here. A simple drive from Toledo, through Chicago, then Madison, and then finally to Minnesota and home. We felt most fortunate to have had great weather and were able to drive to and from NY to celebrate our son's graduation and his move to NYC. Thanks for reading this blog.
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Oh James
James and Molly
Mama's Salsa is the best!
Sorry for the delay in responding. Thank you for the comment. Indeed we are proud of our son. Good Luck to Alex and a speedy recovery for Conrad. We hope to some day visit Europe, but not before we pay off some college loans. Take care and keep making Mama's Salsa. I buy it regularly from my local grocery store. Thanks for distributing it there.