A Tale of Two Cities

I recently took a trip to Rochester, NY, my hometown, and Toronto, Canada, Rochester's sister city on the other side of Lake Ontario. They were both to visit friends, and I had a great time in both cities.

First up, Rochester! (Isn't it pretty?)

I headed out to Western New York via JFK and JetBlue to attend my good friend Deanna's wedding celebration. After having to get up at some ungodly hour, I landed in Rochester on a Friday morning and was greeted by my lovely Mother. We got in the car and headed to Honeoye Falls to hang out and chill.






I had plans to meet Don and his fiancee Kelly for dinner. So I got in the car and drove to Rochester, pulling up in front of a house I did not recognize! Look at it, it looks so pretty! Good job, Kelly. After some hanging out and such, we went off to Beale Street for dinner and it was yummy! I had a pulled chicken dinner and stuffed myself good. Then out for a drink or two at the bar before I had to call it a night. I always have so much fun hanging out with these two. Thanks for dinner guys!!







Saturday was Deanna and Tom's party. They threw a nice soiree in their backyard, and it was catered by Dinosaur Barbeque! Barbeque two nights in a row! w00t!! This was great. I got to see some of my oldest friends at this party, and we all kinda fell right back into that comfy, homey kinda vibe you can only feel with people you've known FOREVER.




Look! It's Deanna and Karla! YAY! Needless to say, as usual, I didn't take many pictures, because I was too busy chatting and having a good time. But Karla got her hands on my camera phone and took a few pics. Heh.

Karla's lovely husband Wes, and Deanna's younger brother John.

Paulie... posing. Heh.

John's lovely daughter Juliana (isn't she cute?) (OMG, John is a daddy?... weird).

Me in mid-whatever. Thanks Karla...

No pictures of Deanna's older brother Mark, but we had a nice conversation or two, and it was great to see him as well. It was crazy hot and humid, but the party was a great success. I finally left after it got dark and the air was thick with mosquitoes. Thanks Deanna and Tom for such a great time, and a fun trip down memory lane.

I started out Sunday with a visit to Heather and her awesome girls, Jada and Kara. Looks like the tooth fairy has been VERY busy here. We took off to go blueberry picking, but Mother Nature let loose with a big ol' rain storm, so we went to Dunkin' Donuts instead. Hee. That's where I got this awesome picture. After donuts and goofiness, we headed back to Heather's and commenced the weaving of tote bags. It was supposed to be a crafty project that the girls would help us with, but it soon became clear that Heather and I were way more interested than the girls in this project, so we wove and chatted while the girls hung out with us. I always love getting crafty with Heather. Hmmm, I wonder how those totes turned out.

After my visit with Heather, I met my brother Zach over at the Brewery to say hi to Jane and some her friends before we headed off to a Red Wing game at Frontier Field . This was my first visit to Frontier, and it is a great little ballpark. We got some Zweigles and beer and sat down for some baseball! (honestly, Zweigles white hots may be the best.hotdogs.ever!) It was great to hang out with Zach, something I don't get to do often enough, until Mother Nature once again made an appearance and the rain came a pouring down. We decided to cut the game short since we weren't decked out in rain gear, and headed home.

Monday I went down to Dad's office (after having my 40 year old eyes examined on Saturday), to drop off my glasses and have lunch with Dad, Zach and Jane. Nothing like a good meal at Critic's! Hee. So, everyone went back to work and I went back to Mom and Dad's to pack and try not to freak out about getting on a plane. It was a quick little trip, but I got to see everyone and I had a really good time. Rochester in the summer is so pretty. I'm glad I went.


I got this rockin' shot of the falls on my camera phone! Yay for me.

Two weeks later I got back on a plane (eesh), and headed out for my first international flight to Toronto. I finally got to use my passport!




Thank you random user of photobucket for this great picture of Toronto. Isn't it pretty?

First of all, I would just like to say, I hate to fly, and my experience flying out of LaGuardia on American Airlines didn't help. I swear to god, I will never fly with this carrier ever again. They were horrible. But once we got over the lake (which really is huge, thus being a Great Lake, I suppose), seeing Toronto out the window made the hassles okay. Plus, I had the great pleasure of sitting next to a very chatty Afghani woman who constantly was being yelled at by the flight attendant for not following ANY of the rules, and for telling me some interesting stories about her recent visit to Afghanistan. She was very sad about the state of her home country, and thought it may be another 20 years before she goes back. Very sad.



So, I went to Toronto to vist Fran, who is on tour there with Avenue Q. Plus, I love Toronto. The picture above is the hotel from the mezzanine level. It was very nice, and apparently Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton stayed there back in the day. Fancy!

After my $60 cab ride from the airport (!!), I hung out in the hotel until it was time to meet Fran for dinner. It feels like forever since I had seen her, and it was good to just hang out and have a yummy meal (I had a veggie bowl at the aptly named Fran's Diner). After dinner Fran went to work and I went back to the hotel and just chilled. We met at the hotel bar for a few drinks after work (the suggestively named Consort Bar) and then headed up to the room to hang out and watch some The West Wing. Awwww, just like old times!


Saturday Fran had to work two shows, so while she was at the theater, I hoofed it around Toronto. I checked out Yonge St., where there was a kickin' little Turkish festival going on, and stumbled into the Gay section of town, which was, of course, very cute. After another yummy dinner at Fran's Diner, Fran went back to work and I continued walking around the neighborhoods. I discovered Front St. which had their weekend street market going, and I met a really nice local woman sitting in a park and we chatted about all kinds of stuff for an hour or so. After work Fran and I did the same thing. Drink at the bar (this time with some of her fellow Avenue Q-ers), and up to the room for more The West Wing (yes, we are old, and like to hang out and watch old TV shows. Deal with it).




Sunday, Fran only had one show, and I had promised (okay, insisted) to take her out for a belated birthday dinner. Literally, I found this place last minute, and it was PERFECT! (yes, I stole this picture straight from Fran's blog.. thanks Fran!). Jamie Kennedy's Wine Bar was awesome. Exactly what I wanted, and the food was yummy squared. I highly recommend it to anyone heading to Toronto.

The rest of Sunday was kinda a blur, as there was much drinking and meandering about the city. Otherwise known as FUN! Oh wait! We went to the CN Tower!! As the sun went down, we took the elevator up, up ,up and took in the views. We could see the soft glow of Rochester on the other side of the Lake. Pretty. The CN Tower is an obvious touristy thing to do, and well worth it, in my opinion (and I will not put a picture here, as I did not take one, and most of you know what the place looks like).



Monday was Fran's only full day off, so we started off with a wonderful breakfast at Over Easy on Yonge St. A great breakfast place that filled us up good! And then off to the Toronto Islands (check out the old-school pic I found online). Monday happened to be a civic holiday in Toronto, so we and several others waited in line for the ferry's to the islands on a hot, cement slab, all sweaty and cranky. Once on the ferry (we went to Ward Island, initially), the cool lake breeze cheered us up, and once we landed, we were greeted by an island full of adorable cottages and a sweet boardwalk.

It was yet another gorgeous Canadian day, and, being New Yorkers and used to walking forever, we walked all the way to Centre Island where we found a wee amusement park and farm with chickens and horses and pigs. Fun for the city folk!

As much fun as we were having, and as lovely as a day it was, we finally had to catch the ferry back, because we had tickets for a Blue Jays game! We got there a little early, so we got to see them open the dome! After a quick nosh, we got our seats and waited for another Avenue Q-er to show up, Annika. Fran and I had on our Yankees caps, and Annika showed up with he Red Sox hat, and we settled in for a Roy Halladay pitch-fest. Normally, as a Yankee fan, it is my duty to root against Roy Halladay, and to not mingle with Red Sox fans, but we were in Canada, and we cheered and chatted and had a good ol' time. Thanks Annika, for all the good Canadian beer and popcorn!

Thanks to Fran for getting us great first base line seats, and the Blue Jays kicked the A's butts, 6-1. The A's fans sitting in front of us moved away pretty quickly after the game started. Hee.

Tuesday was my last full day in Toronto, and Fran and I made the most of it. We went to the Toronto Necropolis, one of the oldest historic cementaries in Canada. Coooooool. I would like to thank the completely hot concierge at Fran's hotel for finding this cementary, and printing out a map for us. Seriously guys, Brandon was smokin', and he was kind enough to flirt with me every time I saw him after that. And then we hopped in a cab and went over to the Redpath sugar museum. Very cheesy. It was in a little shack out behind the factory, and we giggled our way to it. A self-guided tour, we learned a little about sugar (Paris lumps?), and killed some time. Hey, not every tour is a slam bang, people!

Fran had to go off to work, so I spent my last evening hanging out at the hotel, where I found this little gem in the room mini-bar (okay, I found it a few days earlier, but didn't get a pic until the last night):

TeeHeeHee!! Now, I ask you, would you ever find something like that in a fancy-ass hotel in America? No sir, you would not! I'm not sure if this is good news or bad, just a little window into the differences between our two countries.

So, it was time to go. I hopped on the Toronto subway to get to the airport after making a sleepy goodbye to Fran. After passporting my way back into America, I got on an Air Canada flight home.

Here, I must give props to the lovely Air Canada crew. Like my experience with American Airlines, there were some bumps along the way to getting on board and off the ground, but very much unlike AA, the Air Canada people were so kind and cheery, it barely felt like a problem. Customer service is everything, I tell ya'.

I happened to be the only person sitting in the Emergency Exit row, so the flight attendant came over and gave me the drill. Telling me, in the case of an emergency landing, how to look out the window to make sure the door was clear of fire or wreckage (!!), and how to open the door and toss it out the plane. She told me I could then exit the plane, unless I felt like being a Hero, and helping others off. The whole time she was looking at me like, if we land in an emergency, chances are, all this would be moot, as I freaked out a little in my head, embellishing the already horrifying thoughts of a plane crash in my head. Thanks Air Canada flight attendant lady!

Toronto and Rochester. Two really nice little cities on opposite sides of a Great Lake. Who wins in the nice-a-thon? Gotta give it to Toronto, where even the people begging for change are polite and well spoken (and decidedly way less crazy than your typical New York City change beggars). Although after visiting Rochester, I don't have a wallet weighed down with all that crazy Loonie and Toonie Canuck change!

Go West!

My oh my. The first trip out to the west coast in 12 years. The occasion? Grandma Northup's 90th birthday. I mean, how can you not go?

Many of you know I am not a great flier, so of course I spent months worrying about this trip. The funniest thing of all? I was all ready to fly away on Friday, but when I called JetBlue to get my confirmation number, I found out the flight wasn't until Saturday. I laughed and laughed at my mistake. It turned out to be for the best, as I had a full day off to get ready and pack and whatnot. Hee.

I had forgotten how beautiful this country is from 35,000 feet. Especially the southwest, which is all reds and oranges and purples. I could see wind farms over Arizona, parts of the Grand Canyon, and once we got to the mountains in California, we could see a forest fire and a plane dropping that red flame-retardant stuff. Beside the fear of falling out of the sky in a fiery ball, flying is cool.

We landed in Long Beach, CA. This was my first time at the Long Beach airport, and it is awesome. It's tiny and cute, and the baggage claim is outside. You stand there in the sunshine while soft rock is piped out for your amusement. It made me feel like I was travelling in the early 60s, and was a nice entry to a state I have very mixed feelings about. Also, I think the facade of the airport was the double for the airport in Sunnydale in Buffy, The Vampire Slayer. Very cool.

After we got our bags, Mom, Dad, my brother Zach and I loaded up the rental and headed north up to Santa Barbara. A beautiful coastal town that has Mom's Alma mater, UCSB. The drive through LA brought back memories of living in that city. Ick. I hated it there.

This is the cute little motel we stayed at. Once again I felt like we had been transported back in time. It screamed early 60s surfer to me. I had the pleasure of sharing a room with Mom and Dad, while Zach took off to stay with Tom, a good friend of his from high school that has taken up residence with his lovely wife in this little town. I spent two relatively sleepless nights listening to my parents snoring, and woke up with a backache after lying on that crappy mattress. Yeah, so, motel not so cute after that.

After a nice meal at a sweet little Italian restaurant, and a bad night's sleep on that terrible bed, we got up on our first morning in SB and went down to the beach. I always marvel at how different the Pacific looks to the Atlantic ocean, and the color of the sky is totally different by the beach. We happened to be there on the day that war veterans set up a beach version of Arlington cemetery in protest of the Iraqi war. It was very powerful and solemn. The vets there had lots of information about the war and were friendly and in good spirits. We thanked them for what they were doing, and spent some time reading the various stats about the war. The picture I took with my cell phone is kinda bad (all the pictures in this blog are from my phone), so I hope you can get a sense of what it looked like. Each one of the crosses in the sand represents a soldier that has died in the war.

After that we walked along the pier, and then headed over to State Street, the main drag of SB, full of shops and bars and restaurants. It is very obvious that the college has made this area a bit of a party destination. The whole place is gorgeous.

We had lunch at a Mexican restaurant, and outside on the patio was Noah Wylie with his family. Mom hilariously reminded me to send my Celebrity Tag texts (thanks, Ma). I did not take a picture, because I'm cool like that. Let me tell you, Noah Wylie is tall and adorable in person. His two kids are cutie-pies, and his wife is very normal pretty, not that crazy Hollywood pretty, which made me like Noah even more.

Speaking of cute. I had forgotten how tall and cute California boys are. Wow. The place was crawling with them, and unlike in NYC, they were friendly and happily flirted with me. I will say it again. What is wrong with the men in New York? Sheesh.

Anyway, that evening we went to visit some friends of my Mom. First, was Eric, a scientist with a lovely new bride and a nice home in the hills. We had drinks and hors-d'oeuvres and chatted away. After ward, we went over to Susan and Charles home. A gorgeous house with a stellar hillside view of the ocean and full of beautiful furniture and art. Susan is an artist, and she graciously showed me her studio and what she is currently working on. They fed us flank steak and asparagus grilled outside and some wonderful crunchy bread. Turned out to be one of the best meals of the trip. These people know how to live. Unfortunately, because of the Yankees/Red Sox game and the wine and food, I totally forgot to take pictures of any of it. Sorry guys.

We got up Monday, met Zach and Tom out for a yummy breakfast, and drove out of town off to Central California to see Grandma and Grandpa Kissack, and Aunt Kay. The drive took forever, driving through desolate, god-forsaken country. The most distressing thing to me was all the people living in these ugly towns, in the middle of land that doesn't have water and hardly any vegetation. There is a lot of farming going on out there, which is crazy. The amount of water piped out there must be enormous to support all that. Plus, the land is so dry right now, it looks like if you breathe too hard the whole place will go up in flames in a second. The mountains are pretty, though.

After a stop at an In-N-Out Burger for lunch (oh.yeah! Awesome burgers), we ended our days driving at our destination, Visalia. A boring little city, really. Lots of strip malls and gas stations. But the street Grandma and Grandpa live on is cute, and they have themselves a cute little house, with a really nice great room. It's astounding to me that people living in such a dry part of the country still insist on having lawns. Once again, crazy.

This is the part of the trip when eating became a bit of a sport. There was a lot of eating. Grandma found out I love Mexican food as much as she does, so we had three Mexican meals. Let me tell you, I have missed good Mexican food. There are good Mexican restaurants in NYC, but it's not real Mexican. This stuff was yummy, especially the chile relleno I had for lunch the second day. Yes!

I had made a promise to myself to get out for a walk everyday while on this trip. I am used to walking everyday, and when I don't get to do it, my head gets a little cuckoo. The second day there I decided to go take a walk in the park a block away that has a trail that runs along the river. I just forgot that a river in California rarely has any water in it.

I had to finally turn around and go back, because this trail headed out into a treeless field, and it was getting hot and I was getting a little sun sick. I'm so delicate.

We spent most of our time in Visalia sitting around and telling stories of the family. On the third day, Zach and I decided to go and check out the main drag. Kinda strip mall-y, but it had shops and bars that looked kinda funky. We ended up at the Visalia Brewing Company and had a beer and met some of the local flavor. As usual, everyone was very friendly, and once again, Zach and I were mistaken for a couple (a phenomenon that has occurred since we were kids). The woman sitting next to Zach was VERY happy to hear we were brother and sister. Hee. We also played the poor-man's version of MegaTouch, and got the top ten score on the picture search game as ZEK. Not as good as the 50 million Fran and I got in Honeoye Falls, but respectable nevertheless.

On Thursday we got up and headed back down to the beach communities south of LA. The drive was much shorter, thankfully, and we head straight over to Grandma Northup's home to see her and Aunt Ginger, Uncle Felix and our cousin Talia. These are some of my favorite people in the family, they are unique and smart and a lot of fun.

I lived with Grandma for the first six months or so of my time in LA, and her home hasn't changed much. There are, however, many more giant, multi-million homes surrounding her. It's a little odd, but I love Hermosa Beach very much. It's kinda young and funky with lots of cute little restaurants and shops. After a bit of visiting Zach and I decided to walk down to the beach and check the place out. They had rebuilt the pier since I had lived there, and there are lots of bars and restaurants right down at the strand. We wandered into the Hermosa General Store, a dark store full of t-shirts and hoodies and flip-flops and other various beachy things. The owner was an old hippie and told us all kinds of funny stories from back when they started the place in the 60s. I have a feeling that there are still bongs in that back room. He was very proud of his daughter who was doing great at UCSB, and he sold me an awesome hoodie, that later in the trip covered my skin and clothes in blue dye (it needed to be washed first. Whoops!).

Here's the beautiful pier, taken a few days later when we went down with Dad (that's him on the right). You can see the dark clouds out over the ocean, which came in later that night and they got their first measurable rain in almost a year. It was cool.

We went over to my Uncle Wayne and Aunt Janet's home to meet them for dinner. They have a very nice house close to the ocean in Redondo Beach. It's a small, beachy styled place that is homey and sweet. Here's the view from the front door, looking out over their front deck. Nice view, eh?

The food orgy continued when Wayne and Janet took us a few blocks away to eat at the Chicago Rib joint. The food was good and I'm suprized none of us keeled over from a heart attack afterwards.

Once dinner was over, Mom and Dad took Zach and I over to my Cousin Craig's home, where we were staying. We met Craig's very cool wife Marlo, their charming six year old son Clyde and their awesome 13 year old daughter Alex. Clyde gave up his room and Alex let us share her bathroom with no complaints. The place was gorgeous. After sleeping on a skinny little cot up in Visalia, the twin bed in the guest bedroom was the biggest, most comfortable bed I had ever slept in. Like most places in highly populated areas, the backyard was small, but it had something I had never seen, sprouted coconuts. I had to take a picture.

Our first morning we woke up and Zach and I were on our own to get breakfast. Marlo was nice enough to set up the coffee maker, so after a cup, we decided to go for a walk and see if we could find a breakfast joint. We walked two blocks and stumbled across the Cozy Cafe. It was perfect.

It was just a counter, with barely enough room to make your way around, and seating for about eight people (there was a patio out back for 'overflow'). George, the owner came out and asked us where we were from, and then proceeded to tell us his story about his one trip to NYC. He took our orders, and we quickly got our plates piled full of eggs and potatoes, way too much food to ever consider finishing. It was very tasty. There was not a lot of space, the toasters were placed in various spots around the place, and our fellow breakfasters were friendly and chatty. Excellent food and local flavor. My kinda place.

We then decided to take a walk along the beach, which is very different than Hermosa, with lots of beach side condos, and a pier that is huge, and hard to find your way off of when you don't know where you're going. This was obviously a wealthier looking area, although I'm sure any place within the beach communities is crazy expensive.

Another lunch, another Mexican meal (yum) and after bailing out on helping at Grandma's getting ready for the party, we headed out for another dinner with Janet and Wayne. They took us to Tony's, a seafood restaurant on the Redondo pier. This place was Old.School. It had a spanning view of the ocean, and booths with high backs, and a guy playing the piano at the bar. I swear it could have been 1955 walking in there. I had a Caesar seafood salad and some New England Clam chowder. It tasted great, but I woke up at midnight and had to make a trip to the bathroom to unwillingly get rid of the meal. Ick. I suppose that is the risk you take with seafood.

Saturday we took Alex and Clyde and headed over to Janet and Wayne's to bake for the party. Grandma has requested a carrot cake, and Mom also came up with apple spice muffins and mini Whoopie cakes to ad to the impending sugar high. Alex took the reins and was a rock star helping Mom and I cook. She was a trooper, and was determined to get to the finish line. Meanwhile, Clyde put on a leash and made Zach walk him around the house like a dog. He was a cute little doggy, and Zach's reaction to having to do this was hilarious.

I selfishly took off with Dad and Zach to walk around Hollywood Riviera, a little area of shops and restaurants a few blocks from Cooking Central, and had lunch (uugh, even more food), and then I felt guilty, and headed back to help finish with the baking. My cousin Curtis and his family showed up, and we finally met his wife Lynne and their kids Kelsea and Christopher. Once the baking and frosting making was done, Zach and I went to dinner with our cousins and their wives at a fabulous little pasta place over in Hermosa Beach. As we were leaving, we ran into Aunt Ginger, Uncle Felix, Talia and our cousins Jessica and Julia who had flown in that day. They were headed for ice cream, so we joined them and walked out on the pier and chatted. It was the first time in I don't know when when almost all the cousins had been together. I am terribly not used to large gatherings of family, so it was fun.

Whew! This is a long one, isn't it? Hey, just a reminder: Jericho is available on DVD October 2nd! Go out and get it, or NetFlix it. C'mon, you know you want to! Hee Hee.

Sunday was the day of the Big Party. But first! My second roommate here in NYC, the lovely Dana, lives in Long Beach, and she drove up to meet me for lunch. We walked down to the Catalina Brew Company, a cute little coffee house a block from the beach. It was so nice to see her again, and after a nice lunch of sandwiches we took a long walk and caught up. Hopefully I will get back out there again soon and I can meet her two boys, but it was nice to have a ladies only lunch.

I got back just in time to catch a ride over to Grandma's for the festivities. The place was packed with family, friends and neighbors. There was a lot of food, and the cake and goodies Mom and Alex toiled over were so yummy. Grandma seemed happy, if a little overwhelmed. I met long heard about distant relatives, and met some of her square dancing and old Barbershop pals. She is also popular with the neighbors, which makes me happy knowing they are there for her. I think the party was a huge success! Here's a picture of Grandma opening presents. She's so cute.

If that wasn't enough, Rhonda and Paul happened to be in LA this weekend, so they came down Sunday night with our friend Paul, from college, and Zach and I took them out to Heromosa Beach. We hit a couple of bars and walked out to the ocean. It was a lovely, chilly evening, and nice to spend some time with some good friends. A nice end to a long and fun family adventure.

As stressful as the flying was, and as frustrating family can sometimes be, I am really glad I made this trip. I got to reacquaint myself with family and enjoyed most of my time in California. Hanging out with all those family members made me feel like a little kid again, which was kind of disconcerting seeing how I am very much a grown-up in my day to day life. But one thing I know for sure, I really don't want to live in California again. It's nice, but sooooo not me.

In the tradition of Fran's Travel Blog, here's some extra pics:

The rental! A blue Chrysler Pacifica. Very roomy and nice, especially when you've got six adults to take to dinner.

More of those dry but beautiful California mountains

The Santa Barbara shoreline taken from the pier. Beautiful!

The art fair in Santa Barbara and Dad, showing off my excellent picture taking skills (yes, that's my finger there at the bottom).

The local flavor at the Visalia Brewing Company.

Grandma and Grandpa Kissack in olden times. Cool picture, but they don't look too happy, do they? Maybe it was taken by one of those cameras where you have to sit there forever before the picture is taken. I, of course, forgot to ask.
I had forgotten you can get your booze at the grocery store in California. One of the few reasons to consider living there.