We chatted with Everett and Helen for awhile while we waited for Bill and his wife Joan to pick us up. We took them to lunch at Dock’s, a waterfront restaurant where I had my first delicious fried clams of the season.
The next morning Bill took Jonny to pick up our rental car. Jonny, Archie and I then drove to New London where we visited his cousin Jimmy at Mallove’s Jewelers and I was lucky to get an appointment for a haircut next door. Jonny went to Defender’s for boat supplies and we ate lobster rolls and other goodies at Captain Scott’s. These are some of our favorite things to do in New London.
That evening we packed for our trip to Ithaca for Sophie Bracken’s wedding to be followed by a couple of days in the Thousand Islands. On our way there we stopped in Waterbury, CT to visit my parents’ graves which I hadn’t been to in several years. So many of my family members are buried in this cemetery but it is so large I was unable to find the graves of other members even with help of the staff there!
We arrived in Ithaca in the late afternoon and had to stay at a nearby hotel because we miscalculated the dates of our Air BnB. But everything turned out fine. We got to the Air BnB the next day which was even better than expected. On Friday, the wedding festivities included a casual get together at a cider mill on a hill overlooking the city. Ithaca is in a beautiful setting with many waterfalls right inside the city limits. Over the next couple of days we were able to visit several of them.
The weather on Saturday was rainy off and on but we were able to go for a hike by one of the falls.
Late that afternoon we attended another wedding event, this time at a covered pavilion in a nearby park. The event was delayed due to the rain but fortunately the weather improved and everyone enjoyed the afternoon playing outdoor games, eating, drinking and chatting. The younger set (not us) followed it up with a bar crawl.
On Sunday morning we had breakfast with our friends Kathy and Paul Lubbers. The wedding took place that afternoon at the historic Argos Inn. Prior to the wedding, Jonny was honored to be asked to perform a short pre-ceremony where Sophie and Jason signed their Ketubah, a Jewish tradition which is something like a marriage contract.
That was followed by a cocktail reception and then the wedding ceremony and reception. Sophie and her husband Jason met while attending Cornell in Ithaca so this was a destination wedding for almost all of us! The wedding was lovely with about 60 relatives and close friends. Sophie looked beautiful and this newly graduated veterinarian walked down the aisle with her dog, Roo! What followed was lots of fun with delicious food, lots of dancing and visiting with old and new friends.
On Monday, we drove two and a half hours to visit our friends David and Mary Ann at their home in Cape Vincent, NY. They live in a comfortable old farmhouse right across the street from the St. Lawrence River. We know David and Mary Ann from the Arsht Center. They spend several months a year in Miami and we are fellow volunteers at the Arsht. We had visited once before on Zendo during one of our trips to Canada (which you can see from their front yard)!
David is a terrific cook and he made us dinner the first night after we explored tiny Cape Vincent by car and walked along the shoreline for a bit. The village is in an incredible setting at the point where the St. Lawrence River meets Lake Ontario.
The next morning I joined Mary Ann to do a little work on the local community garden. The garden is large and prolific and provides vegetables for the local food bank.
She and David are very active in many aspects of their community and Mary is especially active in Cape Vincent’s beautification committee. Afterwards, while David took Jonny out on his boat and Mary Ann took me on their jet ski. I hadn’t been on one for twenty years and was a little nervous about the possibility of falling into icy cold water. But personal water crafts have come a long way since then. This one was very comfortable and steady and even though we went pretty darn fast, there was never any concern about tipping. I was amazed that Mary Ann, who is a few years older than me, was so comfortable and even somewhat daring in her enthusiasm for this exciting and fun means of travel!
After we all returned from our boating adventures, David gave us a wonderful tour of the area including a long hike and picnic at Wellesley Island, a beautiful state park on one of the Thousand Islands.
David also drove us through Thousand Island Park, a village with gaily painted houses, many adorned with gingerbread trim.
That evening we had a very delicious dinner at their favorite restaurant, The Clipper, in nearby Clayton. NY. Later on Jonny went over our upcoming itinerary with David. We all retired early as it had been a very full and fun-filled day.
The next morning David made us delicious blueberry pancakes and we took our leave heading back to Niantic to resume our cruise. We look forward to seeing David and Mary when they return to Miami this winter.
Great posts, as usual. Enjoy your trip!
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