Nice Visit

My sister, Alice, visited me for a few days this week. We had a great time. It was like when I first moved to Plattsburgh and I had all my family come to visit because none of us had ever had someone living in the East before. I actually thought of where I'd moved as the East Coast, but was embarrassed by some people when I said that at a luncheon in the first month I lived here. I learned then the Coast is actually about 5 hours further east. Hey, to a Midwesterner, this is STILL the East Coast!

ANYway, we toured about a bit. Friday we went to The Wild Center, a.k.a. the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks, in Tupper Lake. That's about 75 miles from here, and we went on a rainy day (which has been pretty much every day so far). It's a very cool science-and-nature place, and the main building is a really beautiful piece of architecture. Probably the most popular exhibit is the otter enclosure where you can see the 2 otters playing underwater as well as above. They are so cute! I tried to copy and paste the logo for the place, which is an otter done in a sort of modern American Indian style, but I can't lift it. You'll just have to check out that link.

On Saturday we hung around Plattsburgh. We went to the totally disappointing and cheesy 4th of July parade. And we didn't go to the fireworks because it was too cold and rainy. Yuck.

Sunday was much better, with our trip to Saratoga Springs turning out well. The town is chock full of Victorian mansions, and I do mean mansions. The one I know for sure is occupied for a time every summer is the Whitney home, as in the money-dripping-out-their-ears Whitneys. They come for the Travers Stakes thoroughbred race at the track in August, and every few years someone breaks into their house while they're at the track and steals hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry. It's happened at least once, and I think twice, since I've lived out here. I forgot to take my camera along and I'm really sorry about that because I can't find a place that shows a photo of even one or two of those houses. They're gorgeous. We went to Yaddo, a place located just next to the racetrack and something Alice wanted to see. It's a retreat for artists of various ilk and she'd read that the writer John Cheever had been there a lot. So we went, but the HUGE house (former home of the Spencer Trask family) isn't open to the public. The rose garden is and we went to see that. Lovely but in sad disrepair. It needs about 3 full-time gardners to get it into shape. I'll bet it was stunning when it was cared for. Do look at the link; the house is not at all out of place in that town!


Monday it was the Montreal Jardins Botaniques--Botanical Gardens in downtown Montreal. Only about a 35-min. wait to cross the border (sigh). The gardens are in full bloom now and talk about well cared for! The place is just beautiful. And so much bigger and better than it was when I first went about 28-29 years ago. The tickets are not expensive and we spent a good day there--arrived about 11:30 and left at about 4, and saw maybe ... a third? half? Definitely not all of it.

This photo is of a pagoda in the Chinese Gardens, one of the loveliest areas. The last time I was here there were Asian wedding couples everywhere, brides running in their gowns, grooms trying to stay neat and pressed in oppressive heat. This time it was just tourists--it was a Monday, after all.


Alice went back to Wisconsin on Tuesday. I miss her. We had a great time and went places I only go when there are people here. (So it'll be years before I go again!)