Clarion hotels is officially in a category with the dreaded “Q’s” (Quality Inns). No ice bucket in the room. Oh, there was the plastic bag for ice that you put into the bucket, just no bucket. And when I took the bag to get ice, I found out that the ice was locked up. Yep. The ice was locked in a secure room. The clerk graciously unlocked the door and got my ice. He even got me a bucket to put it in. This morning when I asked a different clerk for ice, she filled it barely halfway, then asked if I wanted more. Just full ‘er up, please.
Breakfast
was fruit and some of those packaged pastries. And the coffee tasted terrible.
There was no in room coffee available. When we checked out, there was no one on
duty to give us a receipt. Just a sign with a phone number. I called it. The
voice on the other end said, “We’ll send your receipt in an email at
11:00.” They did not. Sure hope I am asked to evaluate them.
When
we finally decided to pull away from there, we stopped at a lighthouse Chris
found in Rochester. Why a lighthouse in New York? It was right on Lake Ontario.
The lighthouse was closed, since it was but 7:30 in the morning, but it was
still cool to look at.
We
left Rochester roughly heading south and west. And what should catch our eye
but a brief little side trip to … Niagara Falls. Why not? We were just that
close. The highlight of the Falls visit was our stroll over to Goat Island. We
have been to the Falls before, and even enjoyed it from the Canadian side. But
we had never walked over to Goat Island. Glad we did. You can get really close
to the water, and the views of the Falls are stunning. Only problem was … the
restaurant was closed for the season. We managed to score a burger for Chris
and a personal pizza for me. But we apparently waited too long to get Chris
fed. As she shifted on the bench to pick up the water bottle … down she went.
She had a dizzy spell and had nothing to hold on to so she could steady
herself. She just slid down, down, down onto the ground (we were at an outside
picnic table). It took her a few minutes to get reoriented, and a
stranger eventually insisted on helping her up. We sat for a while longer, and
then headed on back to the car. I took the next driving shift and got us
shuffled off through Buffalo and on our way south. After assuring me she was
fine, she took over when I started getting sleepy. Whew! Close call.
Guess we oughta watch our side trips.
The
next few hundred miles were really beautiful again. Western New York and
Western Pennsylvania really jumped to the top of the list as far as dead red
and yellow and orange and green leaves are concerned. Of course, that also
meant we were getting pummeled with said dead leaves as we drove through. We
stopped in a tiny town called Wilcox to mail some postcards. One town we pulled
into briefly regaled us with a tune from the local church bells. Haven’t heard
that in a long time. From there the roads got more and more Coon Dog
Cemetery-ish until we had no idea where we were on the paper map. We were at
the mercy of Google Siri. We finally stumbled upon the road we needed, but not
until we passed by the Seldom Seen Coal Mine. Yep. That’s a place.
Pennsylvania’s finest. Not that we stopped for a visit. It was already 5:30 and
getting dark. And did I mention the faint strummings of a banjo …
Matthew 5:16 says, “In the same way, let your
light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your
Father in heaven.”
Father,
please touch Chris with your watchcare and healing. Amen
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