First Fi Visit

Note: Contains video. Watch at the website for the full experience.

With excitement, joy, and a little bit of sorrow, Thena dropped Imani off for her first year of college in Cincinnati. Then after stopping to see a couple other family members on the way, she made her way to Rochester to stay with us for a little over a week.

Her timing was perfect in several ways because she got to be the first visitor in a little guest cottage we are fixing up. It was great to have a beta tester to find any issues with the place, and Buds and I stayed overnight with her one night so we could have a late-night movie watching party. The cottage worked great, and it was so good for her to have a place to work in peace during the day, and then we all got to be together in the evenings.

Rochester did her part with gorgeous weather (a little rain), mostly cool temperatures, friendly people, and fun events.

It was a working week for all of us, so we had to catch our time together where we could during the week and make the mosts of our weekend.

Fi enjoyed the public market as much as we do. It was so fun to walk around together.

We tried out a new to us restaurant on Park Ave., marveled at the glorious weather, and made our plans for the week.

After walking around on the bridge downtown we discovered what that strange garage is used for…a light show cast onto the falls. Those of you who have been here to visit may remember going to see the falls with us as we discussed the the odd building sitting in the middle of the valley.

We asked Fi where she’d like to kayak while she was here and she chose the Erie Canal. That was the exact right decision. We had a fun, fascinating time on the canal.

The two young white teen males who worked at the place where we rented the kayaks had little interest in us or their jobs, so much so that when we returned from our trip they had already closed up shop and gone home for the night, but they did give us the phone number to call when we got close to Lock 32 to learn how to go through safely. Having that phone number introduced us to Annie, the lock-master for the summer, and she more than made up for the ennui displayed by the other two teens.

Annie explained everything we needed to do, when we could go through the lock, and the timing to plan for. Plus she loves the area and her enthusiasm bubbles over.

We had little idea what to expect. Buds and I went through a lock on a long-ago family vacation in a large houseboat on the Mississippi River, but that was a far cry from being in a lock on a kayak.

Yessa and I were the designated rope holders, and I suggested we keep hanging on in the same spot as the kayak dropped to see how many inches down we went.

The folly of the ignorant…we would have needed 15 foot arms. 😆

Here we are waiting for the lock to open:

Inside the lock:

We paddled down as the far as the bridge before Pittsford, then headed back to await our chance to go back through the lock with the Sam Patch.

When we got back to the docks to return the kayaks, it was all locked up, so we left everything there and drove home. One of us did have one memorable splash off the dock in a final exciting moment, but emerged soaked and mostly unscathed.

It was truly a magical afternoon.

Sunday the three eldest took a day trip to Saratoga Springs where Fi lived from 12-14 years old. It was a beautiful drive to get there and Buds and I were stunned at the splendor of the homes on the boulevards there. It humbled our Rochester-centric attitude for a little, but then we decided Rochester is more scrappy money, not the b/millionaires and and still worthy of our love.

We ate at Mrs. London’s Bakery, a restaurant Fi remembered fondly from her time there.

On another afternoon Fi and I wandered Mount Hope Cemetery where we had previously driven around when Todd and Gina and Jack were here. Seeing Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass’ graves was powerful.

We were curious about one monument.

After some research I read a paper that explains the stone. It’s a .pdf so I can’t link it here, but if you’d like to read the backstory, click on the article entitled, “Willis Linn Family Plot” at the top of this search page.

Spoiler, there’s a UU connection hidden with that stone.

There was much comfort in knowing this won’t be Fi’s last visit so even though we packed a lot into our time together, we’ll have much time in the future to see the many other wonders we haven’t explored yet.

Full album here if you’d like to see even more photos.