From Albany the train hugged the edge of the mighty Hudson river which was particularly beautiful – spanned occasionally by huge bridges. There were unconcerned blue herons, lazy boats and the occasional working barge, and sunset over the river was a picture. As we neared New York the occasional shack became large houses and estates.
New York here I come
| www.flickr.com
|
Deciding to go Amtrak across America, I noticed that it stopped at Buffalo, and I thought I would grab the chance to visit Niagara Falls - they looked pretty close on a map!
Well, it is actually a $100US taxi fare and a border crossing to Niagara Falls Ontario. But I bit the bullet and thought “how many times in your life do you get a chance like this?”
The Amtrak trip from Chicago was great and mostly uneventful – the sleepers slightly different – with a minute handbasin and toilet in the room. Mostly uneventful? Well I was sitting at breakfast enjoying talking about the Democratic Convention and thinking I had an hour to go, when I was reminded that time jumped forward an hour while we slept and travelled east. Oops – I had to leave most of my breakfast and head back to the room to pack.
We arrived less than an hour late – I got a taxi and the driver Izzie was a student in nuclear medicine, so it was an interesting trip. I dropped my bags at The Lions Head (more on that later) and Izzie dropped me at the Falls for no extra charge. He assured me I had made the right decision to see Falls from the Canadian side.
Well the Falls took my breath away and brought tears to my eyes – like seeing the Great Wall of China last year, nothing prepares you for a moment like this – there is no other word than awesome. I walked back along the river, stopping every few yards to look at it from another angle. Thousands of other people too, but it did not matter.
I joined the Maid of the Mist trip – very well oiled tour – but still amazing. Supplied with raincoats, the boat took us right into the power of the falls – we got soaked and windblown and it was – there is that word again – awesome.
A walk back along the river to the Lions Head B&B This beautiful old home has a gorgeous deep verandah overlooking the river, with luxurious deep chairs inviting you to sit and enjoy. The Lions Head is rated as no 1 B&B in Ontario by Trip Advisor – and deserves the acclamation. Unfortunately I have an early start tomorrow, so will miss the 9am breakfast – but it looks good!
Was it worth the stop off to visit Ontario and see the Falls – Definately!
Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the main reasons for my visit to Chicago. His residence and studio – immaculately restored – are a little out of town in the Oak Park region – 951 Chicago Ave Oak Park. WEB. I met my friend Jen, and she took me out there which was great, although public transport is good.
Although a native of Chicago, she had n0t been there before – so she enjoyed it too. No photos allowed inside, but a walk around surrounding streets and there were his houses all over the place. The guided tour of the house was amazing. I can not believe he did these houses in the late 19th Century.
| www.flickr.com
|
In Chicago – architecture was my thing, and in particular the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. So a tour of the Charnley-Persky house was first on my agenda – just a short walk away from The Gold Coast B&B where I was staying. This house was designed by Louis Sullivan in 1891, with Frank Lloyd Wright was his junior draftperson at the time.
Sullivan rejected the historical details common to Victorian Architecture in favour of abstract forms that later became the hallmarks of modern architecture. The house and the details in it are exquisite, helped by the fact that Charnley who commissioned the house, was a lumberman.
Click on the photos to see more detail…
| www.flickr.com
|
| www.flickr.com
|
In the afternoon I joined the Chicago Architecture Foundation’s First Lady Architectural tour of the river. From the first skyscapers in the 1920s with gothic forms, to the modern and postmodern – this is a fabulous city – with river walks, and the marinas on Lake Michigan. I could not resist a bike ride along the lakeshore, and found a bicycle hire place near the Millennium Park. The city has done a lot to open up the lakeshore to bikes and walkers, and it is a joy to ride around, keeping to the right of course!
A short taxi ride took me to the Gold Coast B&B where I met innkeeper Sally. The house is beautifully set up for a B&B, with a gorgeous sheltered garden.
I had heard of this B&B over the years, and it was great to meet Sally who had bought this house 15 years ago, especially to set up a B&B.
Sally pointed me in good directions for food and the architecture tours I was interested in. Sally’s place is much in demand, and due to overbooking I was relocated to a nearby apartment which was also great. It is very central and I found it easy to walk to town, to the Lake or find somewhere for dinner.
Treat yourself to a few nights in this gorgeous B&B and enjoy Chicago.
They seemed to be have the airconditioning on freezing, but the conductor was very happy to provide an extra blanket. Once again I slept to the gentle rocking motion and occasional whistles. I even slept through the adding of new carriages. I awoke to the absolutely amazing beauty of the Montana Glacier National Park – mountains, gorges, rivers – and even a commentary along the way.
The sleeper car had a shower – so I enjoyed that start to the day, and got in late to breakfast, which mean there was not too much pressure to move on. After this the flatlands of Montana – crops for hundreds of miles.
This two day trip was great and only took 2 days – we arrived less than an hour late, crossing two times zones.
My friend Dolores luckily had a lot to do in Portland as she waited for the train, and we still had 1.5 hour drive to the Gearhart on the Oregon Coast before we were home, after enjoying dinner at Yummy – an excellent wine bar at Seaside.. The next day we hit some of the local beaches – Cannon Beach and Mansanita – both lovely seaside towns with boutique shops and lots of people on the beaches – but NONE in the water – the locals obviously feel it is too cold – with only small children trying the waves. There were signs that it was a good surfing spot, but I did not see anyone except paddlers like me on the edge of the waves.
| www.flickr.com
|
That night it was back to Portland – Dolores had got front row seats to a Melissa Etheridge concert – we were in spitting distance – right in front of a speaker, so it was something you definitely felt as well as heard. I enjoyed it, I am not that familiar with her music – but she is a great performer and her lead guitarist was AMAZING.
| www.flickr.com |
This is her Revival Tour and she essentially sang her way through her life – leaving Kansas and heading for California, a failed relationships, the search for love, breast cancer, and more recently her political activism with Al Gore (she did the soundtrack for Incovenient Truth) and the Democrats (she is singing at their convention next week). A great night out in a fabulous older concert hall (the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall) filled with Portland lesbians and a few staunch men. I think I will get some of the tracks off itunes when I get home.
Sunday – a visit to Astoria Sunday markets was in store – unfortunately it rained, so browsing was not too much fun, though I did manage to buy some fruit for the train journey. We were a bit late leaving and got caught in some traffic heading back to Portland – nearly had an Amtrak moment ourselves, as I was close to missing the train – but got there with 10 mins to spare.
This was only a 3 hour trip, so I travelled coach – they say there are two reasons people go by train – one because its cheaper (coach class) and the other is because its a relaxing and fun way to travel (Sleeper class). Both classes have twice as much leg room as a plane. And you can even get a sleeper with its own bathroom if you pay a bit more.
The only down side is that you can not count on them being in time, so don’t plan an urgent appointment at the destination. I suppose you can sense a story coming here….
My friends Sandy and Melissa delivered me to the Seattle amtrak station, and we boarded on time.
Problem one – someone had thrown a rock at the engine and it had to be replaced. So we were one hour leaving the station.
Problem two – an hour and a half into our trip and an announcement said there had been ‘an incident on the tracks’ involving a freight train ahead of us. Half an hour later, an announcement that someone had walked into the train, the federal police were involved and it would be sometime before we moved. It was about 2 hours before a cheer went up as the train began to move. Thank God for mobile phones – everyone was texting friends to let them know of the delay.
Problem three – a bucks party got out of control – nothing to do but drink I guess, and we stopped again to clear them off the train.
All in all the three hour journey took 8 hours – the toilets stopped working when they ran out of water and the complimentary snacks disappeared before we got anywhere near them. I was looking forward to watching Prince Caspian on the screen, and paid $4 for some earphones, but it appeared that the sound was not working anywhere in the train, so it was a silent movie.
The one nice thing was the comraderie that developed in the coach as train jokes and stories emerged – as one of the young men I was sitting with said “We got to know each other four hours better than we needed to”. A big cheer went up when we arrived in Portland – one thing I got a very good value journey for $28US!
Two ferries and a bus ride took me from downtown Seattle to the other world of Salt Sping Island, in British Columbia (why do they call it that?) This is one of the ‘Gulf Islands’ , it is a world away from Seattle, or even the lovely Canadian town of Victoria, where the Victoria Clipper Ferry delivered me onto Canadian soil for the first time in my life.
A bus (no. 70) to the end of Vancouver Island, and a car ferry ride to Fulford Harbour had me at Salt Spring, where my host Claire McDuff picked me up. Clare runs Island Farmhouse B&B and health studio – yes you can have a therapeutic massage, reiki or hot tub treatment on site.
| www.flickr.com
|
I had contacted Clare because she was on my WTW site as a women owned accommodation business – Find it here. When she picked me up, she asked me if she knew Judith Pringle, a Nzer she knew. Amazing (or maybe not?!), here I am meeting someone who lives on this small island with 11,000 other people, and I am half way around the world from home, and we know the same person, and more enquiries found others that we knew in common from when Clare had taught architecture in Auckland.
This lovely island seems full of B&Bs and artists, with a landscape of trees and water – most people seem to have brought over their cars, there a few on bikes, and others hitchhike around. A few local buses traverse the island, especially meeting ferries, and they even take bikes on the front! I was without transport, and Clare kindly helped me out taking me out when there were chores to be done. Island Farmhouse B&B is a lovely collection of buildings and gardens set on 10 acres. Clare has horses and chickens, a dog and cat and her kids have rabbits – one of them is being trained to jump! I can see that families would love this place.
I rode a bike down to explore the village of Ganges, which was fine – downhill all the way – though I dreaded the ride home, but I was saved when Clare decided to meet me there, and join me for a kayak for a couple of hours with Island Escapades. Dai, our young guide said we were the best paddlers she had had all year – which was not bad considering that Clare and I were in a double kayak for the first time and the wind was against us.
We did well, got into a rhythm, and were soon across the channel to Goat Island. Here we found a —- starfiish – 250 cms across – 20 legs and bright orange – it was beautiful. Further on we saw a sea lion 30 m away, and eagle nests perched in the top of dead trees. The wind dropped for our paddle home, and just before the marina, 2 m in front of me a seal popped its head up to say hi – it was the perfect end to the trip, made even more perfect by Claire’s offer to take me and the bike back uphill in her truck.
| www.flickr.com |
