Monday Gull Blogging

Gulls (Atlantic City) - New Jersey  2018

Gulls (Atlantic City) - New Jersey  2018

We stopped in Atlantic City for a quick visit. Will be the subject of a future post.

Towanda

Main Street (Towanda) - Pennsylvania  2018

Storefronts (Towanda) - Pennsylvania  2018

Giveaway (Towanda) - Pennsylvania  2018

As we were driving from Ithaca to Allentown, the next stop on our East Coast tour, a sudden attack of acute hunger led to a stop in Towanda, Pennsylvania. As we walked down the uncrowded main street of town we noticed quite a few vacant storefronts. Someone had spruced the blank windows up with Halloween art. News reports attribute the town’s economic plight to the local decline of the fracking industry.

We ended up eating at Vincents Pizza: the pizza was quite respectable!

Vincents Pizza (Towanda) - Pennsylvania  2018

Corning Museum of Glass

Corning Museum, Exterior - Pennsylvania  2018

Corning Museum, Interior - Pennsylvania  2018

We left Ithaca after visiting the local Farmers Market in heavy rain, then drove to Corning, Pennsylvania to visit the Corning Museum of Glass. For some reason, Mike was more interested in the architecture of the museum building than he was in the exhibits. Next time he’ll pay more attention to the art! There’s a nearby Norman Rockwell museum as well that might be worth seeing.

Also of interest: during a glass-blowing demonstration the narration was spoken by two ladies, one in English and the other in Mandarin.

Watkins Glen

Protect Your Rear (Watkins Glen) - New York  2018

Watkins Glen Sign - New York  2018

OK, so we did end up going to Watkins Glen State Park. Huh. For some reason Mike didn’t find that much of interest there. We had lunch at the local Burger King, then ice cream at the “Great Escape Ice Cream Parlor.”

Hali's Birthday!

Hali Leaving for Horsepacking Trip - Oakland  1987

Wow!

New York Water Features

Taughannock Waterfall - New York  2018

Fly Fishing - New York  2018

I used an Olympus E-M1II for these photos. The camera has a fairly robust "image stabilization" feature, so for the lower photo I was able use a handheld exposure of 1/13th second, blurring the water but keeping the fisherman mostly sharp.

Christmas Decorations . . .

Winter Wonderland - Los Angeles  2013

Christmas Balls - San Francisco  2018

. . . in Los Angeles, at "The Grove," and in San Francisco's Financial District.

Happy Holidays!

Monday Cow Blogging

Cows - Pennsylvania  2018

We spotted these cows while driving off the main highway down a random side road. I managed to find a spot to pull over and Dan and I got out to take some photos.

For some reason this was the first and last time during the trip to acquire any cow pix, or actual farm pix for that matter. I managed to take some from-the-car photos while speeding back to our Allentown hotel, though.

Barn, Milk's Got More - Pennsylvania  2018

New York Corn

Cornfield Stubble - New York  2018

Cornstalks, Forest - New York  2018

Somehow I hadn't realized that corn is such a major presence in rural New York. Picturesque.

Ithaca

Wall Art (Woman, Ithaca) - New York  2018

Da Westy (Ithaca) - New York  2018

One way streets. Confusing GPS directions. Lots of restaurants. We might not have seen the trendy, college-oriented section, if there is one. I saw these scenes near a pleasant Vietnamese restaurant where we had lunch.

Beebe Lake

Yellow Leaves (Beebe Lake) - New York  2018

Trees, Lake - New York  2018

So, the autumn foliage this year was not that colorful back East. A little hit and miss, requiring some telephoto action to pick out the yellows and oranges. We walked around a bit, then the cold and the wind chill factor drove us back to the parking lot where we waited for the motel shuttle. And waited.

And waited.

Mundy Wildflower Garden

Trees, Mundy Garden (Ithaca) - New York  2018

Muriel Mundy (Ithaca) - New York  2018

"This garden was inspired by Muriel B. Mundy’s love of nature, and made possible through the generosity of Muriel and Floyd W. Mundy."

Needless to say, this spot was on Mike's must-see list for the trip. No wildflowers, alas, due to the season, but a nice quiet forest.

Mike, Mundy Garden Entrance (Ithaca) - New York  2018
Photo by Hali

Cornell Botanical Garden

Cornell Herb Garden (Ithaca) - New York  2018

Flowers, Wind (Ithaca) - New York  2018

The outside temperature was in the 20’s when we awoke, with small patches of snow here and there in the grass. We left our room and walked through the interior walkway to the breakfast room where Mike had his standard Best Western breakfast of waffle-machine waffles and coffee.

We got a motel shuttle ride to the Cornell Botanical Garden where we disembarked in the parking lot, walked over to the visitor center, picked up a map and headed outside. It was cold! Mike had on multiple layers (T-shirt, long sleeve shirt, Patagonia jacket and parka) which might have been OK except for the wind that was finding every crack in his armor.

Anyway . . . first the herb garden, where we can see that the wind blurred some of the flowers in Mike's photo.

Clouds, Motel (Ithaca) - New York  2018

Driving to Ithaca

Dan, Trees (Roscoe) - New York  2018

Picnic Table, Tree - New York  2018

We found it necessary to make a quick stop in Roscoe for candy bars. Alas, the bars that we got didn’t work out (non-melting chocolate!) But certainly, the little town was picturesque, Dan taking photos of the trees and Mike of a picnic table. Once back in the car we skirted the edge of the Adirondacks, but didn't see that much.

Unsettled weather as we approached Ithaca, finally arriving at our Best Western motel located on the outskirts of the town

Road Signs - New York  2018

Road, Clouds - New York  2018

Monday Dog Blogging

Dog (Ithaca) - New York  2018

Animal pix were very hard to come by for some reason. This nice-looking dog belonged to the Ithaca sporting goods store pictured.

Masa's Birthday!

Masa - Marin County  2018

Wow!

Rhodes Tavern

Rhodes Tavern - New York  2018

Narragansett - New York  2018

Dan was somewhat familiar with this locale, having been here before while working

at his job for IBM. So it was that we found ourselves pulling up in the Rhodes Tavern

parking lot where he had eaten before. Nice lunch!

Mike wished that he could have had a draft Naragansett beer, but he didn’t want to get wiped out for the remainder of the day’s trip. All he got was a photo of the intriguing Naragansett tabletop ad.

As a bonus, there was a pretty little creek in back of the parking lot.

Creek (Rhodes Tavern) - New York  2018

Newark Airport

Newark Airport - New Jersey  2018

We left Manhattan via Penn Station and travelled back to Newark Airport (designated EWR for some reason) where we rented a Mitsubishi SUV. Mike and Dan drove (Dan doing the bulk of the driving)

which worked out OK, except for the constant readjusting of seat height and rearview mirrors. (Photo taken with an iPhone while on the Newark Airport's "AirTrain.")

The plan that we had made, and that worked out pretty well for us, was to make a counter-clockwise loop: up and west through New York, then down through Pennsylvania, then lastly a visit back to New Jersey. The first leg of the trip involved driving from the airport to Ithaca, New York.

Hanna's Birthday!

Hanna and Mike - San Francisco  2013

Wow!

New York Night

Dunkin Donuts - New York  2018

Gyro House - New York  2018

We had meant to stop in at Dunkin Donuts, but never got around to it.

Bottom photo taken in Greenwich Village . . . note The Bitter End awning in the background.

Both photos taken with a Canon G5X . . . very impressive available light capture!

Times Square

Times Square (Hali & Dan) - New York  2018

Street Performers, Times Square - New York  2018

Top: Hali and Dan peering around Times Square on a chill overcast morning.

Next: Street performers, the ones on the right are unauthorized, I believe. But maybe not.

Monday Pigeon Blogging

Feeding Pigeons - New York  2018

Feeding pigeons in Soho.

Wall Art - Legs

205 Club - New York  2018

Marilyn - New York  2018

Not exactly murals. Photos taken with the Canon G5X.

Below, the Google version of the top photo. Hard to say which one I prefer!

205 Club (Google Street View) - New York  2017

Mr. B's / Mutiny

Mr. B's (Brooklyn) - New York  2018 

Mutiny - New York  2018

I felt obligated to take photos of any across-the-street storefronts not being blocked by parked cars. Had to take advantage of whatever opportunities came my way.

"Biedronka is the largest discount supermarket chain in Poland with 2,823 stores in 2017 and 55,000 employees. It is owned by the Portuguese company Jerónimo Martins. The supermarket chain's name translates as "ladybug", with a cartoon ladybug as the company's logo." (Wikipedia)