Fall Excursion to Maine & NH

 

Maine and New Hampshire with Friends

October 2025

 

            As summer has turned to fall it seems a good time for a short trip Down East, combining sightseeing & leaf peeping with visiting good friends we haven’t seen in a while. We’ll head 1^st to Maine for a stay with Robert Lehman, a regular visitor 35 years or so ago when Matt was in the Empire State Youth Orchestra and Robert was Conductor of the Repertory Orchestra. In something of a reprise, Robert & wife Kim have come thru Albany to reach their son Alex at Eastman School; and Alex himself has stopped along the way to & fro. Hopefully we’ll see Alex & other son Eric on our visit. We’ll work around Robert’s schedule. He won’t be home Thursday until dinnertime, so we have plenty of time to explore along the coast. Friday a treat: he’s performing in a concert. Saturday he’s playing at a wedding, but he didn’t get us an invitation.

We last visited Robert & Kim in 2022. Unfortunately, we won’t see Kim this time. She’s on an adventure, walking the 500-mile Camino de Santiago in Spain! We’re able to follow her progress via a link from her Facebook page; Robert can give us more details. We visited the beautiful end of this pilgrimage at Santiago de Compostela in 2022, but we reached there by bus.

We’ll return home via New Hampshire and an overnight with Alice & Rick Galuppo, friends from my college days at the U of Rochester, Rick a fraternity brother. It’s way too long since we’ve seen them; last visited them in 2016.

            We’ll be combining socializing with some repeat sightseeing along the Maine coast and across southern NH & Vermont. Don’t know what to expect for fall colors. A very dry summer was followed a couple weeks ago by a summer’s worth of rain in 3 days, almost 4½”! Our grass finally starting to green up, so we skipped the Seasonal Affective Disorder Seminar at St. Pius. Been having lovely summer weather, highs in the 80s! But it looks like welcome cooler fall temps ahead. As usual, our calendar is too full. While we’re away we’ll miss some good events: Colonie Seniors’ Fallallapalooza, the joint ASO/ESYO concert, an outdoor Mass and a dinner to benefit a Dominican orphanage at St. Pius. We arrange for grandson William to have one of our cars while we’re away. He’s using our garage to store items he has bought on-line to sell for sizable profits; needs to drive over from Siena (now “University”) to rendezvous with deliveries & buyers.

 

Columbia & Snake Rivers plus Missoula MT

 

Columbia & Snake Rivers Cruise

Plus Missoula MT

June 2025

We do enjoy river cruises, many with Viking on European rivers. We also love the Pacific NW, multiple trips including Oregon, Washington, and up to Victoria & Vancouver BC. American Cruise Lines combines these with a Columbia & Snake Rivers Cruise. And we’ll add a short trip after the cruise to visit niece Annie, hubbie Garrick, and daughters Lillian & Cora in Missoula MT; haven’t seen them in way too long. Agent Dora (the Explorer?) helps me reserve (with a good discount) for June 2025. Marjorie’s cousin Jim & wife Susan will join us.

            We’ll sail on American Pride, a paddle-wheeler (Marjorie insisted) built 2012 that holds 150 passengers on 4 decks plus sun deck. We have a 2^nd deck stateroom with twin beds & balcony. Susan & Jim find a stateroom across from us. We discuss excursion options during a March visit with them in Florida. Ship amenities seem quite comparable to Viking river ships. Several lounges offer quiet spaces and/or scenic views (plus 24-hour snacks!) & restaurant. Evening cocktail hour, complimentary beer & wine with lunch & dinner. Daily activities & evening entertainment.

           

Things are busy leading up to the trip. We have to coordinate our schedules when son Matt borrows a car to move percussion stuff to Skidmore for the Mostly Modern Festival, where he’s again in residence (and we enjoy a performance). Then we offer lodging to Matt’s Korean friend and former student Han Sol (who calls him “Doc”) and fiancé Euna for a composition workshop with the Albany Symphony. We continue our chiropractic “couples therapy,” Marjorie participates in volunteer events, I do my Red Cross blood delivery driving. I also have a return Mendelssohn Club gig singing to kick off Belmont Festival races at Saratoga track. We need a vacation from retirement. Some hot/humid weather & heavy rain here; looks like we may hit temps up to 100° the 1^st couple of days on the cruise but no sign of rain along our route.

Florida 2025

 

Florida

March 2025

 

            A 4^th “snowbird” adventure, with repeats of enjoyable 2022 & 2023 visits to Sarasota with friends Deb & Chris and Naples with Marjorie’s cousin Jim & wife Susan. Our winter hasn’t been too hard. Snow’s been cleared by very diligent Josh, working for Matt’s high school friend John. A busy end of February and beginning of March. “Warmth of Winter” fundraiser for Colonie Senior Service Centers. “Mardi Gras” celebration at St. Pius X. “The Garbologists” play at nearby Curtain Call Theater. Albany Pro Musica’s concert “Considering Matthew Shepard,” a very moving “choral drama” about the young gay man murdered in Wyoming in 1998. Russ singing with Mendelssohn Club at CSSC’s Beltrone Living Center, and the previous night friend Dennis singing there with the South Colonie Dance Band. Marjorie has started her annual fundraising for “Relay for Life” and selling tickets for Mendelssohn Club’s Spring Concert. And exciting news: she’s been accepted to be an “Artist in Residence” for a week in July at Wiawaka Center for Women, a retreat on the shore of Lake George. She also displays her work & classes at CSSC’s celebration of International Women’s Day.

As usual March is teasing, sometimes seems like Spring but then Winter comes back. So a break is welcome, especially when it includes warmer temps (we hope) with friends & family. There is a sure sign of Spring: Guptill’s Ice Cream opens Saturday!

Christmas Markets Along the Danube

 

Christmas on the Danube

December 2024

 

            We do love a Viking River Cruise: 6 in Europe, plus 1 on the Mississippi. Marjorie disrupted the pattern of togetherness when she and her sister Mary took a Christmas Markets cruise along the Rhine in 2012. She showed no feelings of guilt about leaving me behind [tho full disclosure: I traveled with my brother Doug to South America in 2013 and on a “Midnight Sun” Viking Ocean Cruise in 2018] but is quite happy to do a similar cruise with me, this time along the Danube. We’ve cruised on both the Rhine & Danube in summer, the latter covering much of the territory on this cruise, but expect different looks at Christmastime.

The 2nd-longest river (1700 miles) in Europe, after the Volga, the Danube originates in Germany, passes thru or borders Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldova, and Ukraine. European Christmas markets have a long history, dating to a “December market” in Vienna in 1296. In the 14^th C craftsmen set up stalls under the name "Saint Nicholas market" to sell little Christmas gifts for children. This evolved into Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) or Christkindlmarkt (Christ child market). Many towns usher in Advent with market openings.

Brighton HS 60th Reunion

 

Brighton High School Reunion

October 2024

 

            In June I get an e-mail from Martha Presberg Supnik [Note: From now on I’ll use “high school names” for ease & better recognition.] about a 60^th (!!) reunion for our BHS class of 1965, to be combined with the surrounding classes of ’64 & ’66. I’ve made 2 reunions (1985 & 2002) but missed the 50^th due to other travels, so I’m very pleased to have another chance to catch up with classmates. I do wonder how many are still around and able. Martha and a reunion committee put a lot of effort into locating people; it appears that about 35 will attend. A couple of options for lodging are available, and a nice schedule of activities. We’re asked to send a “selfie” and short bio to be combined in a reunion yearbook. It will be interesting to see the lives that classmates have lived. Marjorie will join me. She’s something of a reunion junkie: every 5 years since 1970 except 2020 (due to COVID) for her Portage WI high school; I attended and enjoyed their gatherings in 2000 & 2010.

            We kick off our weekend early with a “cocktail party” fundraiser at St. Pius X for orphanages in the Dominican Republic and other sites. Surprisingly, I still remember how to tie a tie. On the way over I learn the secret of Marjorie’s personality, as reported by fellow Virgo Malcolm Gladwell: “demanding, critical, and picky.” Forget I said that! The fundraiser is a nice affair: a program on the history and current programming of the orphanages, tasty food stations from various local restaurants, wine tasting.

            More than a week of summery 70s notwithstanding, Fall is moving along. We’ve enjoyed traveling around: most of a week in the Finger Lakes, other local scenic drives. Some frosty mornings. Halloween next week. Scariest of all, the election, rated a “toss-up,” in 10 days. Hopefully we can avoid political discussions during the reunion.

Fall in the Finger Lakes

 

Finger Lakes Redux

October 2024

 

            Another Fall outing to the Fingers Lakes wine country, retracing some of our travels in 2013. [An article in the Sunday Times-Union says travel is “anti-aging therapy.”] Joined this time by 2 favorite travel companions from our Wisconsin days, Kay & Diane, the latter now coming out from Santa Fe. They arrive just a day after I return from a golf outing in southern Utah. I’m loaded up with Wine Trail maps. We thought of getting an arrangement to be driven around, but those are quite expensive. So I will be the “designated driver.”

            We have a couple of days before the Finger Lakes excursion. I catch up with lawn mowing and work on the journal & photos from Utah. Marjorie & I enjoy what seems an especially comforting 8am Mass Sunday with Fr. Daniel & Deacon Marty. Later I take photos of a well-attended Blessing of Animals outside the Church. Marjorie takes Diane & Kay to the lovely Sand Lake Merchant shop where some of her creations are sold. Then to the Hagaman art show, where she sold 3 pieces and received a 3^rd-place ribbon. On Monday Diane & Kay get tours of Pruyn House, a historical/cultural site for which Marjorie is on the Board of Trustees, and Beverwyck, where we are on the waiting list to move to “senior housing.”

Golfing in Southern Utah

 

Still Crazy II

September-October 2024

 

In 2021 Jeff, apartment-mate & friend at UWisconsin grad school who married Marjorie’s sister (and led to my meeting Marjorie, but that’s a longer story), invited me to join a golfing group of alumni from his Racine WI high school. The group, which dubbed themselves “Still Crazy,” gathers periodically to play in various sites around the country. Pinehurst NC, something of a golfing mecca, was the choice for 2021. I had a wonderful time, sharing golf on special courses designed by the likes of Jack Nicklaus & Pete Dye with a very congenial group of guys. By way of thanks, I made a photo calendar from our Pinehurst adventures for organizer Bob; he tells me he still uses it with adjustments for the current year. I was set to join them again at some fabulous courses in southern Utah in 2022 but had to cancel when I contracted COVID. I planned to try again in 2023 when the group was scheduled in Georgia, but backed out from worries about how spinal stenosis issues in my back would handle concentrated golf over 3-4 days. Still Crazy e-mails rolled around again in Spring 2024, this time touting accommodations & golf in Southern California. After dithering for a while about my back, I decided to give it a shot, so to speak. Another fabulous job arranging the details: Bob Schroeder handles lodging and courses, Tim Paulson the money. As usual, Bob says, ”your Trip Charge covers everything once you land: car rental, everyone-under-one-roof accommodations, meals, munchies, medicinal liquids, green fees, event entry fees, a dozen golf balls, team hats, a variety of sure-to-be-treasured swag items... and four STILL CRAZY days of smiles, stories and sport.” I use my United Airline credit card miles for flights to & from LAX.

Everything looked great: beautiful lodging, interesting courses. Then . . . an email from Bob: “Shocking Developments” aka “Shit Happens.” About 3 weeks before the scheduled trip our lodgings are cancelled as part of a Chapter 11 Reorganization Bankruptcy! Does Bob give up? No, indeed! In only a few days he somehow manages to arrange another fabulous itinerary on the same dates for our consideration near St. George in southern Utah. This will make up for my missing Utah 2 years ago. Enough others in the group are “in” for the new arrangements. I cancel my original flights with a refund of the United miles to use for new flights to Utah. A choice of flying into St. George UT (30 minutes from lodging but 2 layovers on the way) or Las Vegas (2 hours away, but only 1 layover). I opt for fewer layovers. Coincidentally, a new COVID variant is spiking. I get a shot of an updated vaccine. Here’s hoping all’s well that ends well!

St. George was founded part of a “cotton mission” in 1861 under direction of a Latter Day Saint apostle, named after another LDS apostle. In the early 1950s, St. George was hit by fallout from above-ground nuclear testing NW of Las Vegas, with marked increases in cancer. Population 95,000, elevation about 3000’. It’s in part of the Mojave Desert; we can expect temps of 90-100. But hey, it’s dry heat, right? I remember the beauty of St. George and its surroundings from our trip thru Utah & Nevada in 1997. Bob sent a link to videos of the courses in this area. Fabulous scenery, courses winding thru red-rock canyons ready to capture wayward shots (I’ll pack lots of balls!). Golf Week Magazine has called the Red Rock Golf Trail here "The most exciting collection of spectacular golf courses anywhere on earth." Will my game be worthy?