May 6th –
May 12th 2013
Monday was our
last day at home, in Michigan. J.'s friend spent a night in the house
and were having relatively late breakfast. It was time to finish
packing and get ready for our last trip (for the moment). J. went out
and goofed off with her friend for most of the day. I took last trip
to our house and finished cleaning around (kind of strange). I felt
pretty sick. Finished packing, loading the car some and finally at
the end of the day just relaxing some.
Our alarm went off
before 5.00 am. Our aim was to leave around six o'clock. It was not
easy (especially for J.). I packed the rest of the car and we were
moving pretty good. We were going to move the car into the driveway
and the alarm went off, we had some issues and had to disconnect the
battery. Not the greatest start of the day. We left about 10 minutes
after six. About an hour of driving in Michigan, nothing special.
Cross to Canada, no lines and no waiting. Over three hours of driving
in Canada, really boring and without the end. Unfortunately. We just
drove, the road changed the name few times, few turns and we were
heading towards Buffalo, New York. More cars waiting at the border
crossing, it got hot (becoming a rule for our moving day). It was not
too long, maybe 10 minutes of waiting. Quick look on our passports
and we were back in the US. We got lost a bit but made it
successfully onto I-90 New York thruway. Toll road. Again, we did not
stop and wanted just be there and not to drive anymore. Over two and
half hours of driving on the interstate. Somewhat interesting
landscape, not for such a long time though. About 2.30 pm we were in
Syracuse. Shorter drive from freeway. It looked strange, I just could
not figure out how I am feeling about what I was seeing. Some empty
lots, abounded buildings, some nice houses, pretty nice parts of
downtown. Really strange mix. House and apartment. Pretty good. We
moved in, went to a grocery store and were done for a day. While
driving, the strange feeling about Syracuse stayed with us.
Wednesday. Our
first day in Syracuse, New York state. We already got some groceries
yesterday, so we took the morning easy. It was sunny and relatively
warm. J. had her physical at 1 o'clock. Until that we stayed at home
trying to sort and organize our stuff. Slowly but surely. I dropped
her off at the hospital (it is just a bit over a mile). It got cloudy
and rainy, when I picked her up it was raining. We went to couple
more grocery stores and were not super happy with the selection. It
was raining really heavy. Almost like a hell. The evening was quiet.
We watched some shows on internet.
- the view from the window in our apartment
- driving along the small lake and some sad site in the city
- city views from one of the parks within city limits
Thursday. J. had
her first work day (an orientation). I still felt sick, so I stayed
at home trying to finish making our “home”. I as well had to
start with my class. Easy day (except being sick). J. was done in the
early afternoon. I picked her up and we did not do much for the rest
of the day. She had some issues with the contract and the job, so she
was trying to get in touch with the agency and had some fun with
that. So far it is more less working out.
Friday. J. had
shorter day of an orientation, I dropped her off and tried to
continue sorting and getting settled. Going “so so” as I was
still feeling kind of sick. I as well had to start with my class. J.
walked home (a bit over a mile), it was probably one o'clock. A bit
later we drove into the town and went into the visitor's center.
There were some brochures and information (not much) and unfriendly
and unhelpful person. We drove a bit through the town and continue to
have that strange feeling from it. Syracuse is really strange. I call
it interestingly strange. J. found a word “griddy”. We as well
heard the word “desolate”. It is hard to say. Hopefully with the
time we will be able to understand it a bit more. It is definitely
very different from our past experiences. With the weather being
goofy, we drove home and quiet evening.
Saturday. Another
slow morning, the weather is changing a lot (quite often gray) and I
still do not feel well. There is a marketplace in the town and they
have Saturday's farmer's market. Less then two miles drive, very
busy, I guess we were lucky to park within two minutes really close
to the market. Several buildings and sheds next to railroad and
freeway. Actually really large place in many ways similar to
Detroit's Eastern Market. Walked around. Windy and cold. Really busy.
Onondaga Lake, that is smaller lake within city limits. From the
market we sort of drove around the lake, visited one park, again it
was interesting and strange. It got really cold and windy. There were
some nicer suburbs of Syracuse, a lot of empty land, still the town
looked so green (there is so many trees). And again many run down
houses and strange parts of the town. We continued driving through
the city and found few parks and one hill top one with really nice
views of the city. Surprising. We did some cooking and television
watching in the evening.
- houses and building in the city, just to illustrate how strange the city is
- pratts falls county park, really green and really pretty
The weather got
nicer for Sunday, so we were going to see couple parks near Syracuse.
Sleepy and empty town as we were leaving. Actually, for the most part
the city is not really busy. It was about twenty five minutes to
Pratt's Falls Park. (South East of Syracuse). The city was behind us
really soon and we were in really pretty farm land. It was hilly,
green and incredibly picturesque. We could not believe what we were
seeing. It was strange. Everything was green and blooming or getting
ready to bloom. Pretty. Pratt's Falls was a county park, plenty of
parking and almost no people (pretty cold morning). We took small
walk (less then 0.5 mile circle) to see the falls from the bottom. It
was pretty nice view, one would not expect it here. There were some
signs about different mills being on the site in the past. We
continued driving. In the village of Cazenovia we visited closed
Lorenzo historic site. It is still pretty surprising to compare city
of Syracuse and close surroundings. It is interestingly strange. It
was pretty pleasant drive. Another stop by Chittenango Falls. Bigger
falls, state park, smaller parking lot open, the site closed for the
season, picnic tables and several cars there. Nice overlook just
about fifty yards from the parking lot (and actually pretty large and
impressive falls), relatively short walk down to the bottom of the
falls. Kind of mild and tame beauty of the nature, it is not
impressive as many other sites we seen, but there is something nice
and pleasant about the landscape here. And actually the view from the
bottom was pretty great and impressive. More driving. We stopped by
the grocery store (again, we probably visited most of the grocery
stores around here). J. bought her bicycle (hopefully she will use
it). It got cloudy and rainy again. Home. End of our first week in
Syracuse, mixed feelings, but hopefully it will work out just fine
again.
- chittenango falls state park
