A Slight Detour

 

 “Life is like a waterfall – always moving.” – Unknown

Today was the start of a week long (and much needed, frankly) vacation from work. We were actually supposed to be going on a cruise...I had called it my "comfort food cruise," because it was to all of my favorite places, including XCarat, but then our boss rescheduled our company offsite to this week...and then, after I cancelled the cruise, cancelled the off-site. Le sigh.

So, Corb and I decided to plan a road trip, instead. I think in some ways it's a dry run for the next stage of my life: when I've retired (at least full time) from the corporate world and we are hitting the road, traveling the country looking for lighting fixtures and chandeliers for Corb to restore. Lighting Queens, that's us.

Our goal this week: you're not going to believe this but, Missouri. Our goal is to ultimately visit Corb's cousin Shelly, but along the way, we plan to stop one night in Upstate New York, then go to Cleveland, then spend a few days in Missouri. That is the general goal, but we are not holding ourselves to any specific destination. 

The trip started with a bit of a hiccup. Last night, Corb's truck got a flat tire, which set us back a bit, in terms of packing. Fortunately, we were picking up a rental today, so we were all set to go by noon. Big gray highway, here we come!

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One thing that road travel gives you lots of time for: listening. Oh, no listening to Corb...my word, we have been together twenty years, we have had plenty of time for that. No, instead we listened to all of the music Taylor Swift dropped yesterday, followed by Beyonce's latest. My assessment: while I liked both, I liked Beyonce's just a bit better. It had more variety and was a bit psychedelic, which I enjoyed. After that, Corb cleansed his palette with a few his favorites and then I made the ridiculous ask of Verdi's Aidi.

"Why?" asked Corb.

"I have never been able to sit through a whole opera on a ride," I replied. "I want to see if I can do it."

As the miles started to add up, as we moved farther and farther from Eldredge, I tell it, it felt so good and so freeing to set aside my worries and concerns over work, and my worries and concerns over Chess, about the house, about my future. 

As I was listening to the Taylor Swift album, I thought about one of the criticisms  had heard about it, which involved the irony of calling it the Tortured Poets Department when she just hit a net worth of one billion a few weeks ago. I wrote down "We are all of us such emotional beings. Even in the midst of extreme highs, all we worry about and focus on are the lows, the petty, the what comes next when I am not at the top. Small things blown up to the size of mountains blocking out the brightness of the sun."

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We ate lunch at the Blue Ribbon Family restaurant in Schenectady. Delicious, and great desserts! I asked the waitress for malt vinegar for my fries, and she frowned and said they no longer carry it as too many customers complained about the smell.

Heathens.

Corb found this amusing, because he hates the smell, too. And then he paused and said, "Let's go to Niagra Falls, what do you think?"

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Five hours later, here we are. We found a cozy little hotel room at the Old Stone Inn and took some groovy photos of the falls.

Sometimes in life, it feels good to take a few detours.