Continental Travels

Rochester boasted the start of its Fast Ferry service to Toronto this summer but closed after only 3 months (why would Torontonians want to visit Rochester?). In the half-price last few weeks Leslie rode it to catch a professional men's tennis tournament in Toronto. This is a view she got of Toronto's needle from the ferry terminal there.

We both traveled so much this year that we had considerably less time for many of our other usual summer picnics/activities. We spent our anniversary weekend on Wolfe Island, in the Canadian Thousand Islands. You have to take a 20 minute ferry to get there from the US, and there is a free 10-minute ferry from there to Kingston, Ontario on the mainland. The ferry to Kingston is a daily commute for many students and workers. Apart from trips to Texas, Tennessee, Hawaii, Pittsburgh, and Virginia Beach described in other pictures, we were in Seattle with Rebecca, Chad and Riley for Thanksgiving and spent last Christmas in Park City, Utah with Wendy, Chris and Colter.

We both flew to San Antonio in July to attend the annual Poteet (Leslie's mother's) family Reunion. We also visited my Aunt Mildred and cousin Diane in Arlington. Leslie's folks drove us back to NY and visitied with us for several weeks. In August Leslie rode with her parents down to Tennessee for the annual Zimmerman Family Reunion. This is a photo of Uncle Charlie's barn in Belvidere. In the meantime I attended a week-long research conference in Pittsburgh, returned home, caught a Rhino's game that night and flew the next morning to Virginia Beach to visit my brother Brian and watched a Virginia Beach Mariner's game that night. Leslie and her folks then swung by a couple days later to drive us back home.

Exotic Travels

These are the Haleakala Craters on Maui, up at around 10,000 feet. The volcano mountain is only about 30 miles from the beaches at Hana. We did a sunrise bicycle trek/tour starting from this site and down the winding road to sealevel. In the early morning it was very cold and windy on top but warm and sunny at the bottom. The tour went very slowly -- I would have gone much faster, but it was incredibly scenic.

Still on Maui, I took this shot while sitting on the trunk of our rental convertible on our way to Hana. Ala 'Reservior Dogs' our astronaut friend Ed and now-wifey Christine are in the front vehicle leading the pack along what the locals claim is the most scenic road in the US. There are a couple noted surfing beaches that we stopped at along the way. That's Leslie with her University of Tennessee hat at the bottom (I tried to get her in the rear-view mirror as well), enjoying the drive.

We attended our friend Ed's wedding in Maui in May. This photo is the beach at Hana. Ed had a friend who was a park ranger for Hawaii and they took us here and to the Seven Sacred Pools where we learned of some native traditions and did some cliff diving down the chain of pools. During the week there we also did some snorkeling, attended a 'Lu'-au, enjoyed the beaches and the weather and hung out with several Looneys from Webster. The next week Walt continued on from Maui to Kyoto, Japan for the annual MRI research conference.

Walt was in Mexico City for a week in March and Kyoto, Japan for a week in May for research conferences. Kyoto is very clean, safe, and rainy. I visited several famous Zen gardens and centuries-old wooden architecture. A classic vision is a young lady professional in a business-type skirt and jacket slaloming a bicycle through crowds of people, in the rain while holding an umbrella in one hand and steeering with the other, and no one thinking this unusal. In Mexico City, we were warned not to venture from the hotel, trust cabbies, or eat any local food. I cheated. The local food was tasty and the nearby city zoo and park were nearly ideal for my daily jogs. I am in the photo with the conference attendee's at the Moon Pyramid at Teotihuacan -- I am that dot at the very top of the pyramid in the background.

Home Work

Walt continued the renovation of the inside of the house, with the focus this past winter/spring on the basement, converting this area under the dinner room into a viable wood workshop, complete with insulation, waterproofing and electrical outlets every 6 feet. He picked up a bandsaw and table saw to complete his toy portfolio. He hopes to complete the basement walls and floors and relocate the wood stove and chimney this winter/spring.

Our major house project for the year was getting the driveway paved. Although it ended up costing twice what we had anticipated, it seems to be a worthwhile investment. Last January was the snowiest January on record in Rochester with about 90 inches, however out by us it was closer to 140 inches. It did not snow Jan 1-3, but snowed every day after that. Our snowblower died in the first snowstorm, all the stores were sold out, and so we shoveled the rest of the year and the bumpy, grass-ridden old driveway did not help matters. The pavement should also be impervious to erosion from the annual spring rainstorms.

Deere were often seen in our back yard .. my dad scored us a good deal on a used John Deere tractor -- actually it is the little one to the back and left of the big one that belongs to our friend Ron. The pile of gravel was the original driveway. Leslie's dad worked the big Deere to distribute the pile around the backyard and I used much of it to backfill a breakwall I started along the lakefront. The steady light rains made Leslie's garden's tomato plants very productive, but the squash suffered. We have an ancient apple tree in the back that gave us our first bountiful Rome apple harvest. By his 4th round of apple crisp baking, Walt had figured out how to make it delicious.

Activities

We went on 2 rafting trips this summer. The first was at Letchworth Park on class 1-2 rapids with Walt's department, and the other was on the Salmon River near Watertown in the Adirondacks on class 2-3 rapids. This shot on the Salmon River I took from the back of our raft, with Terri, Jaimee, Leslie and Dave Fuller.

When the river was not inundating us with water on its own, the kiddies decided to take matters into their own hands to make up the loss. Note that this shot is from another raft and that we were just innocent passers-by.

This is what a class 3 rapid is supposed to look like. Throughout the year we attended many Rhinos soccer games, several youth games with Nick and Than, and an exhibition game of the US National Womens Soccer Team. It was a poor year for bass fishing in our backyard but they say that it was one of the best years for catching deepwater salmon.

Events

In August Walt got to play in the annual BigMan's charity golf tournament in honor of our late friend Tom Ferland. This is Walt's cousin Willie and cousin Bob pointing out to Leslie's dad Jim where the favorite out-of-bounds locations are on this particular course. Walt, his dad Norm and Bob played in a summer golf league in Webster and Walt played a few rounds at the Ontario Country Club with his dad, brother Norm and nephews and broke only 2 clubs while practicing in the backyard.

Of the noteworthy family events for the year, my mom's wedding to Mike Dewhirst in August would have to be tops. Leslie catered the event smashingly and cleverly scheduled in one of the rare sunny days of the year. During the ceremony I played my sax on a Spiro Gyra/church hymn combo. My Aunt Judy and Uncle Bob, and Uncle Roger and Aunt Diane came out for the event. Cousin/Pastor Willie presided.