We maximized our three-day weekend with some fun stuff in town as well as some traveling, plus some unexpected weirdness, the kind that makes life interesting.
We relaxed on Saturday before preparing for the gala that night; at around 5:30, I realized that though I had a tuxedo, I didn’t own tuxedo shoes or a vest and bowtie. Glad to know Men’s Wearhouse has late hours on Saturdays. We walked down East Ave. to the ball – by the looks of the valet parking, we were some of the few who did – and headed in among the well-dressed, the well-heeled, and the just plain rich old people. I knew a total of four people there, three of them security guards, so we spent out time keeping to ourselves, sampling the amazing array of food, drink, and dessert available. 
We enjoyed the live auction – lots of nice photos of and by famous people – and danced in the Conservatory before watching some great fireworks on the lawn. We stopped into the photobooth for some souvenirs of the evening, as well.
We changed out of our duds and settled down to watch “Saturday Night Live,” but the night was far from over. It started with the sound of someone trying to open our front door; turns out it was an incapacitatedly drunk kid who either thought ours was his house, or just got this far and couldn’t go any further, I didn’t really want to confront him, and he wasn’t trying to break in, so we continuing watching tv, hoping he’d go away. It was the strangest thing – he wasn’t doing anything, but he wasn’t going anywhere, either. Every once in awhile we’d hear him try the door again. I went out the back door and drove the car out by him; he looked like he could barely stand. We kept thinking he’d just leave, but he never did. At around 2:30, I finally decided to call 311. We didn’t want him to get into trouble, but we also wanted to get some sleep. Of course, 311 doesn’t work on a digital phone, so I had to look up some other number, and when I dialed it, the operator answered, “311, may I help you?” Funny. Ten minutes later, an officer came by and tried talking to the kid; he could barely get him to remember where he lived. He finally coaxed him into the cruiser to give him a ride home, and we finally got to sleep. No idea why he chose our house, and even less of an idea what he did out there for two hours.
On Sunday morning, we headed out towards Corning for the first stop on our Finger Lakes tour. Having visited the Jello Gallery last month, I was expecting something only a little more substantial for the Glass Museum in Corning. Little did I know it would be one of the most fascinating, well-designed, and architecturally interesting museums I’ve ever been to. We spent the whole afternoon looking at glass through history, learning about recent developments in lens technology and fiber-optics, and watching a master gaffer blow and shape a pitcher before our eyes (before breaking it to reuse the glass the next time around). After lunch at the pizza place recommended by my classmate, a Corning native, we headed along some small back roads toward Ithaca, our destination for the evening. The fall colors were on display, but the weather wasn’t too great, with a constant drizzle and lots of fog.
I was excited to visit Ithaca, and it didn’t disappoint: beautifully situated, with a great downtown and pedestrian mall, and surrounded by steep hills. We toured the Cornell and Ithaca campuses (both big and hilly) in the rain, and enjoyed the impressive gorges.
We had a lot of choices in the restaurant-filled town, and we chose Just a Taste – tapas and argon-preserved half-open bottles of wine, mmm. Afterward, we watched the Yankees-Angels game at a bar, and headed back to the bed and breakfast to gt our rest.
Monday morning, we headed out through the countryside to Cooperstown, for my first trip to the Baseball Hall of Fame. We drove down the main street, lined with baseball-themed shops and restaurants, and managed to find a spot right in front of the museum. We had the whole afternoon to spend looking around, and we both enjoyed it thoroughly. They had just finished a major renovation, but since I had nothing to compare it to, I couldn’t really appreciate the changes, though overall, the complex was very impressive. The displays were great, and I enjoyed seeing the one-of-a-kind items as well as the complete run of World Series programs.
There was way too much to take in during one afternoon, but it was a great first trip. I’d love to poke around the library and check out their film and video archives – 16mm films of every World Series going way back.
It took me a second to realize the significance of Columbus Day weekend; it was a year ago this weekend that I ran the marathon in Chicago. And with what little running I’ve done since then, it certainly feels like a year. Congratulations to Tim and Mari on their first anniversary, and also to Jay for completing the marathon 2005.
