Rochester, NY, Part 2

Run Time: 57:04.5 + 2-minute kick

On a blustery walk to dinner with my daughter, her husband, our granddaughter, and my wife, we passed a trail that led toward the river to the north of their house, and Kevin, my son-in-law, suggested that I could take that route on my run and get to Lake Ontario. My daughter challenged the assertion, but later I looked on the phone map and saw that it followed the river south and might be a good running route regardless.

This was my route for the final two runs of our visit to Rochester. Tracks suggested that it was primarily a bike trail, but I saw only hikers and dog walkers. It connected the lakefront district with Seneca Park and provided access to the river. On the west side of the river you could see a fancier trail, with a bridge that crossed a bend in the river.

The trail ran behind some houses in our daughter’s neighborhood, then along some larger properties with old houses that overlooked the river. It is quite possible, given the straight, raised pathway, that it was once a railroad line. Converted railroad lines make excellent running trails. It had rained a little that week, and there were some soft spots.

The first day I stayed on the main trail, which got a little ragged as I passed the north entrance to Seneca Park. The second day I took the route closer to the river bank, which took me into the Park and onto wider trails. There is a zoo in Seneca Park, which we visited with Sophie the day before we drove home to Michigan. It was pretty lame, as zoos go, but Sophie liked it.

The second day I saw a 3-point whitetail buck bounce across the trail on my way back to home base. There were deer all over in the neighborhoods, which all have wooded spaces into which wildlife could escape if needed. On Thursday, after a cool and breezy outdoor photo shoot, we dropped Kevin off at the airport – he was flying out west to hunt deer in Utah, where he had drawn a tag before the decision was made to move.

I could live in Rochester. The older houses are beautiful. The landscape is beautiful. The restaurants we visited were excellent. The beer store where I filled my new Co2 growler for the first time was more than adequate, even if I did make a poor choice of beers, and even if I forgot the Co2 canisters in Michigan. I cannot live in Rochester if I want to keep my current job, because it is not in my sales region, but I would love to be where I can walk or drive to see Sophie and Samantha whenever the inclination arises.

It is a 7+ hour drive from our house to theirs. We can also drive 11+ hours to visit our son Alex in NC. Both of those distances are shorter than the Portland to Salt Lake City drive we made a half-dozen times when we lived in Oregon and S, K, & S lived in Utah, so they are not unreasonable. Still, it would make me feel better to have the ducklings closer to the nest. Maybe this is okay, though. It will make the time we are together a little more special.

I appreciate that our kids have their own dreams, their own pursuits, and their own goals, and how much they diverge from ours. Barb and I even have a rich diversity of interests. I feel that we cover a lot of ground as a family, just as we are spread around the U.S. map – one in Oregon, two in Michigan, three in NY, and two in NC. We are divided not to conquer, but to scout and to learn the terrain, and to spread the gospel of free spirithood.