Chautauqua then Ohio

We started the day in Utica with a tour of old downtown to get to the UU Church building on Higby street. The building is looking good (the trees have grown since I worked there) and the sign is freshly painted. Just as I was wondering if I was arriving at the right intersection on Genessee Street, there was one of the UU directional signs to show the way. I wish them well!

So we hit the Thruway, headed for Buffalo. It's is full of construction, needed and normal for the season, but a bit of a challenge, slipping along next to Jersey barriers here, waiting for lane drop merges there, bumping over scraped surface in one section, gliding on the finished product in another.

Beyond Buffalo, we were headed for Chautauqua, to visit with my friend and colleague Alson and see the magical summer community that is the Chautauqua Institute. We had a lovely lunch, then a lovely stroll through the village and the amazingly fancy historic hotel, along the lake, and back to the UU House. We sat on the terrace in back of the UU House until the Chautauqua Fellowship's Finance Committee started showing up for their meeting. They said we were welcome to stay, but the "meeting energy" was palpable even as the first two or three of them gathered, and none of us was wanting any of that just now. This summer fellowship does a really good job, introducing many Chautauquans to Unitarian Universalism with their open-air Sunday services at the Hall of Philosophy.

The Chautauqua Symphony was rehearsing for their evening concert of music by Russian composers. At the start of our stroll, we heard a movement of piano concerto. Then as we finished, some of a Rachmaninoff symphony. Such a rich cultural environment!

Then back into the car. It felt good to have stretched our legs a little. After a rather strange experience finding fuel in a little country town, we found ourselves on I-90 again, back in the festival of road improvement and heading for Cleveland. We stopped short of Cleveland in a Place of Motels. The Holiday Inn Express looked like the right choice, with a pool for release from all that sitting. We had a kind of down-home dinner at a local restaurant suggested by the desk clerk. The local white wine went well with a plate of ribs.

We're looking toward another Place of Motels on the other side of Chicago for our stop tomorrow.