Rochester, NY - home of the world's friendliest cabbie

I spent 2 days in Rochester New York for a flow cytometry meeting. I really didn't get time to get out to see much of the area, but I did meet the world's friendliest cabbie. The first morning he took me from my hotel to University of Rochester, and when we arrived I tried to pay by credit card as I had no cash. He said he could not take credit cards, but "not to worry, you can call me to pick you up again later when you go back." He didn't charge me and trusted me to simply call him for a ride later after I found an ATM. He was an Indian man and had that delightful singsong Indian accent and very calm demeanor. I tried to call him back later that day, but got no answer. I lucked out that a van came by the University of Rochester with my hotel chain's logo on it as no other cab company in the city of Rochester would answer their phones either.

The next morning I called the cabbie from the previous morning and he showed up on time, and was extremely chatty. I think he was so happy to see that I was one of the honest ones (he told me that sometimes people don't call back so it seems he is this trusting on a regular basis), that he chatted my ear off the whole way to the campus. When he found out that I was from Seattle he insisted that he would like to stop at Starbucks to let me "try Starbucks in Rochester" since he had also discovered that I had not yet had breakfast or coffee that morning. So we stopped to pick up a coffee and a Top Pot Doughnut (I told him I also routinely go by the original top pot store in downtown Seattle on my way to work). He asked how the Starbucks coffee in Rochester compares to the Starbucks in Seattle and I told him it was just as good. He seemed very proud of this as if he were at least partially responsible for the characteristics which made Rochester a nice city. I have definitely never met such a nice cabbie in all of my travels.

Canada - Motorcycling the Canadian Rockies

top: Lake Maligne
2nd: the disappearing lake on the road to Lake Maligne
3rd: Lake Louise

What an amazing ride! This was my first motorcycle road trip, and I have to say that winding roads are growing on me. There was at least one hairpin corner that I was certain I was going to go down on when it suddenly turned to gravel halfway through due to a recent landslide, while I was still very much leaning into the turn (a motorcyclist's worst nightmare), but incredibly the bike pulled through it smoothly. whew...

The scenery was spectacular. Breathtaking.

Riding through the ice fields in the top of the Rockies I got VERY cold, just in time for us to meet up with an old friend from highschool who was on his own 34 day trip on a BMW touring bike with heated grips and plug-in thermal underwear. I so wanted to kick his ass ;)

The stay at Lake Louise was great and we were upgraded to a room on the gold floor simply because I was a member of the Fairmont hotel chain's President's Club (their points program) after having stayed there a few nights for a scientific conference. We had a private concierge on that floor as well as an honor bar and canapes served in the private lounge for our floor. I took a little hike/jog around to the end of Lake Louise in the morning and befriended a marmot along the way.

I saw 5 black bears along our route (1 was a tiny cub standing on the side or the road on his hind legs munching something he was holding in his hands/front paws, 2 looked to be yearlings, and 2 were much larger). We also enjoyed getting to see a baby big horn sheep with its family (including his angry father who very much disliked the asian tourist woman who wanted to have her toddler's picture taken with the baby sheep...she nearly had his head and horns up her behind as she ran from him holding her baby in the air...duh).

At Jasper we took the boat trip out toward the end of Lake Maligne (the top picture with me in it). What an amazing place. The water was completely milky turquoise due to the glacial rock flour (rock ground to powder by the glacier then deposited in the lakes and rivers) lending a very surreal quality to the scenery. The canadian rockies look absolutely photoshopped when you see the lakes and rivers and lush green patches mixed in with blue-white glaciers and stark rocky peaks. I dream of going back to hike trails and see more of that scenery.