eHow Dolly Tour - New York Leg

Dolly's EXCELLENT Day in Rochester!

2009-12-01T19:37:00.000-08:00

Wow! What a whirlwind day for Dolly! It started off at 6:30 am when I came downstairs, only to find Dolly in her borrowed sweater (complements of a Teddy Bear who didn't want her to get cold) and looking longingly out the window. IT SNOWED overnight! There was a scant inch on the ground and she could barely contain herself. It was still dark out though, so I made her wait until is was light.

As soon as it got light outside, Dolly ran out for some fun in the snow. She built a snowman and named him Crabby (since he has Crabapple eyes and mouth).

Then she took a few turns sledding down suicide hill (the landscaping berm in our backyard) on a Frisbee, which made a terrific sled. WOO-HOO! She screamed in delight.

It's a good thing she got her snow fun in early, because it was gone by 10:00 am.

SHOPPING FOR OLD STUFF

After breakfast, we started off our tour of Rochester by visiting my favorite antique store, the Ontario Antiques Mall. 1,000 Dealers and tons of fun stuff. The first thing Dolly found was an antique rocking horse. She jumped in and played for a minute. Just long enough for me to get a good picture of her.

We wandered down the rows and rows of pottery, silver and jewels. She decided that she liked this case full of BLING the best. Watch out Pam...she's got expensive tastes!

At one point we went into a dealer's cubby only to find some lovely Victorian Dolls. Dolly thought they were beautiful in their silks and finery. She tried to strike up a conversation, but the doll was a bit snooty and wouldn't answer her.

Humph! We said goodbye to the antiques store and headed up to Rochester.

ON TO ROCHESTER, NEW YORK.

Where to go in Rochester. There are so many great sights to see. Since the day is a bit chilly, we decided to do some indoor sight-seeing. We started out at the George Eastman House. It is the jewel among many Victorian mansions that line East Avenue in Rochester. The home of George Eastman...founder of Eastman Kodak. The home is now a museum AND an archive. It houses movies, film and photographs from all over the world, from the beginning of photo imaging in the 1800's to the present. The movie industry relies on the archive for storage (in it's climate controlled environment), restoration and research.

One of the first things we looked at was their gallery of the history of film. There were all kinds of cool cameras.

Dolly's favorite were the spy camers, including this hidden camera in the handle of a cane. Cool!

They were having their annual Gingerbread House Gala. Dozens of gorgeous and fanciful gingerbread houses displayed all thoughout the house. They are built by amatures, Boy and Girl Scout Troups as well as professional bakers. They are auctioned off after being displayed for two weeks. We were lucky enough to be there for the first day of the Gala. I got some great shots of Dolly and the gingerbread houses.

We had lunch in the cafe and wandered through the mansion, marveling at it's beauty. I've never been there at Christmas. They have it decorated to the hilt with swags of pine, lights and Christmas trees. It was so pretty.

That's Dolly at the top of the grand staircase. She looks so small up there.

From the George Eastman House, we went on to my favorite place in all of Rochester...the Eastman School of Music. Founded by George Eastman in the 1920's to become an institution of excellence in music education and a gift to the community. Almost any day of the week...day and night, you can attend a concert here. MOST of them are FREE! Everything from a student or faculty recital, to full symphonies and opera. The Broadway shows they do here in the Fall have a top ticket price of $20! Eastman is reknowned worldwide as one of the finest music schools in the world. My husband and I often attend the Jazz concerts. They often host world class performers, like Renee Fleming (opera), James Taylor, and more.

We were there at the wrong time today, so their weren't any concerts to attend, but we came prepared anyway. Dolly wanted to dress up in the pretty dress I made her, and put her bling on, like an actress at the Oscars. She looked lovely in her finery.

We got some great shots of her inside the Eastman Theater...the schools main stage and a few other favorite spots.

Dolly was WOWed by the 30 FOOT chandelier. Talk about BLING...over 50,000 crystals on that thing.

And the cute little washtub chandeliers...YES, I said WASHTUBS! When the theater was built, the lights that had been ordered from Italy, didn't come on time for opening night. George Eastman instructed the workers to make lights out of two washtubs that were laying around. They were clipped along the top edge and bent to look like the petals of a flower...gilded, and hung up. They remain there today. Don't know what happened to the ones that were supposed to go there.

Dolly's FAVORITE thing at the theater, was the water fountain spouts. They are gilded sea serpents.

Our last stop on our Rochester tour was the High Falls gorge. The Gennesee river flows right through the center of Rochester and makes a spectacular 60 drop at High Falls. It's not Niagara, but it's still very impressive.

Well, that wraps up our exciting day in Rochester. Dolly will is packing and getting ready to travel tomorrow. I will be shipping her off to Tara in Pennsylvania for a taste of college life. To continue reading about and following Dolly's adventures on her grand tour of the United States, go to eHow Dolly's Grand Adventure

Thank you Pam for sharing Dolly with us. I had such a wonderful time with her.

Dolly Gets Thanksgiving Dinner...at Last!

2009-11-29T16:57:00.000-08:00

We made a special Thanksgiving dinner in honor of Dolly being here, and since she spent Thanksgiving day dancing the disco at the Rochester postal sorting facility, she missed having turkey. Bryan made an awesome Hickory smoked turkey on the grill and Bourbon Gravy. I made my fresh cranberry sauce, sausage stuffing and other fixin's. We even ate by candlelight. Nothing is too good for our guest.

You have to really watch out for her though. She grabbed a bottle off of the table, thinking it was her favorite wine...Fat Bastard. Boy was she surprised when she swigged a mouthful of Baslamic Vinegar...UGH! I reminded her that desperation never brings happiness, and she happily gave up the bottle.

After dinner, she decided to help Bryan untangle the Christmas lights. I think it was a bigger job than she anticipated.

She's taking a nap now after a busy day and a lovely dinner.

Dolly Has Arrived!

2009-11-28T14:02:00.000-08:00

Hooray! Dolly has arrived. She was lovingly delivered to our door by our wonderful postlady. I immediately released her from her Priority Mail confinement. Happily, she seemed in good spirits. Maybe because she got to dance the Disco at the sorting facility.

She was showing off her lovely Maine postcard, which Shirley gave to her. Shirley, Dolly sends her love and says that she will remember everything you taught her about poker, when she gets to Las Vegas.

Bryan came home shortly after Dolly arrived. He got busy making some venison jerky from an eHow recipe that I found for him. She was very interested and insisted on helping him.

I've got some fun plans for tomorrow, if the weather cooperates, and if I can get ahold of Cybil. I want to show Dolly around Western New York. Hmmm...what should we do, visit Rochester? Go to an antique store? Or, Niagara Falls? Stay tuned to see where Dolly visits tomorrow.

NEWSFLASH! Dolly Spotted Cutting a Rug

2009-11-26T07:54:00.000-08:00

OMG! Here I am feeling sorry for Dolly. The sly little girl is whooping it up with postal workers at the USPS sorting facility. Who knew they had a disco in there!

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Thanks to Chriss J for bringing me this important news flash.

Dolly Missing Thanksgiving

2009-11-25T18:08:00.000-08:00

Poor Dolly! She made it all the way to Rochester, but got stuck at the USPS sorting facility downtown. I think the holiday shipping season is slowing everything down. Poor Dolly will be spending Thanksgiving in a box downtown. I'm sure she will arrive on Friday. I'm just sad that she didn't make it for Thanksgiving.

I promise I'll make it up to her. We are spending Thanksgiving with the In-laws, but I'm cooking my own dinner on Friday. I will set an extra place for her. I am confident she will make it for dinner then. She will be in time then to meet my son too. He has to leave early on Saturday morning. He's reporting for duty at his base at Ft. Bliss in Texas.

Hang in there Dolly. You'll be here soon!

Waiting for Dolly

2009-11-23T07:14:00.000-08:00

I can't wait!

Dolly has been with my good friend Shirley in Maine for the past week. Lucky dog! She got to be the first host on eHow Dolly's grand tour of the US. From Shirley's reports, Dolly had a wonderful time. She got a personal massage from Shirley, played poker and visited Paul Bunyan. That will be a hard act to follow.

I'm madly making lists of places I want Dolly to see, here in western New York. So many places, so little time. Just a few of the things on my list are...

Taking Dolly to see the Nutcracker in Rochester (my neighbor's daughter will be one of the dancers for the performance)RPO Nutcracker
Visiting the Strong National Museum of Play...maybe she will see some friends there. Strong National Museum of Play
Niagara Falls. How can Dolly visit western New York without seeing Niagara Falls?

My boys want to teach her to play Rock Band, and I'm hoping the In-laws don't mind an extra guest for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.

Hurry Dolly, I can't wait to see you!

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