Friday, August 19, 2005

Summer Gotaway

I t wasn't exactly the two-day leave I'd hoped for just before the first hard kick of fall semester activity; I was counting on a couple of nights in NYC, Lake Placid or possibly Vermont, but (my) poor planning left D. and me with tame options by comparison, and so a late-summer mini-vacation (while Ph.'s away with friends for four days at the New Jersey shore) dwindled into an over and back day-trip to Rochester.  Yeah, Rochester...my summer vacation dream.  Although, as things turned out, it wasn't such a bad turn of events after all, especially when you consider that we followed up on the recommendation of the cab driver who, back in March, shuttled me from Rochester to Syracuse when my flight home from San Francisco was so long delayed in Chicago.  On a scrap of paper he scrawled the name and address of an Ethiopian Restaurant in Rochester: Abyssinia, 80 University Ave.  That's where we stopped for lunch today. Doro W'et on fresh injera (bread).

We had other business in Rochester.  D. was scouting out the Rochester Museum and Science Center as a prospective field trip site for her students.  The museum and science center, as you might expect, is one part science-themed romper room (live on screen weather reporting...I sucked at that...filled up the whole TV screen: "Tomorrow, we'll see a high of...damn, sorry, I'm in the way...just trust me."  Graceful as always.) and part curatorial archive.  Want quiet?  Head to the third floor stuff on Rochester histozzz.  Sizing up the whole place, I'd say the first exhibit, Turbulent Landscapes, had some of the best stuff:  demos of sand storms and plate tectonics in action.  Still, no question a full-on Ethiopian meal was the highlight of the day.  First injera I've had in more than a year; there aren't any Ethiopian restaurants in Syracuse (will somebody please do something about that?). I even walked out the door with an order of injera para llevar--nine pieces for about six bucks.  For the terrific quality of service, great food (order light bc the portions!) and fresh injera, it was well worth the trip, a trip I think I can justify making again if only for Abyssinia.

Posted by dmueller at August 19, 2005 11:00 PM to Gobstuff