When my friend Heather asked me to be her son's godmother, I was so honored and thrilled. But in the back of my mind I also knew that would mean I'd have an excuse (the best possible excuse!) to get out of town for a day or so. When I got the date in January and confirmation it would be in her adopted hometown of Binghamton, it actually made for a nice post-Christmas rebound because I had something new to look forward to during the January doldrums. I could actually leave Western New York for the first time in ages--10 months, in fact, unless you count the day trip to Watkins Glen in July, which got us to the outer reaches of the Finger Lakes region. But I'd even get to stay overnight on this one, since a three-hour drive on a Sunday morning followed by a three-hour drive home sounded like a bit much for one day. As thrilled as I already was to be a godmother, the idea of a 36-hour escape from my pandemic radius sounded pretty amazing, too.
When you really start thinking about our extreme lack of significant activity over a 10-month period, it's pretty sad. But on the bright side, it made a trip like this sound as exciting as a legit vacation would sound during normal times. Of course, leading up to it, I was a bit anxious. Not in a bad way, but in a "will this actually happen with all the different things that could go wrong" way. I mean, the Christmas COVID scare was enough by itself. But then I started having daily Facebook memories pop up around the New Year recalling every illness under the sun that befell me or the kids during that post-holiday week. I was still paranoid about COVID. I was oddly nervous at the thought of being away from my house and my kids, which have been nearly constant presences in my life for the last 10 months. The idea of getting away from it all sounded great, but it also sounded almost impossible--or at least like something that could be easily ruined. It was this amazing thing I was going to be able to be a part of, and I was so worried about the sadness I'd feel if something spoiled it.
My plan was to get a rapid COVID test that week to 100% make sure that nothing cropped up in the last few days of our 10-14 day window after Jacob's isolation ended. I figured that given the timing of our two negative tests, all should be well, but when you're dealing with an extra special tiny baby, you want to be sure. But then I panicked about the accuracy of the rapid tests--in either direction. It's one thing to get a false negative, but I also worried about a false positive that might prevent me from going. I should have scheduled a regular test earlier in the week, but I got all mentally paralyzed, especially when I had an oddly sniffly day early in the week. Thankfully I think it was just allergies, but I was fortunate to find a free county rapid testing site later in the week. It came back negative and that seemed to throw the door wide open to make sure my plans would stick. Of course, then I worried someone would come down with a random stomach bug or something in the 36 hours that followed, but fortunately, between Carter being remote until Friday and Jacob wearing a mask, the annual onslaught of early year sickness held off. So Saturday morning, I was off!
My plan was to make a full two-day event of it. God knows this shouty mama needed the break, and it made sense to make the most of the time away. I took 390 south past Geneseo and headed toward Corning. Museum of Glass, here I come! I don't mind that route because part of it (down to Geneseo) is pretty routine, and the rest has enough scenery to keep me occupied. An hour in, I noticed the coolest thing. A couple of the hills seemed to have patches of frosted over trees--almost like the top of the hill got a heavy frost or some snow, and it stayed cold enough just there to maintain it. None of the other hills on the entire route were like that, and while it was nearly impossible to get a decent picture while driving safely, I tried.
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| If you click on the photo to zoom in, you can see the top of that hill is full of white-coated trees. It looked even cooler in person. |
It was actually vaguely sunny for the first time in weeks, which made for a really nice drive. I got there around 12:30. I made the last-minute decision to run through a drive-thru just before arriving at the museum and eat my sandwich in the car. I figured it was probably safer and cheaper than the alternative of eating in the museum cafe. I should also mention that another complicating factor of this trip is that the Bills were playing a playoff game at 1pm. As much as I wanted to watch, my hope was that getting a day on my own out of town was a rarer feat than a playoff game (despite the Bills' very questionable record in that area for the past 20+ years), so I decided I'd just follow it on my phone as I walked the museum. Had I been smart I probably would have left bright and early so I could get in my full museum time and still catch the end of the game in a local restaurant, but sleep and less crazed packing won out. After all, I didn't want to jinx things by packing too early, so I only had a day or so following my test when I felt comfortable enough to do it.
Upon arrival at the museum, I was greeted by Pierre the Penguin, who's been their adorable glass mascot since the pandemic shut down the museum in the spring. He was all over their social media "wandering" around the museum. Unfortunately he's in a glass case and they covered so much of him with his winter attire, but it was fun to see something that brought me a few smiles during the hardest part of this pandemic.
I tried to be a good citizen by following their one-way directions through the museum, which meant starting in my favorite wing with the modern art. This was a giant hanging piece, but I loved the up-close detail of the mosaics.
I remembered seeing pieces like this last time I visited, where they were made up of thin threads of glass. This piece was about a foot tall and I loved the colors, but wanted to share this detail of the threads.
This case cracked me up. The piece on the left was called "Hugged to Death", as evidenced by the x's on the little guy's eyes! The piece on the right is a Chihuly. He did a whole series of cylinders, and this is one.
Nothing like a lamp made out of glass sausages.
This was probably one of my favorite pieces--not for how it looked, but for the process. It was composed of many layers of glass that had tiny vintage magazine images affixed to them. It made for this amazing 3-D robot with people climbing, and marine life, and tons of other stuff happening all over.
Here's a tiny close-up of one section.
It was a pretty incredible piece with all the detail and how the artist could visualize how the layers would work together. I also found myself oddly fond of this mirror.
Eventually I made my way through the many rooms in the modern wing and headed toward the older stuff. This beauty was just outside the entrance to that wing. The main Chihuly is in the front lobby, but this one is also quite a sight.
This piece is thousands of years old, but look at that gorgeous iridescent sheen!
I have so many pictures I'm not sharing of tons of different types of glass from all different eras. It's amazing to see the evolution from the earliest glassmaking to more refined versions. It boggles my mind how the earliest civilizations figured out how to do it! There were endless displays of everything you could imagine, from early glass bottles to molded glass dishes, 18th century art glass to amazing paperweights. Check out this display of snuff bottles:
There were some pieces from Tiffany, including this stunning column.
I happened to finish this section just in time for a glassblowing show. I followed the Bills game and the glassblowing equally as I sat. The final piece they made can be seen on the end of that stick. They promptly put the still-hot piece into cold water so it broke instantly. They'll recycle the pieces and use them another day. I guess with the pandemic they're not giving away the pieces they make right now, so most just end up getting recycled. The cold water shatters them instantly into tiny pieces, almost like ice.
After the show, I had one more wing to visit, another modern wing. For some reason I just love this bowl.
Here's another set of Chihuly cylinders. They are based on Native American imagery, namely woven blankets. It's not my favorite type of his work, but when you think about how those designs are embedded in the glass, they're pretty impressive.
I like this "melting" piece...simple as it is...
There are so many others I could have shared but I will spare you! After that, I just had the store to go. Outside the store was this tree. They always have another one around the holidays full of different colors that apparently had already been taken down, but this one was still up.
I also enjoyed this little snowman family!
All I had left was the store and the Chihuly in the lobby. Well, when I entered the store, the Bills were up 24-10 early in the 4th quarter. When I checked my phone about 20 minutes later, they were only up 27-24 and I was panicking internally! I felt indecisive about my shopping (there were so many great sales!) but I could not focus at all once the game was in question! I headed up to the lobby and found a seat in front of the Chihuly where I could focus on the game updates...and of course there was a hugely disputed play that took forever to review. I probably sat there for a solid 20 minutes or more, quietly freaking out about the game! At least I had a good view!
The Bills game was CRAZY in the final minute, with a blown call and a last second attempt to win the game by the Colts. It was very stressful, especially since Buffalo seems to specialize in last second, heartbreaking playoff defeats. But, thankfully, they pulled it out! It took me a second to compose myself enough to resume my shopping, but it still took about 15 minutes for my legs to stop shaking! I ended up buying a couple super cheap Pyrex pieces for my kitchen, and then bought one thing that will definitely be a gift, one thing I might keep, and another thing that's already on my dining room table. They had so many pretty bowls and platters for $3-4 and I couldn't pass them up! I also got a rather large marble (1.5") called a Glitterbomb that's all shiny and colorful that now lives in the shadow box above where I sit for work. Satisfied and relieved, I headed out into the early evening.
I definitely think I got my money's worth...a solid four hours of glass gazing! I swear, aside from the Bills game, my blood pressure was probably down a few notches while I was there. It was so relaxing and so pretty, and basically a giant feast for the eyes after months of not much more than the inside of my house. At least in the summer and fall we had outside beauty, but with not much snow and very little adventuring in recent months, I think I was overdue for something outside the norm!
Since this post is long enough right now, I will save the second part of my trip for another post! Stay tuned!
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