Our Time in Rochester

These past two weeks Stephen and I have been living in Rochester, NY. Even though he has some long day, we still spent a good bit of time together in the evenings.

Rochester is a big city, but it is surrounded by tons of parks, rivers, pastures, farms, woods, etc. We really didn't do too much in the city. Parts of it were kind of scary looking. The big thing in Rochester is the Museum of Play. It is a giant children's museum and since we are currently childless, it really wasn't relevant to us. What we did do was explore a lot outside of the downtown area. Here are just a couple of the highlights. Sorry it is so long!

1. We touched lake Ontario!

Our first Monday in town we walked around one of the parks and then drove out to Lake Ontario. It was huge and it looked more like an ocean than a lake. Even though it was freezing, we both stuck our fingers in just to say we touched Lake Ontario.

2. We tried some local cuisine!

Since the kitchen had absolutely nothing to cook with, our dinners consisted of either frozen healthy choice meals, sandwiches, cereal, ready to serve frozen lasagnas, or eating out. We ate at a Vietnamese restaurant first. They are all over the place. I didn't care for it much but Stephen loved their Pho soup. We also tried a little local place that was #1 on trip adviser. It was called Open Face. It is a sandwich shop that makes these ridiculously elaborate sandwiches. They serve them opened and pour the soup of the day on them like a gravy. They don't have any Mexican restaurants here. The only thing they have is Chipotle which is kind of similar to a Moe's, only way better. It was very delicious. My favorite place we ate was the Cheesecake factory. Wow. For desert Stephen got a chocolate Godiva cheesecake and I got a cheesecake that had layers of red velvet cake in it and white chocolate shavings in the icing. Best dessert I have ever had, hands down. I try not to think about the fact that it was 1200 calories. Oh but it was delightful.

This is from Open Face:

3. We played Frisbee at the University of Rochester : )

Oh the good old days of undergrad. We walked all around the college campus and even ate lunch at their cafeteria. The campus was built in the 1920's and it was so gorgeous. It was one of the prettiest campuses I have seen. The best part was when we saw a strange looking boy run very quickly by us with a broom between his legs. ??? We figured it must be some fraternity thing. Then we figured it out when we stumbled onto a Quidditch match. Yes, the fictional game from Harry Potter. University of Rochester was playing against Rochester Institute of Technology. Lots of people were on the field running around with broomsticks. If you would like a visual of how muggles play quidditch, check out this YouTube video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UfPij5ABdo

4. We ran!

I have never really enjoyed running, until now. It is so much different when you are running next to beautiful lakes and rivers, over old bridges, with gorgeous yellow and red leaves all around, and the love of your life next to you. It was probably my favorite part. Several times Stephen and I found some beautiful parks with tons of trails to run through. You just wouldn't believe how much of the city is covered in parks, and the trees here are amazing. One time we ended up running over an hour, probably for about six miles. It is just so much easier to run with someone you love and in such a beautiful setting. Although I will say, I did run some by myself while Stephen worked ( I miss Tae Bo). One time, this older man that I passed on the sidewalk yelled "Keep going! You are almost there! Great job!" When I looked up at him he was smiling and pumping his fist in the air. It was very sincere and encouraging. It kind of made my day: )

5. We had dinner with one of the residents!

One of the third year residents, Chris invited us over for dinner. We went to his home and ate with him, his wife, and their four children. They were so nice. They moved to Rochester for his residency all the way from California. They talked a lot with us about life in NY, adjusting to a new place, raising a family here, finances in residency, family life, enduring the long hours, the interview process, and anything else we had questions about. It was so helpful to get that information from someone going through it. It was so generous of them to have us over and to be so open and helpful. His wife even gave me her email in case I thought of any questions later on. How sweet! At the end of the night they showed us all the tricks their dog can do. It made me miss my Bella and my Marky-boo.


Well I guess that is it for now. I wish we had taken more pictures of the trees and the parks, but it is hard to carry a camera when you run. I am headed back to Chuck Town in the morning. I am going to miss Stephen so much! This will be the longest we have been apart since we were married. We decided tonight that we are going to have to figure out this skype thing : ) Also, Stephen has agreed to do a "guest post" soon to talk about his experience on the rotation, so be on the look out!