A few days ago I noticed Google added Rochester to Street Views. Surprisingly It’s one of the larger areas that they’ve covered and is very detailed. They even covered parts of Wayne county including my parents house.
While looking at the streets they covered around where I work I found this little gem (pictured below). Apparently their GPS is a little off sometimes.
Saturday I participated in my first Flickr meet up. It was a lot of fun. Myself and a group of 12 or so other photography hobbyists met up at Dinosaur BBQ in Downtown Rochester for a hearty lunch. Then we were off to explore the Abandoned Subway. If you don’t know anything about the subway I suggest checking out the RocWiki Page and reading up a bit. It’s actually quite interesting and may become a part of downtown Rochester again soon.
The slideshow below showcases all the photos the participants have shared. These are not only my photographs, they are the photographs taken by all participants of the event.
http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649
NOTE: If you cannot see the above slideshow please view the original post or view the slideshow directly.
I’m not up early often. Today I was, so after dropping Rachel off at the airport at 4:30am I decided to explore a nearby Fairport park to see if I could find a scenic spot to watch the sunrise.
I haven’t been able to figure out what the name of the park is, and it’s not really advertised as a park at all. There’s just a small stone parking lot and an old worn out sign that no longer has anything on it.
The scenery there is quite beautiful though, and it’s probably one of the best places to watch the sunrise in Fairport NY.
RIT has been doing what they call the Big Shot every year since 1987. They pick a point of interest and take a long exposure photograph using only flashlights and electronic flashes for illumination. This years Big Shot was located in Pittsford NY at Schoen Place to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal.
The Erie Canal was originally proposed in 1808…On July 4, 1817, Governor Dewitt Clinton broke ground for the construction of the canal…it was often sarcastically referred to as ‘Clinton’s Big Ditch’
Rachel and I heard about this a while ago and decided to go. It was fun. I was impressed to come home and see the photograph already online so for your viewing pleasure it is included below.
If you’re interested in seeing past Big Shots check them out here.
No matter what people tell you there is a lot to do in downtown Rochester. There are lots of museums, parks and weekend activities. Last Saturday Rachel actually had off so we went downtown on the bus and took our bikes along for the ride. The idea was to ride around and see some things we normally take for granted in Rochester. This was the first time with the bikes on the bus and every time we hit a bump I peaked my head up over the seat thinking I’d get to witness them shattering all over 490. Luckily they made it in one piece.
Our first stop was the Center at High falls where we got an awesome 10 minute taxi cab tour of the city including the now closed silver stadium! The Center also hosts a photography gallery on the 2nd floor which we took in and learned that Rochester’s main street completely flooded in 1865. From there we headed out across the footbridge to take in High Falls itself and then we were off for lunch.
While eating inside, the Hail started and WOW! I went outside to grab a few pictures and got nailed with one in the leg. It left a mark! Don’t worry, as always in Rochester Ny, If you don’t like the weather just wait 10 minutes, it’ll change. It did, but not much. We decided to play it safe and hop the next bus.
This trip was short, but not for lack of things to do. Next trip we’re heading to the Eastman House, Memorial Art Gallery, Susan B Anthony Park, among several others. We’ll also be making the trek up to the lake along the river if we have enough time. If not, we’ll catch it next time!
Utilizing the bus and our bikes to make these trips is very satisfying. I only wish they ran on Sundays too.
If you ever wondered what the Rochester Mounted Police are for, now we have our answer.
Glorified pooper scoopers.
The wind in Rochester was incredible today. I’m not sure how high it got up to but it knocked over some newspaper stands just as I left work and I was greeted with flying newspapers.
Thursday RohrBachs opened their new brewery downtown with a bang. They had a grand opening that included free beer and free food! The food was great and I will definitely be picking up some pierogies from The Pierogie Guy. The beer was, of course, excellent. One of my favorites is always the RohrBachs Scotch Ale which is what we had on tap at our wedding but they had many other excellent choices available such as Nate’s Pale Ale and their Vanilla Porter.
To christen the new downtown brewery Mayor Bob Duffy spoke at the event. It was surprising to see him there as there is trouble with passing the New York Budget this year because of all the scandal surrounding the governor. However; Duffy is taking the renovation of Rochester seriously and he took the reopening of a downtown Rohrbachs brewery personal. That he’s neighbors with the owner of Rohrbachs obviously has nothing to do with it.
Today we got what is probably our last snow accumulation of the year. We woke up to one of the prettiest snowy scenes from the entire season. About 4 inches of wet sticky snow came down overnight. I took an extra long walk to the bus just so I could enjoy the scenery and take a few pictures.
A short time ago I found a website that has lots of historical photos and postcards along with time-lines named Vintage Views of Rochester. Apparently I’m the last person in Rochester to find it, but i thought I’d share it anyway. The following is a postcard depicting the aqueduct (broad street) as well as the building I work in (the large brick building in the center of the postcard).
Randy Aldrich 