Engels Invade ROC

Laura:
As summer wound to a close, my family came to visit me in Ra-cha-cha one more time before school started. With a pretty intense second year of medical looming on the horizon, it was really nice to spend some more quality with my family before things get crazy busy.

Of course we did all the "typical Rochester" activities:
1) Sightseeing at Rochester's Famous Bodies of Water:

Lake Ontario

High Falls

And then a Riverboat cruise along the Genesee River and Erie Canal - the ride was about an hour or so and actually picked us up right from the Staybridge Suites hotel where my family was staying (which is right on the river, really nice hotel!). There was a tour guide providing interesting stories about Rochester and fun historical facts all along the way. The weather was a little warm, but it was fun to see the city from the river and learn more about its history.

2) Breakfast at James Brown's Place (BEST EVER!!!)...you'll just have to come to Rochester and try it yourself. It's not worth trying to describe. I wouldn't do it justice. ;0)

3) Dinner at Dinosaur BBQ - one of two awesome BBQ restaurants in Rochester. The weather cooled off a bit by the time we got to dinner, and was just perfect for sitting out on the patio enjoying quality dinner time with the family.

4) Once again we attended a Rochester Red Wings baseball game. Mom almost got hi by a foul ball and there was an epicly long fireworks display synchronized to various Def Lepard songs at the end of the game. It just kept going!!! Here are some fun pics of us at the game and the crazy fireworks.

5) We also spent an afternoon wandering around looking at art and eating tasty treats at Park Ave Fest!!! Park Ave Fest is an annual festival that takes place on a street right by our house. Basically they shut down a huge stretch of the street and local art and food vendors set up tents to sell their wares. It's a great event for wandering, eating, and window shopping. While we were milling about the festival, we stopped at a stand where you could dye your own silk scarves. It was wicked cool. There is a tray filled with water and cellulose (makes the water thicker) to which you add colored dyes. The dyes have various chemical properties that allow them to not blend together and to float on top of the water (key part of the process).

So you add the colors...swirl them around a bit to make funky patterns...and then it's time for the magic! Watch this video.....

Play-by-play: The silk scarf is stretched out above the tray and then carefully lowered until it touches the dye. Then by magic osmosis/science/absorption, the dye is transferred to the silk scarf. Done and done! The vendor wadded my scarf up into a plastic bag for transport and when I got home all I had to do was hang it up to dry for ~1 week. That allows the colors to completely set. Pretty fancy, huh?! Here's the finished product ---->


That's about all I can remember doing....they did come here about 2 months ago. Sorry for the delay in reporting. Overall, everyone had a great time! Come to Rochester and you too will understand it's greatness. :0)

~THE LORAX~