Culminating A Five Year Journey for Dr. Goble

This year’s US tour, which started in Cincinnati, continued on to Rochester, NY via Toronto. You might ask why we decided to go to Rochester, NY, of all places to visit. The big news and must-do event for us was the medical school graduation of our son, Dr. Goble.

Getting to Rochester

Mike does a great job of getting us around the US and the world on the best flights at the lowest costs. Since we were heading to Dublin and then from there to Johannesburg, South Africa, it was more economical to fly from Toronto than Rochester. Mike is loath to pay one-way rental car drop-off fees, which meant flying from Cincinnati to Toronto, driving to and from Rochester, NY, then returning to Toronto.

On the east coast, there are lots of toll roads, so we were concerned about not having an EZ Pass to not getting stung by upcharges on tolls from Dollar, the company we chose to rent from. This time, we decided to clarify the policy at Dollar before driving away with the car. They told us their fee would be a flat $10 plus actual toll charges for the entire rental, so off we went.

Interesting Notes About Global Entry

We knew that we would be going through a US border crossing in both directions, and we were curious to see if things had changed in light of recent events. Although we haven’t crossed the Canadian border for a long time, we knew it used to be easy because people used to go across to shop at lower prices, depending on which way the wind was blowing.

Because we go in and out of the US so frequently, we have Global Entry, which allows us to pretty much walk through immigration when we arrive at airports in the US. So we thought we would try to use our Global Entry cards at the land border instead of our passports. The cards were accepted, but the border agent said our cards weren’t activated for land crossings. Who knew they needed to be activated? It was probably some fine print on the paperwork that came with the card. Since we don’t carry paper with us, I was sure it was long gone. However, the border agent gave us the URL to activate the cards, which I took care of before we even reached Buffalo.

The Purpose of our Trip – Medical School Graduation

After five stressful years for our son and ourselves, it was time for graduation. There was no question we would attend such a momentous event, and it had been on our calendar for more than a year. In addition to our son’s preparation, which involved paperwork and picking up regalia, the robe and hat required for the ceremony, there was stuff for me to do. First, about two months before the event, we were sent detailed information about the day. The details said that the normal University of Rochester graduation was the same weekend. That meant the hotels and restaurants were going to get booked up well in advance, so I got to work.

Pre-graduation Prep

I got some restaurant recommendations from Mike’s cousin, who lives in Rochester. Then I had to figure out the numbers. Between our immediate family and the cousins, I figured I needed a reservation for nine people on Saturday, graduation night. I struck out at the first place I tried, but I was successful at the second restaurant. I also had to get a reservation for the immediate family on Friday night. Once that was decided, I extended an invitation to two of Mike’s cousins and their spouses since they mentioned they were interested in attending the graduation and the festivities.

We made hotel reservations with only a small glitch. Our other son wasn’t able to let us know about his exact plans until after I booked the hotel. Since the duration changed, the reservation had to be cancelled, and he and his girlfriend weren’t able to stay at the same hotel, but we got them a room nearby.

The Actual Graduation

After a lively and festive dinner on Friday night, we made it to the Eastman Theater Auditorium in plenty of time to get good seats for the ceremony. I was prepared with lots of tissue because I kept tearing up just thinking of “my son the doctor.” Anyway, there were about 100 Medical and Dental School graduates who filed into the hall accompanied by appropriately grand music. Unfortunately, our son didn’t tell us which side of the auditorium he was entering, so naturally, we were on the wrong side. We did see him enter anyway and take his seat up front.

You all know what happened next: the speeches began. I will say that they were all really good and entertaining, which made the time pass quickly. Finally, it was time for the long walk across the stage and of course we planned our cheering in advance. I only teared up a little bit when the time came but we did all cheer loudly. After everyone was done, the graduates and faculty filed out and we followed, to be met with a huge crush in the lobby. Then the requisite pictures to be followed by an informal lunch with our immediate family.

Dinner graduation night was very good, see the Food section below, and it gave us a great chance to catch up with Mike’s cousins. One of his cousins even brought along pictures from Mike’s visits to Canada when he was a child.

Prepping the House for Sale

Besides graduation, we needed to spend some time going over the sale of my son’s house. Well before match day in March, we all decided to sell the house he bought five years ago when he started in medical school. All in all, we think it was a good decision to purchase the house and our son will walk away with some profit, but managing such an old house and tenants has taken its toll on all of us. We also figured he would be much too busy in residency to have time to look after a house and he should spend the next three years renting. In addition, the profit from the house sale will help supplement the meager income residency provides.

I had already engaged with the same realtor we used to purchase the house. After talking on the phone, we were able to meetup in person at the house while we were there. We did a walk through and listed what needed to be done for sale. After that, we reviewed some of the estimates she had already gotten on the work we were interested in having done. The estimates were much higher than we wanted to spend to get the house ready to sell, so we reviewed everything. Luckily, we have been able to pare down the scope of work and we have found other more economical vendors for some of the work.

We are hoping to keep the presales costs down so our son walks away with as much money as possible. Because of the tenants, he can’t sell until August, which is disappointing because the market is hot right now. I tried to offer incentive to get the tenants to leave before the end of their lease but, so far I have failed.

Rochester Redbirds – Minor League Baseball Game

Our son had mentioned repeatedly he wanted to have some fun with us while we were visiting, so the first order of business in spring and summer is baseball. Attending a minor league game is often as much or more fun than a major league game. This was the second of the three ball games we were attending before leaving for Dublin. Our seats were along for first base line, down low, and the food was cheap. Naturally, we had a great time with easy in and out parking, too.

Lilac Festival

We had heard a lot about the Lilac Festival before we got to Rochester. We anticipated lots of art and food booths and stuff having to do with Lilacs. It turned out to be a lot more low key than expected. Unfortunately, the day we went only the food vendors were there, not the art vendors. We found out that the lilac part of the whole gig were the many lilac bushes were currently in bloom. It turns out that lilacs are quite popular in Rochester, too, because nearly every yard had at least one. But overall it was a long walk for not much reward.

Visiting the Finger Lakes

Another suggestion for our visit to Rochester was to see one of the Finger Lakes. The closest one to Rochester was Canandaigua Lake. We headed to The Lake House Hotel in the town of Canandaigua on the northern end of the lake. Besides the cold temperatures and the even colder wind, we visited a well-known hotel right on the lake. After walking around, we took sanctuary in a warm bar with a great view of the lake. Being early spring, it wasn’t time for lake sports, and it was freezing outside. Therefore, we just cruised the town and headed back to Rochester. Like many places on the East Coast, visiting a lake during the summer or fall would definitely be a pleasant experience.

Food in Rochester

During our short stay in Rochester we had two really nice dinners. The first one at Rare 3001 was good and super expensive. Our large celebratory dinner at Avvino was a little bit better and way more economical, go figure. The surprising thing was that Mike had to go to three different stores to find a decent selection of wines for our two dinners out. Grocery stores and Costco didn’t carry any wine. So he had to find a liquor store with something to choose from. Finally after much searching, wine was found and a bottle of bubbly was procured for our celebratory toast.

Besides our exceptional BBQ on the first night at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, the rest of the food in Rochester was just ordinary food. Special mention goes out to Wegmans, a wonderful grocery store I wish they had everywhere. We made two trips to Wegmans: first for us to see it and then to show it to our other son and his girlfriend.

What would you do if you were visiting Rochester NY?