Well it has been a whirlwind few days in Upstate NY! I did indeed fly into Newark on Saturday and then right on up to Rochester, NY. For those of you who don’t know, Keith and I spent just over two years in Rochester from 2010-2012. We visited in 2016 but have not been back since. When I originally planned this trip I had no intention of going up to Rochester again but I am so glad I added on the flight north. I had all these ideas about going to the favourite places we had together so I could put ghosts of our past to rest. However, in the end, there was only one place I needed to go and that was Lollypop Farm.

Lollypop was one of the places we returned to again and again when we lived in Pittsford. It had a lovely little walk round the farm animals as well as the adoption centre. If we’d stayed long term in Pittsford I’m sure we’d have adopted a wee friend, or two!

What we did do when we left, was to purchase a charity brick at Lollypop. We found it on our visit in 2016 and it was important to me to go back to Lollypop and find it again. I’ll admit I cried for about 20 minutes for the loss of my marriage. I thought I’d done with my tears but no – there were plenty more to come on Sunday.

The ret of my time was spent with wonderful, wonderful friends. The last time I saw Nicole was 2016, and the last time I saw her husband Bobby was 2012! They now have three beautiful (but boisterous) boys! I had the most amazing time being part of the family, although I don’t think the boys were impressed with my lack of understanding in the games they were trying to teach me!

Last night I made my way from Rochester to NYC thanks to Greyhound! Arriving at 0430 to a mostly closed Port Authority and having to drag my case up a rather tough flight of stairs (who knew escalators and elevators had opening hours) was not quite the welcome I wanted at that time! However, hotel found, bags dropped at the hotel a McDonalds breakfast and 16k steps along the Highline and back was probably the best way to start my day! I have an evening bus tour tonight and then – well, we’ll see!