We stood on the ship's deck, the wind blowing my hair straight up, and enjoyed the ship's movement through the water. That evening, standing on that deck, I had my first conversations with the couple who would become our friends throughout the cruise, one of those conversations where one quickly gets below the surface. While they weren't the only couple with whom I found a deeper connection, it was such a blessing to meet them early in the cruise. While I can survive casual conversations for a time, they aren't my strength, and my companion excels at taking the reins to tell his stories.
For you who don't know, I went on the Great Lakes Cruise with my "brotherly friend" who had lost his wife to an unexpected stroke about six months earlier. Acting as a substitute for one of the loveliest women I had known wasn't an ideal way to begin my first cruise, not a mode of vacation or a destination I would have chosen. The same couple with whom I went to Israel, I also spent time with them in small cabins in the Rockies, and he visited me in Nashville, staying in my apartment. We knew there would be adjustments, but thought it would be a good fit, and it was -- mostly!
The Pearl Seas ship, the Pearl Mist, is a smaller ship with 100 rooms, all with balconies. We were on deck four of five decks with a lounge that had an "any kind of coffee" machine where I met a number of men getting coffee for themselves and their wives. My friend doesn't drink coffee and sleeps later than I do and wouldn't think of getting me coffee if he were up earlier. I got dressed and out of the room, disturbing him minimally.
If you've met a traveling couple of different sexes who aren't romantically linked, you have an idea of how different we were from others on the cruise. This was especially true on the Pearl Mist, as we met at least a dozen couples who were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversaries, either during the cruise or this summer. This cruise seemed intended for those who didn't desire exercise as the limited equipment was in poor condition and the decks too small for a good walk though some stops required a good deal of walking to see sights such as the Ford Museum and Greenfield Village and the recreated Huron Village settled by French Jesuits to convert the native Hurons in the 1600s in Midland, Ontario (below).
My friend preferred to introduce me when he could, saying that we weren't a couple but friends, elaborating about his wife as soon as possible. One meal we sat with two of the few younger (early 60s) couples where my friend told a litany of stories. Later, when in the dining room alone, they flagged me down and insisted that I sit with them, allowing for their curiosity about our friendship and about me to be satisfied. When I indicated that I wasn't looking for a man to fit into my life, one of the men said that in their community, the single ladies said that the old men were looking for a "nurse and a purse," or if not the purse, certainly the nurse! Later, in Boulder, I listened to friend after friend speak about the difficulties encountered as their husbands either failed mentally or physically and thought how apt the nurse image was. While I could do a blog that focused on traveling with a man friend who had been married 27 years and was recently a widower, I won't. (Perhaps later, I'll write an e-mail to a few friends who will appreciate the experiences and what I learned about myself.)
Our first stop was Niagara Falls! I had been there once, taking an evening break from an intense economic development finance course but never as a tourist. We piled into buses, stood in line to get our red plastic raincoats and loaded onto a packed Canadian side "Maid of the Mist" type boat, larger and newer than the one on the American side. Standing on the open deck, we were sprayed amid squeals from younger passengers.
My friend, Peter
The falls are amazing! The boat trip was short, and most were anxious to get back onto the buses and return to the ship. While given a half hour, I walked to the end of a bridge over the river, taking photos and enjoying stretching my legs though the woman in charge of getting us on the bus was concerned that I wouldn't get back in time.
On my walk, I encountered the tree below and when pointed to an opening, went inside. I'll use this and the inside photo in another blog, as inside, it was difficult to see the way out--a great metaphor for the prisons of our minds, and in later life, of our bodies too.
We went through the eight locks on the Welland Canal in St. Catharines below and sat for what seemed like hours waiting barge traffic to pass. I watched the locks with a family quartet doing a
"girls' trip"--a grandmother, her daughter, and two granddaughters, 12 and 14. The girls provided the Chicago pizza recommendation as that was their home.
To get us through day 3 and Windsor, Ontario, I'll show you a shot of the Edison Museum in Greenfield Village, which has an Edison at Work district with a chair that Edison sat in when he visited bolted to the floor. We enjoyed a ride in a Model T, a train ride, and I visited the Noah Webster home, Robert Frost home, and the George Washington Carver cabin albeit in a rush since there was too much to see in such a short time. I met my friend at the crafts area where he purchased lovely earrings for me.
Until another day!
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