What do you mean It's Snowing ....??

The weather report for Wednesday for the northern part of New York State is a snowstorm. Oh okay, so that means we won't be flying? Oh, we ARE flying ...... Can they actually land a plane in the snow??

Well apparently yes. It appears that I was the ONLY person on the planet who was worried about the whole ordeal. We landed in Rochester, as it was snowing. YES as it was snowing and the guys who were unloading the bags threw a snowball at Hayley's window when she was waving.

Rochester is a much smaller place than Denver; however, there are still 1 million people here. It is a pretty place, even in the dark and when it is snowing. People still drive obviously and no there are no chains; the council essentially have snow ploughs on the front of trucks and 4wd utilities which clear the roads and then they put salt over the roads. So we woke up after enjoying the wonderful hospitality of the Galvano's (Sal and Clorisa with Luna 3 and Santiago 11mths) to a picturesque snow-covered environment. It was just breathtaking and amazing. After breakfast, Miranda and Hayley dressed in their oldest gear from travelling and went outside and ran around in a foot of snow. It was just unbelievable. The snow was so soft and it was difficult to squish into a ball, so the girls just made snow angels and ran around.

After some snow fun, we hopped into the car and headed to the best

coffee house in North America. Now just to set this up so it has the right impact, Mr Ness Caffe has been bragging about this coffee ever since he visited and ever since we booked the tickets. American coffee is interesting ..... we have been able to enjoy a couple from a few places (as I mentioned in Denver), so the promise of awesome coffee was very very appealing. So we entered the cafe "Leaf & Bean" only to find the machine broken...... Devastated !!! But it is also a tea house so it redeemed itself immediately and we had a beautiful tea (mine was Peach and Ginger).

After 'coffee' we headed to Sal's college to watch training and to catch up with three Toowoomba girls (who Peter taught at Harristown) who now attend Sal's college. Like many colleges and universities, they have an indoor facility. Now when I think of an indoor facility I think of a concrete floor, tin roof and walls. However, as per the pictures that Peter brings back each year, this is so far from the truth. These facilities (and especially this one) is heated, fully enclosed with thick tin, insulation with artificial turf, netting and an indoor track. So the watching turned into playing for Steven Gerrard, who donned some short shorts and shirt and attempted to play at the speed and skill of some very fit and fast 20yr olds who played for 90mins. So while this was happening, I decided to run around the track which was about 220mts. All this while it was still lightly snowing outside and was bitterly cold, and here we were, sweating. Just incredible. I had to keep looking outside to remember where we were.

We have just finished a beautiful Rochester hot dog and burger meal (home-cooked with specialty meats from this area) topped with local beers and local wine. Oh and by the way you can buy lobster tail for $12 ...... guess what we might be having for dinner one night!!!!

I hope the hail storms have eased; it's hard to believe it is really hot at home.

We are planning to drive to Niagara Falls tomorrow; depending on weather and driving conditions. All looks good though as the snow stopped overnight and it's been only light "puffs".