{"id":1243,"date":"2014-08-19T13:52:18","date_gmt":"2014-08-19T12:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=1243"},"modified":"2014-08-19T13:52:46","modified_gmt":"2014-08-19T12:52:46","slug":"week-32-trucking-up-to-buffalo-and-powerlifting-in-rochester","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=1243","title":{"rendered":"Week 32: trucking up to Buffalo and powerlifting in Rochester"},"content":{"rendered":"

The main event during week 32 was our trip to the USA. I had not seen my son since he moved across the Atlantic in September 2013, so I was obviously looking forward to seeing him. He now lives in Orchard Park, just outside Buffalo in western New York.<\/p>\n

32_1<\/strong>
\nWe flew to New York via London, departing on Monday midday from Barajas airport in Madrid:
\n\"DSF7741\"<\/p>\n

32_2<\/strong>
\nWe arrived at JFK around 6:30 pm on Monday evening. Around an hour later it became clear that 2 of our 3 suitcases had not made it. By the time we had filed the report with the airline and picked up our rental car, it was close to 9 pm. We set out on the 430 mile drive to Buffalo, but decided that it did not make sense to take risks to arrive at our son’s place at 3 or 4 am, so instead we spent the night at a motel in some small town north of New York and continued on our way the next morning. Here is Monica with our rental car at the parking lot of a supermarket somewhere in the Catskills:
\n\"DSF7748\"<\/p>\n

32_3<\/strong>
\nBy early afternoon, we were in upstate New York, driving through nice villages with farms like this one:
\n\"DSF7751\"<\/p>\n

32_4<\/strong>
\nWe arrived at Moses’s apartment while he was at work, but he had left a key for us at the rental office. We relaxed for a couple of hours, and then he came home to a joyous reunion. That evening, we went out for a dinner of beer and wings (what else?!) at a local sports bar:
\n\"R000010\"<\/p>\n

32_5<\/strong>
\n\"R000016\"<\/p>\n

32_6<\/strong>
\nOne of the joys of visiting the US for a beer enthusiast like me is the enormous variety of craft beers that has become available during the past 10-15 years. This is the beer section at the local Wegmans supermarket in Orchard Park. Pure paradise:
\n\"R000024\"<\/p>\n

32_7<\/strong>
\nOrchard Park is the home of the Buffalo Bills NFL team; in fact, my son lives about 1 mile from the Ralph Wilson Stadium where the Bills play:
\n\"DSF7779\"<\/p>\n

32_8<\/strong>
\nThese days, exercise is an important part of my day, so within 24 hours of arriving in Orchard Park, I had visited the gym my son uses and signed up for 2 weeks at the princely price of $20:
\n\"R000031\"<\/p>\n

32_9<\/strong>
\nOn Friday we drove down to the shore of Lake Erie:
\n\"DSF7770\"<\/p>\n

32_10<\/strong>
\nThe weather was beautiful and people were enjoying the lake:
\n\"DSF7773\"<\/p>\n

32_11<\/strong>
\nWe decided to have lunch at this lakeside restaurant:
\n\"DSF7776\"<\/p>\n

32_12<\/strong>
\nIt turned out that our delightful waitress was Polish:
\n\"DSF7775\"<\/p>\n

32_13<\/strong>
\nThe main event of the week for Moses was on Saturday, when he was competing in a powerlifting event in Rochester. He was really pleased that we were there to cheer him on:
\n\"DSF7795\"<\/p>\n

32_14<\/strong>
\nWarming up before the first event, the squat:
\n\"DSF7805\"<\/p>\n

32_15<\/strong>
\nThe scorekeeper\/announcer and her helper:
\n\"DSF7807\"<\/p>\n

32_16<\/strong>
\nThen it was time for Moses’s squat:
\n\"DSF7821\"<\/p>\n

32_17<\/strong>
\n\"DSF7826\"<\/p>\n

32_18<\/strong>
\nThe sign has been given, the lift is successful, smile on Moses’s face:
\n\"DSF7827\"<\/p>\n

32_19<\/strong>
\nScorekeeper’s little dog takes a break:
\n\"DSF7829\"<\/p>\n

32_20<\/strong>
\nIt is a long day, so there is time for a nap:
\n\"DSF7841\"<\/p>\n

32_21<\/strong>
\nMy wife and daughter took their siesta on the grass outside:
\n\"DSF7842\"<\/p>\n

32_22<\/strong>
\nLots of people were taking lots of pictures of “their” competitors:
\n\"DSF7832\"<\/p>\n

32_23<\/strong>
\nFor the competitors, there is also a lot of waiting around:
\n\"DSF7836\"<\/p>\n

32_24<\/strong>
\nMoses performing in the second discipline, the bench press:
\n\"DSF7839\"<\/p>\n

32_25<\/strong>
\nPowerlifting is male-dominated sport, but there were a few, very impressive, women:
\n\"DSF7854\"<\/p>\n

32_26<\/strong>
\nThe deadlift is Moses’s strongest discipline, and he set a new personal best in his third lift, with 570 lbs:
\n\"DSF7859\"<\/p>\n

32_27<\/strong>
\nTwo delightful spectators:
\n\"DSF7861\"<\/p>\n

32_28<\/strong>
\nEvent over, a group photo of the lifters with their trophies is taken:
\n\"DSF7863\"<\/p>\n

32_29<\/strong>
\nThe next day, we drove up to Niagara Falls. I have been there many times, but not recently. It is somewhat tacky and touristy but the falls themselves are an awesome sight:
\n\"DSF7874\"<\/p>\n

32_30<\/strong>
\nCouple looking at the falls:
\n\"DSF7877\"<\/p>\n

32_31<\/strong>
\nTourists paying good money to get very wet:
\n\"DSF7876\"<\/p>\n

32_32<\/strong>
\nOverall view of the Horseshoe Falls (the main falls, on the Canadian side):
\n\"DSF7885\"<\/p>\n

32_33<\/strong>
\nAfter visiting the falls, we drove to the nearby town of Niagara-on-the-Lake, the centre of southern Ontario’s wine industry. Here is the entrance to one of the biggest wineries, Peller:
\n\"DSF7899\"<\/p>\n

32_34<\/strong>
\nBesides the wineries, there is also a small craft brewery, Oast House Brewers:
\n\"DSF7918\"<\/p>\n

32_35<\/strong>
\n\"DSF7919\"<\/p>\n

32_36<\/strong>
\nI tasted their ale and would not let go of the bottle:
\n\"DSF7919\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The main event during week 32 was our trip to the USA. I had not seen my son since he moved across the Atlantic in September 2013, so I was obviously looking forward to seeing him. He now lives in Orchard Park, just outside Buffalo in western New York. 32_1 We flew to New York […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1102,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1243"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1243"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1247,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1243\/revisions\/1247"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}