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(Check out Part I of this post here)

With my parents still in town for another few days before our flight out to visit my brother and his family in Virginia, we decided on a few more Rochester and autumn essentials to add to our agenda.

On Sunday we took a leisurely mid-afternoon fall foliage train ride through upstate New York’s Niagara County. While the trip was fun, there was more vivid color to be seen on our hour-long car ride to and from the Medina Railroad Museum (where the train departed the station) then there actually was to be seen on the fall foliage train ride. The train’s route wasn’t all that scenic (with the exception of a few lovely views of the Erie Canal, pictured below) and many of the leaves hadn’t changed color yet in that part of New York at the end of October, so I would hesitate to call it a “bright fall foliage” ride, which was unfortunate. Nevertheless, we had a nice time and really enjoyed each other’s company and the opportunity to take a train ride. The Medina Railroad Museum also does a fall wine train, a Halloween story train, and Polar Express trip, which all sounded interesting.

Over the next few nights we ate up that delicious concord grape pie from Monica’s Pies in Naples (which my dad LOVED), and we made some nice family dinners and bright salads using lots of fresh local veggies from the farmers at the public market and also from the Peacework Organic Farm weekly CSA share I’m a part of. Those family nights of homemade dinners we all pitched in on, bottles of wine, good conversations, and card games were so nice. I love them. Memories I will definitely cherish. I wish we could have them more often. Alas, with 1,750 miles between us, I’ll take ’em when I can get ’em.

Our three-year wedding anniversary was on Tuesday, October 22nd, and because mom and dad just so happened to be in town, they took us out for a really nice celebration. We did the scenic and historic Mt. Hope cometary Grand Torch Light Tour just as the sun was setting. It was beautiful. The cemetery is absolutely huge, gorgeous, and has a really neat history with some very interesting folks buried there. The tours they do of it at various times of the year are fantastic and so informative. This one was just in time for Halloween. Torches were lit all over the cemetery, which gave it this beautiful, eerie glow, a few actors were positioned near particular gravestones to mourn their lost loved ones whose stories we had just heard (which was a lot of fun), our guide was great and had some really nice, juicy stories to share (not scary, more historical – but interesting), they had organ music playing from one of the old churches/crematoriums, and it was extra chilly outside so the cider and donuts were greatly appreciated at the end of the tour. Because of this city’s rich history and all the cool things about Rochester, this tour is definitely something all Rochestarians should do at least once. Go for one of the earlier tours (before/around sunset) so you can enjoy some of the things you won’t be able to see by torchlight alone, like the actors.

After the tour, mom and dad treated us to a spectacular anniversary dinner at Rooney’s – a bit of a hidden gem restaurant in Rochester. Kind of like a quaint NYC steakhouse. The food, the wine, the service, the atmosphere – it was all incredible. We shared a great bottle of Shiraz, a wonderful appetizer of seafood ravioli with dill oil, caesar salads, and our entrees – which were all perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked, and perfectly flavored. I really noticed, and appreciated, all the small details in the taste and quality of the food, the ingredients, and the service. It was a really nice dinner – a great celebration – and it was so wonderful that we were able to share it with my parents. A truly outstanding evening.

The next night before leaving for Virginia, we took my parents to see The 39 Steps at Geva, which was very funny and very enjoyable – another great evening. Speaking of, the show closes this weekend. If you have’t seen it yet, you better get on that stat. You’ll be sorry you missed it!

A warning: I know some of these photos are pretty dark (it was nighttime, I’m not a professional photographer, using flash would have ruined the effect, and editing them also makes them look super fake – so there you have it), but if you take the time to click on the pictures and enlarge the dark ones, they’re actually pretty neat.