Time travel to historical havens
CHRISTINE HICKS- USTA Travel
Trips back in time are my most favorite of all. That is odd, for parents will remember the student with regrettable grades in history. The difference for me is that when history is tangible, it catches me up in it. Now I pay for the chance to visit history. And it needn't cost a lot. My last trip back in time cost just $12 and a couple hours.

It's late in the 1920s. I've taken the family car out for a jaunt south along the Old Lake Shore Road, an open air journey possible because it's an impossibly beautiful day in June. The sky is blue; the sun shines briskly through a cool, dry air that combs through my unmanaged hair.

Atop a gray cliff on the shores of Lake Erie, a man has surveyed eight and a half acres of land for possibility. Intent on serving the land as well as its owner, he lets a vision take shape of a summer house, long and low, and at home here. The lake is framed with pine and other timber, and across the lake is the outline of Point Abino, Ontario, Canada.

A pathway to the house accommodates the summer solstice sun, not straight in, but cut at an angle to present the arriving guest with a full view of the home. The first thing one ought to see at the lake is the lake. He takes this into account, placing windows and doors across from each other so that the home won't obscure the view. His client demands light - lots of it - and this serves that purpose as well. Doors are staggered across from each other so as not to encourage a windstorm, but rather to accomplish a more manageable cross breeze in these unairconditioned quarters. And there will be windows in every single room in the home.

The sound of water spilling from a fountain by the main entrance belies its separation from the enormous pond beyond. It spills water into an irregularly shaped pond lined with resident rock. The home's exterior mimics the limestone of the cliff upon which it rests. Cracked from the ledge and driven up the cliff in carts by oxen, the reddish iron layer is laid horizontally into the wall, as it is found in nature. It will eventually and intentionally oxidize and stain the side of the home, linking it to its origin, as do the fossils seen within. Hand-dipped red cedar roofing shingles burst with unabashed color above, and sturdy cypress planks provide flooring below.

The main hearth invites a fireside chat. A space to the side carved out by a window and an interior garden suggests another room. An enormous sunken garden extends from the home's patio to the cliff's edge. Surely, lazy summer days were spent here over iced tea, a riot of flowers from the nearby cutting garden garnishing a table spread for a family's summer lunch.

Time slows here, no longer on pace with cellular signals or miles per hour. Graycliff. Mmmm …Yes, I think I could live here.

(Christine Hicks-Usta has enjoyed more than 30 years of globe-trotting as a member of the travel industry in various capacities. Direct questions to her at Bee Group Newspapers, P.O. Box 150, Buffalo, NY 14231-0150.)