On June 16, Meg turned 55. June 21, Summer Solstice, was Pam and James's 15th anniversary. June 25was our 60th anniversary. Celebrations were in order.
We started in Lexington, again at Lazy Acres lodge. Phyllis was there, as well as Pam and Meg's childhood friends, Daniela, Beth, and Val. Daniela's husband and pup, Little Bits, tagged along for the long drive from Louisiana. Meg and Pam chose a theme: "At Our Parents' Tables". We all brought and cooked vintage recipes. Plus we toured historic Lexington in a horse drawn carriage and some of us visited Virginia's famous Natural Bridge Park.
After a fantastic few days together with the Bowie crowd, Phyllis, Russ and I drove on to Gettysburg for a day. Our hotel, Inn at Cemetery Hill, was modest . . . reminiscent of road trips of old. It was smack in the middle of town and we could have walked to the Gettysburg cemetery, although we didn't know it and drove a few miles to the place we walked. We came across a walking tour, led by a young Park Ranger, and joined in. It was interesting and enjoyable. Later, we happened upon the home of a widow who had to evacuate with her young children to avoid the battle. Her home became a hospital. She returned after the battle and reclaimed the house and expanded her farm and other holdings.
In the evening, Phyllis treated us to dinner at the Dobbin House, founded in 1776. We walked there from our Inn at Cemetery Hill.
The next morning we drove to the far end of the battlefield and saw a very different terrain and imagined the battle in new ways.
Next up, we headed for Bellfonte PA. I was frustrated that Google Maps brought us via Harrisburg when I had planned to go cross country on back roads. By the time I realized we were off the track I'd planned, it was too late and we were stuck driving through the city. Bummer!
That was only the beginning of the "adventure" that day. It turned out that The Queen BnB in Bellefonte was far from accessible for three octogenarians with luggage and a cooler. There were many steps from the on-street parking to the lobby, more steps from the parking, by way of stepping stones all around the house, to the steps leading up to the apartment I had booked for the three of us. Originally our golden retriever Stela was also coming, so we had a dog-friendly apartment.
Once up the stairs, which I knew were at the entrance, there was another narrow, carpeted stairway, curling up to the rooms where the main bed was so high it would require a multi-step, step stool to access. I had visions of Stela, on leash, pulling one of us down the curving stairs on to reach the outside stairs to reach the grass. Even without Stela, who ended up staying at home with a dog and house sitter, this was clearly not going to work. We walked away, as the owner kept asking "why doesn't it work for you?"
The good news is that after we returned and I got my credit card statement, she charged only half the fee.
We spent the night at a Tru by Hilton about 10 miles away. Luckily, we had leftovers in the cooler from the "At our Parents' Tables" dinners!
The next morning, we delayed our departure to stay behind storms that were over the area of the Finger Lakes where we were headed. Our travel was lovely, on non-busy highways, through scenic PA mountains. We went through Mansfield on Route 15 and drove past our house on Pickle Hill and around all our old haunts. That didn't take long in such a small town.
We stayed behind the rain and were able to visit Buttermilk Falls and Taughannock Falls, both near Ithaca. At Taughannock, we walked a the gorge trail. It is flat and wide, following the bottom of the gorge to the Falls in about a mile and a half. When we arrived, we were at the bottom of the lovely Falls. Really pretty!
We stayed the night at Rogues Harbor Inn in Lansing NY, on Cayuga Lake, the same as Ithaca. The storms we had missed all day had not missed Lansing. The entire town had been without power for hours when we arrived about 5:00. The Bar at our Inn, and all the other restaurants in town, were closed. No lights, no AC. Our rooms were very comfortable and the college student who checked us in carried our suitcases upstairs or us, which we greatly appreciated.
We had beer in the cooler and enjoyed Happy Hour without electricity. When the power came on about 8:00 no restaurants opened. We had already eaten our leftovers from Lexington, at the Tru. Lo and behold, we had brought to "Our Parents' Table" celebration, ingredients for Greg Smith microwaved nachos! The Inn had a microwave in the lobby for guests and we were the only ones. Thank you to our dear-old, gone-much-too-young friend Greg, we had a quite adequate dinner. It was especially sweet because it reminded us of the many parties when Greg prepared them with a flourish!
In the morning, we had a scrumptious, home-cooked breakfast in the third-floor ballroom of the inn. They don't have balls anymore, but the room is worthy of them. We were quite ready for a warm breakfast.
We drove through Skaneateles, at the top of Cayuga Lake. It is a charming town near Elbridge where my great-grandparents, Patrick and Mary Quinn, had a farm. My grandfather, his brothers Jack and Francis, and his sisters Mamie and Anna were born there. His brothers raised their families in nearby Camillus, which we also visited, and his sisters lived in Auburn, which we did not get to this trip. We spent time at St Mary's Cemetery in Skaneateles and visited my great grandparents graves and those of my great uncles and several 1st cousins, once removed. It touched my heart.
The photo below is of my great grandmother at the farm with my mother and her older sister, Dorothea.
From the Skaneateles cemetery, we went to the cemetery in Altmar where many of Russ and Phyllis' ancestors are buried.
A high school friend of Phyl and Russ who has a camp on Cranberry Lake visited Saturday. Their cousin Lori came from Syracuse on Sunday. She and Phyllis had not met before. She and Russ found each other through an ancestry search. Lori bought Phyl a Welcome-to-the-Family photo of their shared ancestors. She brought us handmade gifts to celebrate our 60th Anniversary, and we all poured over the family photo albums she brought. A wonderful treat for all of us.
Pam and James arrived with their dog Blue on Tuesday. They rented a nearby camp, The Owl's Nest and entertained us for dinner. We hiked up to their place.
Max DelSignore, from the Norther New York Community Foundation, visited at The Stone House to talk about Charlene's Fund which we all support in honor of our cousin Charlene Hall. It was good to think about how we can recognize and support the caregivers who made her life so rich and happy.
June 25 was our 60th Anniversary. Star Lake friend Gary was in the wedding as well as Phyllis. So we had two of our wedding party there to celebrate again, as well as Pam and James. Russ made paella. It was nice to have a whole couple of weeks of celebrations, starting in Lexington and continuing through Star Lake. On the weekend between those parties, Pam and and James celebrated their 15th Anniversary.
On Friday, we pulled out early and drove through the Finger Lakes to Olean where Phyllis would spend the weekend at her 60th College Reunion. We were glad to see St Bonaventure again after all theses years. The registration was a good omen for a great Reunion. It was really well organized.
Russ and I then drove to Mount Morris for the weekend staying at the Allegiance BnB. We walked to the Tavern in town for dinner each evening and had superb home-cooked breakfasts each day at the BnB . . . eggs ortega with chicken sausage the first day and sweet peppers stuffed with spinach omelet over hash browns with a fig drizzle, the second day. Wow! We spent all of Saturday at Letchworth State Park, which I remembered fondly from childhood trips with my mom, my brother and sister, and my aunt and cousins. I wore my gift t-shirt saying "the first 60 years are the hardest: married life" and had at least a dozen people comment. One couple said they too were celebrating 60 years and it turned out they were married the same day we were, also in Rochester!
We picked up Phyllis in the morning and drove over the river and through the woods on backroads of western Pennsylvania to Cacapon State Park Lodge in West Virginia. I took advantage of the heated swimming pool.
We had lunch and spent the middle of the day with Meg and Steve in Lexington. Meg made hummus, Caprese salad, and pesto pasta, along with cheese and almonds of course. She introduced us to Dr. Brown's Cel-Rey soda. Then Phyl headed back to Williamsburg and we headed south, spending the night in Asheboro NC before making the final drive to Gainesville, whee Stela remembered us, thank goodness!
The End, for this trip. Onward to the next adventure!
