New York Trip

     We drove north to upstate New York over the Thanksgiving week.  We first went to visit Mike's Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Marilyn close to Syracuse.  Ronnie is Mike's Dad's brother. (Lots of possessive apostrophes there!)  I had never met them before. (He looks so much like Mike's dad, that I had to do quite a double take when he first walked out of the house.)   We were able to visit for an afternoon, go out to dinner and meet their daughter Linda.  It was a wonderful visit.

     We then drove over to Uncle Jerry's house near Rochester, New York.  We met Uncle Jerry and his son, Jerry Jr.  Jerry Jr. works at a sheltered work placement and is transported by bus to and from work.  Mike went to meet him as he got off the bus, and it was obvious that Jerry Jr's routine was interrupted, but he recovered well.  We had a wonderful visit with the two of them.  Later that night, three of Jerry's four daughters came over with their families and Jerry's other son, Chris joined us too.  We got to spend time getting to know Mike's first cousins and several second cousins.  It was so much fun! ( I was so engaged that I forgot to take pictures!  I really regret the no pictures now, but I sure enjoyed the conversation then.)  I wish that it was easier to visit and see each other.  Mike has calculated that it has been around 30 to 35 years since he was there before.  Hopefully we won't have to wait so long again!  The next morning the 4th daughter, Colleen came by so we got to visit with her too.

    Family is important!  We must be more vigilant about being connected!  We couldn't stay through Thanksgiving as we had promised to be back at Hopewell Furnace to work on Friday so that some of the rangers could take the weekend off. 


Driving in New York was different than Pennsylvania.  Both have toll roads which feel like they are nickel and dimming you to death.  But New York felt more rural than Pennsylvania.  The farms are bigger and more spread out.  The roads are straighter and smoother.  We saw several deer and a few foxes.  The foxes are so

Before leaving, we drove to Niagara Falls.  My passport expired on October 26th, so technically we couldn't go over to the Canadian side of the falls.  However (yes, there is always a however!) we were on a road that indicated there was one more exit before you crossed into Canada.  Then we passed that exit because it was closed.    The only thing we could do was cross over and then come back.  Both the Canadian and US Customs officers were very nice about our goof!

We parked and walked around the US side of the falls.  A little girl, about fives years old, came up and asked what our dog's name was.  Mike said, "Bernie".  She said "Bearnie".  Mike said, "no, Bernie" and she said "Bearnie".  Mike asked her where she was from and she said "North Carolina".   We saw her later and she yelled for Bearnie!

                                            Don't go swimming here!

The Canadian side for walking under the falls.  The US side was closed.

                                     This commemoration to the Independence of Yugoslavia
                                      is in the Niagara Falls Park.  I don't know why!