![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
We left on Wednesday, to drive to New York, to see Cindy's son and daughter-in-law. We hadn't seen them since before the pandemic. We always went out there every two years, so it's been four years since we'd been to New York, and three since we'd seen them. On top of that, I had been itching to see the city for a couple of years.
For years, we'd been talking about going through Pennsylvania, to see sites relating to Cindy's ancestors, so we decided to drive out, and go through that area. It would have been too much, to fly to NY and rent a car to drive back to mid-PA, so we just drove it. And guess what! Record gas prices! *sigh*
So Wednesday, we left Wisconsin and went through Illinois and into Indiana with a slight detour to a restaurant at a distillery just over the border in Michigan. Then back to Indiana, across Ohio, and we stayed the night just north of Pittsburgh. A boring drive all the way.
Pennsylvania is pretty. The western part of the state is forested and mountainous. The central part farmland with rolling hills. We found her family's homestead, and walked around a bit to take photos. We were kinda hoping someone would be home to answer a couple of questions (like, "is that it?"). Then we went to a cemetery where the woman is buried, who first came to the new world, and founded a town. It was the first time I'd seen markers by the stones for the Revolutionary War. The nearest place for lunch was over the border into Maryland, so we marked off another new state that we'd been in. Then we drove to my cousin's place. He and his wife showed us around, then they took us to dinner. We stayed at their place.
Friday, we drove to New York, with a stop in PA at a waterfall. The kids moved from the city out to Beacon last year, so we got to see their new place. They also adopted new pups since then, so we got to meet them. Blanche was a nervous sort, and she only allowed me to pet her a couple of times. Suzy Lee didn't let us get near her. She was never happy with us being in the house.
Saturday morning we all went to a special tour at the Dia Beacon art museum. In the afternoon we walked around town with Mike. After dinner we went back to their place and had some drinks and played cards. Sunday, Mike took us on a tour of a small island in the Hudson.
We went out to eat a lot. When you're not at home, you eat out. And restaurant portions are not small. It was Sunday before I was able to reduce my food intake a little, because we did brunch, instead of both breakfast and lunch. Of course that was the one meal where my chosen menu item turned out to be not very filling, for a change (no complaints, though). There was a lot of drink too. I'd kinda had enough by the end of the weekend.
Monday, we were supposed to take the train into New York City. I had waited over a year for this, but the weather forecast was for storms. I figured we see the Guggenheim, maybe a quick visit to the nearby Met. Then find lunch and walk around a bit. What I most wanted to do was walk and shoot photos. Then it would rain for the rest of the day, and we would be wet, cold and miserable. So we canceled. I watched the radar in the afternoon, and the rain seemed to split around Manhattan. I did hear they got some rain, but not a huge amount. Later on, I realized we could have gone anyway, and just come home at the point where we did get too wet.
I was trying to find alternate ideas. The rain would arrive later in Connecticut, but it would take us more time to get there, plus I wasn't sure what we could see there. Some communities farther up in New York, like Woodstock? Still with the rain. Philadelphia (I hear there's a good art museum there)? No, the rain would be even worse. So we stayed in Beacon. There is a large sculpture park in the area, so we spent the morning there. Back in Beacon, we had lunch, and then walked up and down Main Street for a while. The rain didn't come until after we got back to our place, and it wasn't that hard. We had dinner with the kids in the evening and said goodbye. Cindy and I hung out at our Airbnb and listed to LP's. The owner had a large collection of old records in the room.
Tuesday morning, I'd wanted to get a quick and light breakfast at the bagel shop, before we hit the road, but they were closed to due staffing issues. The kids had recommended the doughnut shop, but they're only open on weekends. So we ate at the diner (again), and were on the road by 8:00. Google said that would put us at our destination by 3:00, but we got there before 2:30, early enough to get bumped up to an earlier tour. That was Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. It's a beautiful place, and we took tons of photos, which won't do it justice, and won't look anywhere near as nice as the ones in the book we bought. And we took a one-mile walk around the grounds. Then we drove into Pittsburgh for dinner, and took a walk around there too. Hotel at the same place as on the way over. We were tired and went to bed earlyish, and we slept in a bit too.
Wednesday, we retraced our steps out of PA with the long boring drive across Ohio and Indiana, with a stop for dinner at the place in Michigan. Despite being around rush hour, we had little trouble around Chicago, and arrived home around 6:30.
For years, we'd been talking about going through Pennsylvania, to see sites relating to Cindy's ancestors, so we decided to drive out, and go through that area. It would have been too much, to fly to NY and rent a car to drive back to mid-PA, so we just drove it. And guess what! Record gas prices! *sigh*
So Wednesday, we left Wisconsin and went through Illinois and into Indiana with a slight detour to a restaurant at a distillery just over the border in Michigan. Then back to Indiana, across Ohio, and we stayed the night just north of Pittsburgh. A boring drive all the way.
Pennsylvania is pretty. The western part of the state is forested and mountainous. The central part farmland with rolling hills. We found her family's homestead, and walked around a bit to take photos. We were kinda hoping someone would be home to answer a couple of questions (like, "is that it?"). Then we went to a cemetery where the woman is buried, who first came to the new world, and founded a town. It was the first time I'd seen markers by the stones for the Revolutionary War. The nearest place for lunch was over the border into Maryland, so we marked off another new state that we'd been in. Then we drove to my cousin's place. He and his wife showed us around, then they took us to dinner. We stayed at their place.
Friday, we drove to New York, with a stop in PA at a waterfall. The kids moved from the city out to Beacon last year, so we got to see their new place. They also adopted new pups since then, so we got to meet them. Blanche was a nervous sort, and she only allowed me to pet her a couple of times. Suzy Lee didn't let us get near her. She was never happy with us being in the house.
Saturday morning we all went to a special tour at the Dia Beacon art museum. In the afternoon we walked around town with Mike. After dinner we went back to their place and had some drinks and played cards. Sunday, Mike took us on a tour of a small island in the Hudson.
We went out to eat a lot. When you're not at home, you eat out. And restaurant portions are not small. It was Sunday before I was able to reduce my food intake a little, because we did brunch, instead of both breakfast and lunch. Of course that was the one meal where my chosen menu item turned out to be not very filling, for a change (no complaints, though). There was a lot of drink too. I'd kinda had enough by the end of the weekend.
Monday, we were supposed to take the train into New York City. I had waited over a year for this, but the weather forecast was for storms. I figured we see the Guggenheim, maybe a quick visit to the nearby Met. Then find lunch and walk around a bit. What I most wanted to do was walk and shoot photos. Then it would rain for the rest of the day, and we would be wet, cold and miserable. So we canceled. I watched the radar in the afternoon, and the rain seemed to split around Manhattan. I did hear they got some rain, but not a huge amount. Later on, I realized we could have gone anyway, and just come home at the point where we did get too wet.
I was trying to find alternate ideas. The rain would arrive later in Connecticut, but it would take us more time to get there, plus I wasn't sure what we could see there. Some communities farther up in New York, like Woodstock? Still with the rain. Philadelphia (I hear there's a good art museum there)? No, the rain would be even worse. So we stayed in Beacon. There is a large sculpture park in the area, so we spent the morning there. Back in Beacon, we had lunch, and then walked up and down Main Street for a while. The rain didn't come until after we got back to our place, and it wasn't that hard. We had dinner with the kids in the evening and said goodbye. Cindy and I hung out at our Airbnb and listed to LP's. The owner had a large collection of old records in the room.
Tuesday morning, I'd wanted to get a quick and light breakfast at the bagel shop, before we hit the road, but they were closed to due staffing issues. The kids had recommended the doughnut shop, but they're only open on weekends. So we ate at the diner (again), and were on the road by 8:00. Google said that would put us at our destination by 3:00, but we got there before 2:30, early enough to get bumped up to an earlier tour. That was Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. It's a beautiful place, and we took tons of photos, which won't do it justice, and won't look anywhere near as nice as the ones in the book we bought. And we took a one-mile walk around the grounds. Then we drove into Pittsburgh for dinner, and took a walk around there too. Hotel at the same place as on the way over. We were tired and went to bed earlyish, and we slept in a bit too.
Wednesday, we retraced our steps out of PA with the long boring drive across Ohio and Indiana, with a stop for dinner at the place in Michigan. Despite being around rush hour, we had little trouble around Chicago, and arrived home around 6:30.
