3 Graduates in one year!
Big event is to witness our grandkids graduate from High School. Tessa and Avery were one of over 500 in the graduating class, and it brought a tear to my eyes watching them receive their diplomas! Where or where has the time gone? Kudos to Amy and Scott for raising such wonderful children, and for taking on Olivia to help her out during what must be a challenging time to also graduate.
Of course, we flew in for the big event and to also see the deluge of doctors for the annual wellness stuff. Ty had the usual burning off minor skin cancers from his head, and me I found out I have a tear in my gluteus minus! That pickleball is killer. Nothing one can do for a tear, but wait. And we left Chet with Amy until we are done with Canada.
And we left Chet with Amy until we are done with Canada.
Just wouldn’t be fair to him to ride around so much in the car, and he can’t go into museums or into restaurants. He wouldn’t have much fun.
Real truth – as a puppy he is just a pain in the rear for such a trip. And besides, he will have a ball at Amy’s playing with Amy and the kids. At least that is what I keep telling myself. See you in August bab!
We Sat Around Too Long
We left the Ouellette’s in Charleston in April, but just could not get the hang of being on the road again. It felt like we have never hooked up or parked Wanda before. To make matters worse, the hitch spring is broke causing a tilt which requires me to hold it up while Ty backs it up. This procedure works but is a little tricky as I must stand on tippy toes to reach inside the hitch while Ty backs up truck…am afraid he is going to run over my feet. But replacement spring is being brought up by brother Will.
Talk About Self Inflicted Travel Troubles
Knowing that we are flying from somewhere East home to Colorado, I start looking into where can we fly out of, reasonable airfare and big enough city where we can store Wanda. I land on flying out of Raleigh, found a storage place AND talk to Bob and Linda (Scotty’s dad) and planned with them visit and make this the go-to place for return from CO. All is going well, as we found campground just outside of Raleigh (nice place too) and decide to take a ride to check out the storage. So we get there, about an hour from airport, it is going to work out great. THENNNN Ty speaks up and says “Isn’t Bob and Linda in Charlotte?” Oh my gosh!! Charlotte is 3 hours from Raleigh! We scramble, change flight reservations which unfortunately we do not get the choice seats (since it is only 3 days before we fly out), call about 10 storage lots in the greater C area and finally find something – have to pay for the entire month even if only storing for 10 days! See what I mean? We just are not in our groove yet,
Holding Pattern
Before meeting up with brother we stayed at Peaceful Valley Camp Resort, set in the Catskills mountains and it was a very wide valley with a river running alongside. Campground was probably more than a mile long as it stretched down the river. First impression as we were setting up a M80 went off, reverberating down the valley – not so peaceful. But turned out ok as there were lots of families and friends gathered, playing games, setting off firecrackers and just enjoyed the holiday weekend with a parade of 4 wheelers. We liked this place.
GREAT ADVENTURE 2023 Begins
Brother Will and bride Pam-13 or 14th year traveling together
New York State Capital – Albany New York
We all meet up in Albany NY to begin our six week, much anticipated trip together to Canada. But first, we need to go to the Capital of New York, as it was only a “drive by” (thank you Covid) the last time we were here.
No trip to a capital is complete without a stop to a bakery first! Then a very nice 45-minute tour. NY capital is one of the few that does not have a dome. Rather is resembles a big French house. And, of course, lots of gold leaf and big brassy hanging globe lamps everywhere.
We hit a rails-to-trails the next day; nice 10 mile ride and a very filling Italian dinner – all to celebrate Ty’s 76 birthday.
Schodack Island State Park
Now we have been in a lot a state parks, and this one lives up to the expectation that they are indeed great places to stay. However, the firepit was like looking down into an endless crevasse. Any fire in there would be lost! Will has the brain fart that lets just put the wood on top of the grate. And that is what we did; turned out to be a wonderful fire.
Not Schodack fault however, there must be a million (not exaggerating) Cottonwood trees and right now they are all blooming. The park is covered in a gazillion tiny fluff balls that get into everything. Looks like snow on the ground.
Final May note: The hitch is fixed! Bought a new bed for RV – awww good night sleep
I grew up in Elmira, NY–if you have a chance to see the Finger Lakes…Skaneateles, Ithaca, Watkins Glen….all the waterfalls and hikes are stunning.! Hope you can get there.
We love that area, did it a few years ago! We will revisit Albany as when we were there it was during Covid and could not tour.
That area is always worth a repeat!!