Sightseeing in NY

On Tuesday we went to Corning, NY which at one time was the home of 55 different glass makers. It is where Corning Glass is still made and where Corning has a Museum of Glass. The museum has examples of just about every kind of glass ever made and an amazing collection of art glass. It is hard to imagine the art objects that can be made from glass unless you see the stuff here. Amazingly enough Tonya was fascinated by a scene made of glass miniatures. Many other things like a 7' cut glass candle holder and an apparent autopsy replica. We also saw a demonstration of glass blowing as a guy made a vase right before our very eyes.. Wednesday it rained all day so we went to an earth history museum in Ithaca where they had what was left of a fish I caught earlier this year. We then went to the Cornell University ornithology (bird watching) lab but the rain meant we mostly just watched the ducks. Left Ithaca this morning and are staying just down the road from Niagara Falls tonight.

Worth The Trip!

The wedding, and recovery from same, is now over. It may have been the most fun wedding we have ever been to. Starting with the rehearsal dinner on Friday night. It was great food at a beautiful setting, and did I mention "open bar". We got to meet all the parents and wedding party as well as see a slideshow of the history of Mike and Sarah. The wedding on Saturday was at the Stratford Hotel, which is right in the middle of the Cornell University campus. Odd to have a hotel on campus I thought, until I found out Cornell has a world famous school of Hotel Administration which the hotel is part of. Mike and Sarah didn't want the wedding to be too conventional and it certainly wasn't as it started with Kate, Mike's sister, explaining how the two had met and what they had been doing in the last 9 1/2 years besides answering the question "When are you guys going to get married?. Then the bride and groom gave the reasons they wanted to marry each other. Mike's consisted of a Top Ten List. Sarah's mother, who is an ordained minister in Nevada (also legal in New York), performed the marriage ceremony. The vows were also unconventional but beautiful, she finished by saying "Mike, you may now kiss my daughter." The reception was a delicious sit down dinner with more silverware than I have ever seen at one setting. Mike played another slide/video show of how a cheerleader fell in love with him, the high school quarterback (actually a trombone playing geek). There was a fun DJ, dancing, and an open bar from 5:00 pm until midnight. The next morning breakfast was provided at the hotel for the people staying there and any other guests that wanted to attend.
We spent yesterday recuperating and walking a steep but beautiful 2 mile state park trail along several waterfalls just a couple of miles from where we are staying. All rested up today and going sightseeing in Corning.

Made it to the church on time.

It took all day to find the valve stems I wanted so we were delayed a day in Erie, but we made it to Ithaca in time to go to the rehearsal dinner last night, great fun. Very steep hills here which is putting the truck transmission to the test. The wedding is this evening, will keep you posted.

It's Erie.

The name of the Lake, name of the city, name of the campground. Erie isn't it.

I'll tell you what's eerie. We were going to leave Whitehouse last Saturday. Had some things to do so changed our plan to leave on Sunday. While going to the hardware store on Saturday one of the truck tire sensors showed a tire losing pressure. I got back home before it went flat, took off the tire, threw it in the trunk of the car and took it to the tire store. Found out it was the rubber valve stem. Had it changed to a solid bolted on valve stem just before closing time. The other tires all have the same rubber valve stem so I knew I was going to change them too when I got a chance. Didn't have time on Saturday, didn't figure I would get it done on the holiday weekend so I would just have them changed when we got to our destination, (they had been on there for couple of years). After getting rigged up here today I ran in to town to get a pizza. On the way home another tire started losing air, I was able to make it home where I found the same problem with anther rubber valve stem. Will get the remaining three valve stems changed tomorrow morning. In the last 4 days all of my driving time has been with the truck loaded. Why did these two failures happen with the truck empty just a few blocks from home? Now that's eerie.

O"hi"o

Made it just past Cincinnati today. Last night we stayed near Nashville in a small RV park full of junky little trailers in a site we could barely get in and out of. Tonight we are in a state park that is probably 400 acres and we have about 100 acres all to ourselves. Traveling in an RV is like a box of chocolates. Drove through Kentucky today. It is the "Bluegrass State" but:

We looked and looked
All over the place
We looked until we were
Blue in the face.
But I did not see any grass that was blue
Not one blade, not two.

What do you do

when it gets to hot in Texas. Go north of course, and that's where we are headed. Took off today for Ithaca, New York where we are going to attend the wedding of our friends, Bob and Kathy Temkow's, daughter. Why? you ask would we go all the way to New York for a wedding. Two words "Open Bar". Besides it's north of Texas, might as well go there, we've got to be somewhere. Made it to just this side of Little Rock, AR today.

While Mom's away. . . . . .

Have had an interesting couple of weeks since getting back to Whitehouse. Last week Tonya started having trouble with her hip replacement. She couldn't put any weight on it without pain. Good thing we still had the scooter and were able to borrow a walker from Tim Gill, who recently had his hip replaced, so she could get around at all. We got her surgeon in LA to send us a prescription to get an x-ray but we couldn't see anything wrong and neither could our regular doctor who we were seeing for our semiannual checkups. He was going to get us in to see a local orthopedic surgeon but that night Tonya rolled over a different way, felt something pop, and when she got up could walk again. A miracle, or her hip just popped back in to place, or something else I am sure the doctors would have been baffled by. At any rate we were good to go to Carrie's the next day and keep Zack for a week while she went on vacation.


This is what Zack thought of me feeding him breakfast for the first time.

We stayed at Carrie's over the weekend, where I had a flu like illness for a couple of days, then brought Zack up to Whitehouse for the week. The first night here we went to Leah's Zumbatomics class for kids at the Y to watch her, Megan, and Paige. Zack loved it and was boogieing down to every song. So, the first night his parents aren't around it seems the Z'ster is out dancing at a CLUB until well past his bedtime. Whatever you do, don't tell mom!


Got the beat.

Megan and mom in matching Zumba pants.

Never missed a step.


Whew! I'm wore out.

The second day I took Zack up to the pool hall and introduced him to the "regulars" that are in there every day. I told him to remember these guys so that in about 12 years he can come back and win back his money that I have let them use temporarily. They all thought he was the E-trade baby. Otherwise he has been having fun playing with his cousins and hanging out with Nana and Papa, although for the last couple of days him and I have been mostly staying at Leah's since Nana has about the same flu I had at Carrie's. She will need to rest today and should be close to normal tomorrow, probably 100% by the time we head back to Carrie's on Saturday.