On the road again…

A month-long road trip.

For the first time in almost 50 years, I am not starting September on some kind of school schedule. So, in celebration of my “retirement” (and also, my upcoming 70th birthday) I decided a road trip was in order. I had signed up to take a class in advanced carpentry down in North Carolina and I built the rest of the trip around that. Trains, baseball and music. Maybe a bit of hiking and kayaking, too.

I started my journey heading west. First stop – my daughter’s house, where I got to see Linden’s gymnastics class, Steve (my son-in-law) show off on the new backyard trampoline and Owen show me his nerf gun prowess.

I also got to see Linden off on her first day of 4th grade!

Then it was on to Penn Yan, where my best friend has a little cottage on Keuka Lake. We were blessed with beautiful weather to sit out and look at the water and relax! She’s made her cottage into an oasis with beautiful flowers and plantings. We’ve been friends since junior high…almost 60 years.

I had then planned to drive to Buffalo and take in a baseball game at Sahlen Field, home of the Bisons. However, there was a torrential downpour and the game was canceled. I’d already booked my hotel (a mediocre Best Western, meh) and I didn’t want to drive into downtown. So I found myself at the “Hofbraühaus” – a pretty good German beer hall with live music, decent food (I had sauerbraten with excellent homemade spatzel and red cabbage) and imported German beer. That’s a Dunkel…a traditional dark lager.

I made an early night of it, and today I’m off to Sugarcreek, Ohio – home of the world’s largest cuckoo clock. 😆 (And also some magnificent steam engines.)