Family, food and good times. I had a blast on this vacation to NY. When I told folks I was heading to upstate New York….one co-worker from NYC asked, “Why?” Screw him. I like the Big Apple – city lights, amazing food and that urban energy. But there’s also plenty to love about the place where Mark grew up. We skipped over to Canada. Checked out one of the most amazing feats of human engineering at Niagara Falls. Farmland, sunflowers and of course, the pleasure of hanging out with family.
Back at the campsite at the Green Lakes State Park in Fayetteville …the kids swooped in for some cake.
It was a very tasty cake. OK…like I said before, it was raining. On top of that, I didn’t want to lug our camping gear on the plane. So, Mark’s cousin Sue said we could spend that night at her place. Which was totally a blessing since it was quite wet out there. Terri made Pink Panties, a frozen blend of alcohol, whip cream and juice. We checked out pictures on Kaine’s laptop. We also played a rousing game of foosball. Despite the fact I interviewed the author behind Zen and the Art of Foosball – I still lost at table soccer. Then Mark and Kaine hooked up a PS2 and disappered into a fantasy world of professional sports…NFL, MLB and more. We drove back to Buffalo the next day. We did dinner at Tom and Carlene’s place. I got Devon to teach me some Irish soft-shoe dancing. That was a little complicated in jeans, but I think I was able to follow along. Then I taught her some tango moves.
Here’s where Terri works. She said Mark grandfather used to work here during WWII….when it was a weapons manufacturing plant. I’m always intrigued by the intersection of industry and agriculture in this part of New York. I went into those thoughts a little more in a travel log I filed for my old news magazine.