11:34 p.m. - Wednesday, July 6, 2005
Vaction 2005
AAAhhhhhh vacation!! What a lovely way to spend a week! I think so much better on vacation and the bummer of it all is I didn�t have a notebook to write these thoughts down. Trust me they were very good ones; mostly funny observations but here and there some serious thoughts. It was a very busy vacation for us this year. We went camping with our friends John and Laurie and their two kids. One observation I wish I hadn�t made was of their son throwing a tantrum. I could have smacked that boy. Tantrums in little kids are to be expected but not in 14 yr olds! They are also very very picky about everything. They can�t just pick up and go anywhere they have to do this and do that and blah blah blah. We just see a restaurant and walk in find something suitable and eat it, they can�t they have to find something that appeals to their very persnickety tastes. Like we were pressed for time this one place and there was a Mickey D�s but ohhh nooo they couldn�t eat there they didn�t like anything on their menu. That is when their son started throwing his fit about not wanting to eat there and how he wanted to eat some place else with better food. So we decided to not do the next thing but wait till the next one. Laurie and her kids went on a walk about and found a pizza place and ordered pizza. It was good and everything worked out. I was just really hunger and it was hot and well so I was a bit crabby. OYY!! I feel so bad for any girl that boy dates or marries. He will treat her like shit. He treats his mom terribly which makes me want to slap him all the more. OYY! Of course we all know how he got that way thought she didn�t teach him any better. I certainly hope that I have taught my son better than that. Actually that is the only stuff that marred our vacation. Trust me I have had vacations from hell with other people. I think that since that was the only blemish it was a fantastic vacation. The kids didn�t really fight the girls thought the boys were ignorant most of the time but they put up with them, but the boys got along and the girls got along and all the adults got along. I had a good time it was great. I wish my friend Laurie wasn�t so down on herself and that did get on my nerves a bit. She kept saying things like �I can�t do nothing right,� or �John will yell at me cause I can�t do anything to suit him.� That drove me a bit nuts, but I like her more than the sum of her whininess so it wasn�t too bad. I just kept on saying, who cares, he is a big boy he will get over it! Like the lady walking into a women�s restroom at a rest stop saying to her son, �ohh suck it up you will be alright in here with me.� I think if more kids heard things like this they wouldn�t be so annoying! OK on with the good stuff.
Day one, we got outta here about 10 am and began driving for the first stop for the night. A little campground called Moyer�s Grove campground about 2 thirds of the way to the NY campground. This was just a stop over so we didn�t have to drive 8 hr. straight because John was getting out of a postal convention in Indiana and wouldn�t be done till 2. We got there first of course and set up just in time for it to rain. Luckily I got a huge tarp and it not only covered the tent but it made a really nice canopy over the table and what not. So we didn�t get to sit around the fire that night but we did sit around and visit and stayed dry!
Day 2 it was up, eat, pack up and move on. We arrived at the KOA campground in NY about 2ish and set camp back up and settled in. It rained a bit there too, but nothing so bad. We had joined the tarp canopy and their awning thing so we had a nice size area to sit in with the campfire just outside of the covered area so we had our fire while we stayed dry but we didn�t get too much rain. We did have to use a fan to blow the smoke the other way though. That was too funny, but it worked. It had been suggested but I made it happen. It was early to bed this night for the tour to NYC was the following day and we were to be on the bus by 7:15 am. YIKES! Everyone got up and was ready and was waiting on the bus. Our tour guide was fantastic she had many interesting facts and stories which kept us entertained on the way down. First stop was the ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty. That was cool. We rode out and it was a really really cool ride but watching the Grand Lady get bigger and appear out of the haze. It was very hazy this morning and she was at first just an outline. Funny that the statue wasn�t even something the American�s wanted heck they wouldn�t even donate enough money to build the pedestal for her. She was given to us by the French People not the government. It was a slap in the face to their government. It was during the depression that they were trying to raise the money for her place and it took something like 11 years to get it done and dedicated. They were actually a year behind because of it. Amazing how it has become one of our most loved American symbols. I enjoyed looking at the Green Lady wondering what she would look like all shined up like a new penny. Which she is made of copper plates so I was wondering what did she look like when she was first sent over? Were her plates polished copper?? Were they a dull unpolished copper had they already oxidized so they were a dark copper color?? Now she is green thanks to the air and acid rain over the years. She is a pretty green though. I liked this particular point of view.
Next it was off to downtown Manhattan. Now that is a cool place to be. We got off the ferry and bought some T-shirts which I am going to wear today, and walked to Battery Park, haven�t a clue why it is called that but there were the funny people dressed up like Lady Liberty and posed for photos with people they were sorta interesting. Then we got back on the tour bus and headed down to the place where we would be dropped off for a little over an hour. We asked our tour guide where we could get real authentic NY pizza not a tourist trap she told us about this little place that was really nothing but a hole in the wall but it had great pizza mmmmm!!! It was very yummy! After that we wondered around a bit till we found Pier 17 which would have been even better had we had the time to hang out and explore some. It was great what we did see. I squashed pennies every chance I got so I have them for my scrapbook pages. I so can�t wait to do this book. I think I took something like 389 photos, and this doesn�t count the 2 rolls of 24 I took with the other camera either. OYY!! Now there will be some developing costs! Anywho�while we were in this mall for about 10 min. at the last min. hubby boy and Kay decide there is a Nathan�s hot dog stand in the food court. I am worried we are going to miss the bus like a family did at the first stop the guide had to go fetch them. So I send John and Laurie on and hope that Kay and hubby boy won�t be too long. So I wait with for them getting angrier by the second. Finally here they come with their hot dogs just beaming and full of the thrill of the whole adventure. We made it back to the bus with plenty of time to spare. YAY!!
Next it was off to the Empire State Building, where we took 2 elevators to the 86th floor observation deck. Surprisingly I felt safe where hubby boy and Laurie didn�t. Odd cause usually I�m the one with the whole feel like I�m going to fall off the edge person. I must have been to excited, and the walls were enclosed and the sides were high so I didn�t have a problem with that. Took more photos!! YAY!! After that we came done and had a few min. before the bus was to come back and I so needed a caffeine fix by this time, so our tour guide told me where to get an iced coffee just down the street. Kay and I took off down the street only to find they had just closed, much to our dismay, back to good ol� Starbucks it cost me something like $4 and change but it was very very good. YUMMMM YUMMM!!! We met back up with everybody and boarded the bus for the rest of the tour downtown.
Back on the bus they took us through the legendary �towns� of NYC, China Town, the lighting district and what not on our way to Rockefeller Center. I thought it would be so much bigger than what it was. HUMM.. ohh well.. then we got to see Central Park and St. Patrick�s Cathedral (we didn�t go inside but got to see the outside), walked past Saks 5th Ave.. Back on the bus to get to Times Square, we got to see the busiest intersection in the world, and where the New Years Ball drops, and why but I can�t remember, I also got a hot pretzel which was great however I do believe that the mustard smelled suspiciously like chicken poop? Go figure. It didn�t taste like that though. Hahaha. We passed Macy�s and Harold�s Square.
One of the coolest events on the whole vacation was Paul buying a Rolex. He had been talking about doing this since Kay went and he found out that we were going. So as we were boarding the bus these people had set up their brief cases along the bus and Paul stops to look at the watches and asked how much the older soft looking black guy with a stuttering problem says $40, Paul says I only have $15, the guy says, ok $30, again Paul says I only have $15, the tour guide was standing behind the guy facing Paul giving him the nooooo don�t take it sign with her hands, so the guy says $25 and the tour guide gives him the nod that that is a good price to which Paul says� I only have $15 sorry, and turns to walk away as he takes his 2nd step the guy says, alright $15 and Paul opens his wallet pulls out all the money and hands it to the guy and he got himself a nice blue Rolex watch off a street person in NCY. Our tour guide was just amazed and very pleased how it worked out as were all of us! Here is the look of jubilation on my son�s face�
Next we went back to the campgrounds on the bus which was nice we were stuck driving in all that traffic. It was a long but fun day it would have been nicer to have gotten to see a show and what not but you know�. I don�t think we could have gotten more bang for our buck if we tried. It was a great tour for the money. We only paid $70 per adult and $50 for the kids, a great deal!
Thanks to a nasty storm and an accident we didn�t get back to the campgrounds till almost 7:30 or 8 pm. A great time was had by all of us.
The next morning it was time to pack up and head to back into PA for 2 days of touring. It was nice to just relax after we got all set up which was I do believe Sat. evening (July 2, 2005). Sunday morning we got up and went to see the Bushkill Falls. They were soo breathtaking. Not as awe inspiring at the mighty Niagara Falls but it was right up there in beauty. These falls were ensconced in woods and mountains. We had the perfect day for a walk in the woods. HAHAHA�. Well I thought it was going to be a walk in the woods, here it turned out to be hiking up and down mountains in the woods. We took the longest train and lived to tell about it. I have to admit it was worth the whole hike! Absolutely gorgeous. This photo doesn�t do it justice�.
We had a good time but were tuckered and cranky when we got back to the trucks to have a picnic lunch. The one thing that annoyed the hell out of me is the fact that they couldn�t just take some beverages and stop and buy some hoagies for lunch somewhere we actually too their little grill and made hot dogs and toasted cheese for the kids since I forgot to put the hamburgers in their cooler. Why they go to all the trouble is beyond me. I would have loved to just have grabbed some subs at subway and been done with it. They sorta had to make a big production out of everything no matter how small, but everybody has the quirks and I am sure I did stuff that annoyed the heck right out of them too. Lunch was good and once everyone ate it was a nice afternoon. I expected to see many foreign people in NYC but man we the generic stereotypical white Americans were in the minority there were many and I mean the majority of the people picnicking around us were some sort of Indian and I mean the country India not native Americans. They were some nice clothes to go hiking I�ll tell ya. I did get tired of not hearing English, it wasn�t that I cared to know what they were saying but you know how annoying static is on a TV or radio? Their language I couldn�t understand was like that to me. I just didn�t want to hear it any more. A lot of them had New Jersey plated on their cars and we even had a huge and I mean huge part of them camping across from us they were everywhere. They seemed nice enough but the whole language thing got on my nerves. After that we went back to the campground and hung out got showers and kicked back. We took entirely too much food. I ended up pitching the chick breast meat I had taken to make packet dinners. We moved around too much to have time to make a time consuming dinner. It wasn�t till we were at the last campgrounds that we had time 2 nights to make a dinner that took some time, by then I wasn�t sure if I wanted to chance eating it even though it had been kept in the cooler with ice the whole time. But we ate everything else, well I did have to toss some pasta salad and that is because the noodles were very good in it to begin with, but we ate almost all of it.
Monday was the 4th and we were concerned that the Crayola Factory would be closed for the holiday, but we called and they weren�t so we went on down to a quaint little town called Easton, home of Crayola. There we toured the factory **well had a demonstration of how the crayons are made in a little display area** then we went upstairs to the part where they let you try all sorts of things that were fun using all their products. Although not everything had to do with their products some things were just fun. If you have kids or are a kid at heart that loves to play with artist stuff you would love this place. I of course had to at least do something to do with scrapbooking so I used one of my tokens to get some of their modeling compound and made tags and stuff for the page I will do with the photos. Very cool place!
The only time I felt like killing someone was when they son threw a tantrum about eating at the Mickey D�s there. We were sorta in a hurry and there was an express Mickey D�s so we thought we would grab some quick lunch and hurry off to catch the canal boat ride. Well he couldn�t eat anything there because he didn�t �like� any of it and wanted to eat some place good. I could have slapped that boy, if he had been mine I would have told him that too bad Charlie you will eat here or starve his choice. So she ended up going on a walk about around there to see if there was someplace he would eat at. They found a pizza place which was actually pretty darn good to be honest, but we had to take the next boat ride because of his brattiness! Her kids are so persnickety they can�t eat anywhere but special places and certain things. They don�t LIKE it. I would make mine fend for themselves if that was the case!! I respect my kid�s likes and dislikes to a certain degree but she goes overboard.
After eating pizza which was cost effective for them, about the same for us either way, we were off to find the canal boat ride. I enjoyed the museum that was along with the Crayola tour, the one old guy there was very knowledgeable about the canal system here in the Northeastern US. I didn�t know it but we have a few right here in my home town. I can�t wait to go to the historical society and check it out. I am talking about the types of canals that used mules to pull the boats along them to move coal and other items from one place to another. Getting coal from one side of PA to the other side would take about a week by horse and wagon and not bring that much but with the canals and wagons it only took about 3 days. Not too bad I would say but the railroad put and end to them because it was more efficient and faster to move things about, but for a while they were a great thing! We went and took a canal boat ride which put Paul to sleep. The tour guide talked so soothingly and the day was pleasantly warm with a slight breeze just perfect for an afternoon nap. It was a neat thing to do, very relaxing. We stopped at Wally World and Laurie picked up a few things and spent the rest of the evening just hanging out at the campgrounds which was almost empty by the time we got back. All those noisy people that didn�t speak English across the way from us were gone,,, Hallelujah!!!! The campgrounds were quiet and we just spent the evening sitting by the fire, we took a walk, then the owner came around and said there was some fireworks down by the entrance to the grounds so we went and watched some drunk guys set off some fireworks, nothing too elaborate but we got to see something for the 4th. We went to bed and got up the next morning and packed up and came home. We had planned to stop about half way home but the lady watching my dog sounded like it was too much of a pain in the backside for her so we cut it a day short and came home early. We got home about 5:30, which wasn�t bad since we were only about 20 min from the NY line. We didn�t hit any bad traffic and was able to roll right along down the freeway about 70 MPH. I was glad to be home and the dog was very glad to see us. She had been sick 3 times and hadn�t been eating while we were gone. Poor thing I don�t think I will got for more than a couple days if I leave her again. The kids and I are going to Ohio for 2 nights but hubby boy isn�t going along so she won�t be too lonely. He will have to work the days I�m gone but she will have him home at in the evening and all night.
So that was our vacation. I enjoyed it, and I think the kids did too, and I know hubby boy enjoyed it since he said so. I�m glad everyone had a good time, the only way it could have been better was if I had gotten to spend a bit of time in a scrapbook store. OHH well, another time perhaps!
It has taken me all day to write this entry and the day is done so I am thinking that I should post and get to bed. I have my mom and her friend coming in the morning to get their hair done. YAY!! I�ve missed my Mom!
Always Remember and Never Forget�.when the sign says Long Steep Hike they mean it!
