Catskills and Clowns

 My husband Jack and I have told each other many times how lucky we are that our grown daughters don't seem to mind spending time with us - in fact, we've made several vacation trips with our eldest daughter Jill and her crew. 

In about 2007 Jill and John invited us to go with them and their sons Michael (age 8) and Joseph (6) to upstate New York, to see the Finger Lakes region, the area around Auburn, where John was born. Jack and I had been to New York City before, but never the northern part of the state, so we were glad to come along.

We flew to Buffalo, and driving from the airport caught our first glimpse of woodchucks (groundhogs), whose burrows we could see alongside the highway. We visited Niagara Falls (both the U.S. and Canada) and that was an amazing experience. On the U.S. side, in the state park, you can stand right alongside the railings and look at the river flowing over, hearing it roar, and be absolutely astonished at the volume of water that just never stops. 

We did the "journey behind the falls," entering through a tunnel and then onto a deck from which you can see the Canadian Horseshoe Falls. We had to remove our shoes and put on rubber sandals and yellow rain ponchos as we began that tour. Afterward, we learned that the used sandals were sent to third-world countries. We joked that as a crate was opened in deepest Africa, the villagers would say, "Oh, great - another bunch of tourists went to Niagara Falls!"

In Niagara, New York, we had the best pizza I have ever eaten. In Auburn, John's birthplace, we saw the Auburn Correctional Facility, which - unlike in Texas where prisons are in the country away from cities -- is right in town! It was rather astonishing to drive in the street right next to it and see houses nearby.

The Finger Lakes region is really lovely with the Catskills and Adirondack mountains nearby. We went to Skaneateles (pronounced skinny atlas), which definitely has one of the strangest names I've come across. 

But my favorite memory of the trip took place in a little town whose names I can't recall, right on the border of Lake Ontario, where we could look across and see Canada. It was a charming place, and we happened to be there when they were having a town gathering, with music being played in a gazebo and everyone in a festive mood. A woman dressed as a clown approached our grandsons and began talking to them about TV characters that were way before their time. She asked if they knew Tony the Tiger and they were completely confused. Finally, in frustration, little Joe turned to his father and asked, "Dad, can you talk to this clown?"

Fourteen years later, that still makes me laugh.