Family and Food

At Ithaca Falls

Monday/Tuesday, Sept. 3-4, 2018

We had a really nice visit with Ed, and the more "extended" family. On Monday morning, we drove into Ithaca to visit with Ed's daughter Elisha, her husband Theo, and their two boys, one of whom we met for the first time. He is only about 3 months old, and definitely cute! We also got to catch up with Elisha's mother, Lisa, and her husband, who were also visiting. We were good friends with Lisa in high school, but we've only seen her at family simchas (bat mitzvahs and weddings) for the past few decades, so it was nice to see her with a chance to just chat. It's hard to really "catch up" at a simcha (especially with the mother of the bride!) so we enjoyed seeing her-- usually I have to ask Elisha, "How's your mom?"

After a couple of hours, we left so the kids could maybe take naps, and went to have lunch. Ithaca has a ton of great looking restaurants, but some were not open on Monday. We ended up at Mexithacan for some very tasty Mexican food. It was REALLY hot, and by the time we got into the restaurant, I was melting. So I had a frozen margarita to cool off .

Ed in his garden

From there, we headed back to Ed's, but we stopped of to be tourists for just a few minutes at Ithaca Falls, one of the several wonderful waterfalls in the town. Joe and I had seen Buttermilk Falls when we were here in 2013, but I think we missed this one.

And then we went "home." Joe took a nap, I read my book, and eventually we made some pesto with the basil from Ed's wonderful garden and had dinner on his deck (which had finally cooled down once the sun was going in.)  And that was it for our evening.

This morning (Tuesday) we woke up early. Ed had to leave soon after 7a.m. to go to the Syracuse airport to meet a friend. So Joe and I got going early as well. We had a bit of a time maneuvering ourselves out of Ed's yard-- the driveway wraps around the house. We came in from one side and Ed thought we could drive right out on the other side. But we discovered when we tried it that to get out on that side, we'd have to take a corner of the house with us-- it was just too tight. So we did a "k-turn", in spades! The space was so tight, we went back and forth about a dozen times, one foot at a time, to reverse the RV and go back out the same way we came in.

"Sam" (the RV) between the garden and house-- tight quarters to turn around!

We decided we had one more day for vacation, and by gosh, we'd use it! So we headed for Chenango Valley State Park about 60 miles away. It turned out to be only a short drive further to Binghamton, NY, and a friend had most highly recommended that if we were anywhere nearby, we should go to his family's absolutely favorite restaurant, Little Venice. So we decided to try that for lunch. We drove to the restaurant, and they had thoughtfully left us a big curbside space right in front (otherwise I was concerned about the parking--so it worked perfectly.) Little Venice turned out to be a family owned "institution" in Binghamton since the 1940s, and it was DELICIOUS. Home made pasta cranked out to order, and a secret house sauce. We completely enjoyed our lunch. Ironically, the two restaurant lunches we had, yesterday and today, almost doubled our previous restaurant meals. In 35 days, we've eaten "out" exactly 5 times-- Mexican in Cody, WY, Thai in Lava Hot Springs, ID, Quaker Steak and Lube in Erie, PA, Mexican in Ithaca, and now Italian in Binghamton.

Other than that, the only stop we made today was at a roadside vegetable stand this morning, where we bought some sweet corn, tomatoes, and some fruit. Joe ate an apple right away for a snack, and said it was delicious. We had the corn at dinner, and it was great too! So that was definitely a good stop.

Once we had lunch, we drove back north a few miles to the park, got a nice spot (it is virtually empty here), and both of us took naps! And since then we've been hanging out, reading, blogging, and otherwise relaxing. This is a good way to spend our last day of vacation. Tomorrow, we will have to head back to Highland Park. I hear it is stinking hot. In our RV tonight, thank goodness we have electricity so the AC is going again. If the house is too hot, we may just hook ourselves up at home and stay in the RV. After all, HERE we have CENTRAL air!

We Love Lucy

Sunday, Sept. 2, 2018

Our trip is slowly winding down now. We slept very well in our casino parking lot, where it was quiet all night. A torrential thunderstorm came along at about 9:30 a.m., but other than that, and the thousand or so seagulls who also spent the morning in the parking lot with us (poop!), it was really a nice pause in the action.

We continued on our way just after 10:00, timing ourselves to arrive in Jamestown, NY just before 11:00, the opening time for the Lucille Ball/Desi Arnaz museum in the quaint little downtown there. We were lucky to find curbside parking just a couple of doors down from the museum. We enjoyed it very much, although we didn't love it as much as we loved the Wizard of Oz museum in Kansas. It was similar in idea-- a background of both Lucy and Desi's life, and the of The Lucy Show, and of their lives after they moved on from that point.

The Lucy Show started as a radio show called My Favorite Husband, which Lucille Balll starred in (Joey said he's heard most of the episodes on the Olde Time Radio station he listens to on Sirius Radio.) When they decided to make it into a TV show, she suggested her husband Desi Arnaz for the part. The sponsors were not wild about the idea, but eventually they gave in (no Desi, no Lucy!) and the show became the most popular show on television. Interestingly, Jamestown was Lucille Ball's home town. Desi actually came from a very prominent Cuban family--his mother was one of the heirs for Bacardi Rum (her father was one of the three founders) and his father was prominent in Cuban government before Batista took it over. The family owned a lot of property, including in southern California ("Ventura" is a family name.) Desi and Lucy divorced right after the show ended, and she went on to continue her career on television while he concentrated on production behind the scenes. They remained close ,and their company, DesiLu, produced many other hit shows.

We liked the museum, but thought they skimped on information about the actors who played Ethel and Fred Mertz-- they gave at least as much background on the writers and even on some of the people behind the scenes. They also didn't do enough to share the music from Desi's Cuban orchestra, which was quite successful in its own right before he became so involved in DesiLu. We would have liked more interview videos and things like that, and they really needed a small room where they played reruns of the various Lucy TV shows for people to watch (the Wizard of Oz museum continually runs the movie in the museum.) So we think the museum could have been "done" better in some ways, but we did enjoy the stop anyway.

We ran through another torrential downpour to get back to our RV when we left the museum--very glad to have found a parking space so close! We moved a few blocks to a park, to eat some lunch, and then hit the road in earnest to drive to Ed's house for the night. It was nice driving through New York for a change instead of Pennsylvania, although the scenery is similar. We did stop at one rest area and both of us took naps, before proceeding.

We arrived at Ed's, just outside Ithaca, NY, at about 6:30, and spent the rest of the evening just shmoozing. Ed made us a fabulous pizza with his own sauce and veggies from his expansive garden, super yummy! And that was pretty much our evening.

My impression of the Vitameatavegamin Commercial

Rolling on East

Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018

A short blog tonight, because I don't have ANY photos and not much to write about. We got a late start this morning-- I overslept!! Joe finally woke me up and to my shock, it was after 10:00-- he said he'd tried twice earlier but I was obviously SOUND asleep! So we didn't leave Walmart until about 11:00 or so.

Our first stop-- buy gas! We had forgotten the evening before, but we were almost entirely out. Then we headed back toward I96, US 23 (taking us through horrible Ann Arbor), and back to I-80. We did make one stop on US 23-- at the Beef Jerky Outlet. We spent quite a while tasting about 60 different flavors before deciding on a few to take home, along with some other goodies. Then we ate our lunch before really settling in for the drive at 2:30.

Other than a quick pit stop at a rest area on the Ohio Turnpike to dump our tanks, we drove right through all of Ohio, following I-90 rather than our usual I-80, up around Cleveland (we saw Lake Erie to our left) and then into Pennsylvania. By then we were getting tired and hungry and it was after 6:00.

We stopped for gas again, and decided we'd splurge and have dinner at a restaurant. So we stoppped in Erie, PA, and had dinner at Quaker Steak & Lube. This had the added advantage of many TV screens showing college football, and I caught the completely unexpected overtime situation and win by Penn State against Appalachian State. Then the Michigan-Notre Dame game came on, and I was faced with the dilemma of wanting BOTH teams to lose, but wanting Michigan to lose worse.

After dinner, we drove 3 more miles down I-90 and got off again at the Presque Isle Downs & Casino. We'd read on our RV Parky app that this was a better place than Walmart to overnight (the Walmart was literally behind the QS&L). It is a HUMUNGOUS parking lot, and quite dark in the area we are at. There are at least another half-dozen RVs parked here as well. It's too bad I wasn't really in the mood to go investigate the casino, I'm sure it would be fun another time. But this is a great free overnight stop.

And... hurrah for shadenfreude!!  Michigan lost! 

Great Day in East Lansing

Deb & Joe at Spartan Stadium

Friday, Aug. 31, 2018 [Note: I am missing a couple of photos]

Friday was just a great day for us! We started out with showers in the excellent shower house at the campground, and then drove about 90 minutes to East Lansing-- or to be precise, to Okemos, the town adjacent to E.L.Our reasoning was that we knew that the game-day parking lot would not open before 3:30 (and they DO stick to that!), but we wanted to get into town early for a particular reason--we needed white MSU shirts to wear to the game. They had decided to "stripe the stadium", meaning that depending what section you are in, you are supposed to wear either green or white. We only owned green shirts, which is what we had with us, but we were in a white section. So of course, we headed to Walmart. We knew we'd be able to park, and also that they would have a healthy selection of Spartan swag, including t-shirts.

We went inside, and the store did not disappoint us, having their entire "sports" section set up behind a Spartan sun tent. They didn't have as much fun "stuff" as I remembered from last time, but we did both find white MSU t-shirts that we liked. Then, resisting the impulse to buy new folding chairs in green and white, we went back to the RV and had lunch.

Walmart's Spartan Section

It was only about 1:30 by that time, however, and I was hoping to see just a little of downtown EL and maybe figure out how to get into the Student Book Store, where I just KNEW that I'd be able to furnish and entire house, if desired, with the MSU-themed items they would have. So we drove slowly into town, noticing all the new buildings, and the absolute mobs of people (not a big surprise on game day). We even caught a glimpse of our first apartment building, although we didn't drive past it for logistical reasons. Joe drove, and with me directing, we were lucky enough to find a large space on the curb a few blocks away from Grand River Avenue (the main drag through town) where we could slide the RV in and just fit!

At that point, Joe made the wise decision to stay in the RV and relax. I had a little over an hour to go shopping. I headed down the street, noticing all the students on their porches (so many of the houses are obviously rentals--I wonder why Joe and I ended up in a single apartment instead of a fun house?)  They were just starting to set up for their pre-game parties.

The town was simply MOBBED, and I noticed an awful lot of people closer to my age than to college age! There was hardly a soul who was not wearing and MSU t-shirt, if not a complete green and white outfit. DEFINITELY game day in the Big Ten! I went to the Student Book Store, and as expected, there were about three rooms devoted to Spartan swag-- I have no idea where the BOOKS might have been, because I did not see ANY! But I spent well over 30 minutes browsing through EVERYTHING (I WANTED everything, too, but I knew I truly did not need a deck of MSU playing cards, or any more MSU coffee mugs, or a Vera Bradly MSU-pattern tote bag, or ANYTHING else... and Cassie did not need a new MSU leash, and the car did not need another MSU magnet. The RV, however, DID need an MSU license plate frame , and Joe did need to replace his horribly faded Block-S green hat with a new one (identical). And I needed just one (ok, two) new magnets for my refrigerator. I *almost* needed an MSU garden stake, but then I decided against that too.

By the time I left the store, it was time to start heading back to the RV so we could continue with the main event of the day. We carefully drove back through the residential streets, dodging large groups of students who were gathering on porches everywhere, and found our way to the RV parking lot at the very fringes of the campus. I didn't mind driving down there, because the route took us past Holmes Hall and Akers Hall, our freshman year residences. The trees seem a lot taller on the East Campus than they were 40 years ago!!

At 3:36, we were already the 6th RV into the lot, meaning we didn't get a place along the curb (and grass) at the edge of the lot. But that was okay, because we wanted to be as near as possible to where the shuttle would pick us up. All in all, there were about 15-16 RVs in the lot by 6:00pm. Most of them had tailgate parties going on, or at least dinner-- but at MY RV, my husband decided to put on the new license plate holder. Of course, it turned out not to be the 10 minute job he expected (something about "locking bolts" holding the license in place, which had to be removed and replaced with something more manageable.) I, otoh, was not stupid-- I sat in a lounge chair in the shade cast by the RV, eating chips and dip and drinking a vodka and tonic.

In the end, we did NOT make any dinner-- at 6pm, Joe had finished the license frame renovation, and it was time to start heading for the station. We had to walk a short distance to catch the shuttle bus. On the ride, we chatted with other passengers, one of whom happened to come from..... Metuchen, NJ!  I mean, how CRAZY is that?

So we got to the stadium, and wending our way through the huge crowds of tailgaters at the foot of the Sacred Building (and past a couple of idiots waving placards and begging us to come to Jesus), we found our way inside, trudged up the zig-zag ramp to the very highest reaches of the stadium, treated ourselves to some stadium food in lieu of a healthier dinner, and finally looked down on the Kingdom of the Spartans from a very fine birds-eye view (our favorite vantage point.) We were in time to see the Spartan Marching Band's pre-game show, enjoy the gentle breeze cooling the warm eveing, and just drink in the atmosphere.

The game was much closer than we expected (or hoped!), which made it exciting, since in the end the Spartans narrowly avoided being upset by a supposedly much inferior team (which was, in truth, quite a good team!) All in all, it was a marvelous evening, and we totally loved it. Joe was so pleased that physically he was in good shape, despite all the walking the event entailed. The game ended sometime around 10:30, and we went DOWN the endless ramp, found our way back to our shuttle point, and rode back to the RV lot again. We waited for a little while, so that some of the massive traffic could clear out of the campus, had a snack, and finally just before midnight, we pulled out of the parking lot and returned to the Walmart. According to our "parking app", it was legal to spend the night there, and we have done it before... but just in case, we waited until the store closed at midnight so there was nobody to ask permission from, in case they would have refused it!

And finally we went to sleep-- it was very quiet, the temperature was low enough to be quite comfortable, and we felt completely happy with the way our day had gone. YAY! V-4-MSU!