Day 17 – Endicott, NY to New England

Boston … “the cradle of democracy”

The 5 hour trip was uneventful - beautiful weather, a few “when are we going to eat” inquiries but much of the time, I was the only one awake.


We arrived at Bernie and Barbara’s home in the middle of the afternoon and then took a short ride to Babson College to see what used to be “the worlds largest rotating globe” (currently the second largest to “Eartha”. It is a bit different then it originally was, but it was still fun to see and for the girls to find Thailand on the map.


Then we visited Wellesley College (Ms Hillary Clinton graduated from there) and walked around some nature tails.


Happy nature walkers at Wellesley College

Day 16 – Father’s Day – June 17th

We had a very lazy day today, reading, relaxing, and of course “playing with Patrick” … but the highlight of the day was our Father’s Day lunch at a Chinese Buffet , with Angie, Pom Pom Jack (Patrick’s version of “grandpa”), Sharon, Terry, Betty, Su, Gigg and Patrick. We spent the evening gathering our things for the next part of our trip … to Boston and Cape Cod.

Day 15 – A Day in Ithaca

Sharon and Terry took the girls to Ithaca to see the Commons (downtown shopping area), the gorges (Ithaca is gorges, get it?) Cornell University (25,000 students) and their previous house. The girls also ate at a very nice Thai restaurant and Su had the best som tom that she has had in the USA.



Mark Ruffalo was there acting all "L.A." by talking on his cell phone.


They did a lot of walking and returned from that day trip very tired. I asked them if they wanted to go for a walk and they were too tired to consider that. I rephrased the question, and asked them if they wanted to walk over to our neighbors house to see his wet garden with a pool and Koi fish (big goldfish), and when Gigg heard our neighbor had a young, single son, she was the first one out of the door, leading the way to the “fish”.

Su has never really cooked very much … in fact … not at all. She tried cooking once on a camping trip in Thailand with some friends and she did make herself a little stir fry here one night … but tonight …she cut up all of the veggies we had, used all of our Asian sauces (Oyster, Soy and Fish), added shrimp and called upon some vague recollections she had of her mother in Surin cooking something like this, to add a few other ingredients, and she prepared a very nice meal for all 7 people this evening (and nobody died). Actually, it was a very good meal and Su can now officially call herself a “cook”.

Day 14 – The Highlights of Endicott

Today we showed the girls the highlights of Endicott … a carousel, the buildings that housed the once mighty IBM and the arch, erected by the workers of Endicott Johnson. Then we went to Pat Mitchell’s for some homemade ice cream. That’s about it for the highlights of Endicott. “Playing with Patrick” was the key activity for the entire stay in Endicott, and that included reading him bedtime stories.




Su couldn’t keep her hands off of one of the melons before we ate it.


In the evening we took the girls to the Cidermill Playhouse to see “The King and I”. They enjoyed the musical play, although I’m sure the producers and director of the play didn’t think there would be two young gals from Bangkok sitting in the audience criticizing the dress, the mannerisms, and the general authenticity. One of the gals mentioned that they could have done some research to get some of the clothing details right, etc. This play did give the girls a chance to get all decked out in the “nice dresses”. They had asked me what type of clothing to bring … and I said “jeans and shorts” …and you could bring a dress … but the only reason you would get to wear it would be if we were invited to a wedding. Well … since there will be no wedding this summer, this was a perfect opportunity for them, and it made us feel like it was prom night … and we were taking pictures of our two beautiful daughters … headed out for their big evening on the town.

Day 13 – The IBM retirees’ monthly luncheon

This morning the girls accompanied Patrick to a park where he went to play with one of his little friends. We then went to the "old IBM retired person's monthly lunch" at a Chinese Buffet.


The girls loved the food, and were able to taste a lot of different dishes. They actually enjoyed being with the old folks and especially liked the Bill and the Wolfman. We'll be seeing the Wolfman and Fisherman Bill the last week of June to learn some survival skills and have a little fun at the "wilderness camp". After we got back from lunch, Gigg became mom's gardening assistant and Patrick became Gigg's gardening assistant... and they worked on cleaning up some of the flower gardens.




Here is a photo of Sharon and Mark.

Day 12 – Patrick and his two new buddies

The day started with the girls and Patrick bonding and spending the day together. Patrick finally found someone who wanted to "play" as much as he did. He giggled and laughed all day.







Mom looked up a recipe for Thai stir fry ... and the girls helped her slice, cut, scrape and prepare all the veggies.


The meal was a success, and then Sharon, the girls and I went to Pat Mitchell’s, our most famous local home made ice creamer vendor. After ice cream ... Sharon and I showed the girls all that there is too see in Endicott ... the carousel and the EJ Workers Arch. We also stopped by the baseball fields, the volleyball fields, the soccer fields, and didn’t find any cute guys, although we did observe that one of the guys playing sports that night owned a Lincoln.

Day 11 - The Grand Canyon of the East and Endicott

We drove from Buffalo to Endicott today. (You can click the map below for a bigger version.)


Today we visited Lechtworth State Park and saw the grand canyon of the east.



I pointed out a circling hawk and the girls commented that they could see a lot of those at home in Thailand. We soon got into the swing of things and took a lot more pics of some very nice views.





We also had an invigorating jaunt up and down the 157 steps to the lower falls viewing area.

We arrived at my home in Endicott at about 8pm, and from that point on it was all Su, Gigg and Patrick. Patrick may have given and gotten more kisses in the next hour or so then he has had in the last 6 months. Some have speculated that guys wearing Texas Longhorn t-shirts get lots of kisses, and this seems to be true.


They also finally got to meet mom


Sharon


and Terry.


Gigg immediately observed that Terry looked exactly like a movie star (and with the help of the internet we determined that to be Mark Ruffalo).


Further coincidences reveal themselves, and it becomes confusing to determine where Mark Ruffalo stops and where Terry begins. For instance, Terry is currently finishing up his law degree at the University of Buffalo. Hmmmm, could that rhyming be coincidence? And Mark Ruffalo is often intoxicated by midday on his favorite adult beverage - Guinness. Terry's last name? McGuinness! Even more interesting is that they each get five o'clock shadow at about 10am. Here is a photo of Terry just before lunch one day. Oh wait, maybe this is Mark Ruffalo? Who can tell?!


You can see more photos of this handsome hunk and try to figure out which are Terry and which are Mark by clicking here.

Day 10 - "Slowly he turned ..." - Niagara Falls

Today was a great weather day and we went to the American falls. We are probably the only people who spent the first two hours at Niagara Falls State Park, and still had not seen the falls. There are lots of trees and statues and flowers and gardens and insects and clover (the gals seem to have taken a liking to clover) and of course all of these had to be photographed.



So .., there was no rush, and we eventually got to see the falls from every vantage point and we have a lot of pictures of the falls of course.



Somehow, some random pictures of some "handsome guys" seem to have gotten mysteriously in our cameras.


Before going to the falls we had a buffet lunch at a Thai restaurant, and the girls enjoyed the food, but also enjoyed chatting with the owner.

After the falls we went out for dinner to the famous original home of”Buffalo Chicken Wings" ... the Anchor Bar. We got the hottest (but not the "suicidal level") and they really liked them. We ended up ordering the double order (20), knowing we would have some to take home. The girls ate Buffalo Wings for breakfast the next day (they don't have any predisposition as to what food can be eaten for various meals.)

Day 9 – “Go East young Thais, Go East”

Today, we drove probably the longest single leg we will drive on our trip, leaving Chicago at about 830am and arriving in Buffalo at about 830pm. You can click on the map below to get a bigger version.


I guess all that has to be said is ... we arrived alive, happy and none he worse for wear. At times our trip had some overtones of “National Lampoons Vacation" ... with a number of inquiries of “when are we going to stop to eat"... but other then that ... it was an uneventful journey.


Here we've arrived safe and sound at Sharon and Terry's place in Buffalo.

Day 8 - “The best plan is no plan” (an old Thai philosophy)

Actually, this is only Su’s philosophy … and Mike and I tried to convince her it is not a good one … and in fact, all of the things she did in preparation to come to the USA were indeed planned.

After a week of planned activities, we had a “day off”. We just sat around the house, chatting, looking at Mike and Brenda’s pictures, and started to get our stuff together for the first real leg of our journey.