Roadtrip.

After my aunts left New York, my little brother Seth came out, and we drove upstate, returning to Niagara Falls and Palmyra. It was a terrific trip, made better by excellent company. We rented a car, which we were all a little worried about--I mean, we all enjoy each other's company, but it's been a long time since we embarked upon a roadtrip together. We got a GPS system for the car and decided to just wander, stopping wherever struck our fancy. Luckily for us, fancy struck a lot of interesting places, including Woodstock, NY.

So, funny story about Woodstock. It's not actually where the famed concert took place. Apparently, the concert was supposed to happen there, but they didn't have a space big enough. So, some crazy kid convinced his father (who lived in a town 60 miles away) to let them hold the concert in his field. So, that's what they did, but they liked the name Woodstock so well, they decided to keep it. Interestingly enough, the fact that the concert didn't happen there hasn't prevented loads of people (read: hippies) from visiting there, including this lady:
Now, if you look closely, you will realize that she is sporting a very respectable goatee. Only in Woodstock, folks!




In between Woodstock and Niagara, there was much sleeping, especially by Scout. He was plum tuckered out by the long drive, as you can see. I got a fair amount of sleeping in as well, I'm not gonna deny it.




Along the way, we also stopped at several antique stores (most of which were closed) and somehow happened upon a Revolutionary War site. The site was fine, but what was really exciting was the creepy woods that surrounded us. They were definitely Watcher in the Woods-type woods, made exponentially creepier by the presence of giant spiderweb nests of death on many of the trees.

Luckily, we didn't encounter any of what was inside said nests, but we did get a little lost in the woods. It was scary and exciting.



Finally, we made it to Niagara and promptly went to bed. The next day, we headed out to see the falls, and it was a stunning show indeed, as evidenced by our many wonderous looks:










A terrific time was had by all, except for Scout. He had to stay in the car.









After we visited the Falls, we set about finding more antique stores (for some reason, this was a most sought after activity in this group). Upon arriving in Rochester, we typed "Antique Stores" into the GPS and Edna, our very unpleasant navigator, kept sending us to people's houses. I am fairly certain that theses people were not all named "Antique," and that Edna was acting out some kind of internal technological aggression. Finally, we found a bizarre antiques "mall," which was a cross between The Quilted Bear and an old lady's yard sale, only bigger. Much, much bigger. There were all sorts of treasures to be found there, but most valuable of all was the art we created ourselves in a partially decorated booth:

The next day, we headed out to Palmyra to take in the church sites. This time we did it right, though, skipping through the long pre-recorded exhibits (the Dead Sea Scrolls) and going straight for the good stuff.
















We spent quite a while in the Grove, at the shop where the Book of Mormon was printed, and at the two Smith farms, the first of which Seth was almost too tall for:











All in all, it was a delightful, peaceful trip that reminded me just how lucky I am to have a family that I not only love, but that I enjoy spending time with (even time in a car).

~L