So we got up early and started stuffing things into bags. We were on the road by 9:15. Alissa and Rebecca were crammed in the back seat and the back of the car was packed to the ceiling. The trip to Boston was painless. We stopped once in Bordentown and went to the Bottom Dollar for provisions (supermarket lunch).
After some take-out Indian food at A&R's apartment, Jon and I went to see some friends in Lexington. We were particularly bad at giving anyone any notice of our arrival this time, so most people couldn't see us with only a few hours' notice, but there is always someone who has time for a cup of tea. We have been visiting Len and Suzanne together since before we were married -- and now they are grandparents. It is so interesting to be so old already.
The next day we went to see Sarah Bansen -- her schedule allows for a morning visit before she goes off to work -- and then we spent most of the day with Lilah. She seems to be doing really well. She still walks fast in the halls (compared to me, anyway), she has good help with her paper management, she appears to be in good spirits and she laughs when things are funny. We had dinner with Sue and Steve and Mark and Brian and Rebecca in a private dining room, very civilized to be able to hear each other so well.
We hit the road early on Tuesday, dropping Alissa off in the 12 degree weather to wait for the bus. She usually rides her bike because it is so much faster and there is no waiting at the bus stop.
Once we got out of Boston, we had no traffic for the rest of the day. We were entertaining ourselves watching the road reports for the DC area: every road was jammed (in red) for hours that morning because of the snow that fell on very cold roads. Where we were, there were occasional snow squalls and sometimes people would be fishtailing in front of us -- and once we saw a heavy work truck lose its front right wheel but the driver kept control and bumped to a stop on the shoulder, driving on his brake housing. Yikes. Other than that, no excitement.
We had lunch at Wegman's in Binghamtown where we had eaten breakfast two years ago on our way to Canada. If Wegman's were in every major city across the country, we would be all set, but that might have been our one deluxe supermarket meal. The soup was so popular that eight big pots of it were almost empty, but they had plenty of other cooked choices for a hot lunch.
While I drove, Jon did research about what might be open in January for us to stop and look at. As expected, most local museum-y places are closed at this time of year. But we had been to the Corning Museum of Glass before and it seemed likely there might be some other interesting things nearby. We decided to try to make it to the last tour at the Benjamin Patterson Inn which was just past the big museum.
I thought this might happen -- we went in and they looked entirely surprised to see us. We asked if the tours were a real thing, and the nice lady said yes, yes and went to see if the only other employee could take us around. So, in the tradition of Betsy Erickson and Hana, Jon and I had a private tour of a 1797 inn that was built to accommodate all the men were were rushing to this area to purchase land (we were reminded of the origins of the term "land office business."). Since it was just the two of us, we could ask all the questions we wanted, and the tour guide had to admit several times that these were good questions and he had no idea. Usually this place takes in school groups and they do things like watch someone spin wool.
We got to Cleveland at about 9:30, so it was a long day on the road. Rob had just come in from an Executive Committee meeting, Joanie and the kids were here winding up the day. We all stayed up too late talking -- especially too late for Rob who had to leave at 6:30 the next morning to prepare for a Torah Study class at 7:30. The life of a rabbi. Zachary did homework until after 11. The life of a high school freshman. Hope was still reading a huge book in bed at 11:45. The life of an 8 year old?
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