Adam, James, and I took our first 'just the three of us' vacation a few weeks ago. It was mother's day and I wanted to go back to Ithaca, so that's where we went.
First, we took the red eye from San Diego to Atlanta, an annoyingly short flight at only three and a half hours. James took about an hour to fall asleep so none of us got that much sleep before landing. Then we had a four hour layover before our connecting flight to Rochester. So, we set James up in the car seat and I fell asleep while Adam went to fix our tickets. James fell asleep eventually without any complaint :)
We eventually made it to Rochester with that exhausted I-didn't-sleep-enough start. We rented a car and headed to Palmyra.
We headed to down town and saw the Book of Mormon print shop, a three level building that gives tours. James didn't quite have the patience to not touch every single thing so I spent lots of time bribing him with fruit snacks.
Then we drove over to the Mormon temple and the Sacred Grove. James fell asleep in the car so Adam ended up carrying him around.
James had fun running around the Smith cabin and frame home too. His favorite thing to do was to try and run under the ropes to the rooms we weren't supposed to go into. We definitely took the expedited tour.
We drove on (and James fell asleep again) to the Whitmer farm, where once again we took James and he woke up just in time to get back in the car and drive to Ithaca. But it was all good because he was totally content to look out the window at this crazy new place where there were so many trees and open farm spaces.
Just as we were entering Ithaca, we stopped at Taughannock falls. Spring is a great time for water falls in the area because of all the melted snow (it snowed there two or three weeks before we went so it was definitely early spring) so it was big. The look on James's face when he saw it was something else. He was in awe of such a huge towering waterfall.
Finally, we made it to Cornell:
We ate at the awesome The Vietnam Restaurant in collegetown that Adam and I love (and have yet to find an equal to in San Diego) before heading on to campus.
Ithaca Falls, right next to my old apartment, was one of my favorite places. James loved all the water and playing with all the dandelions.
For lunch, we visited Wegman's. I thought I was imagining how awesome that grocery store was, but no, it's HUGE and has amazing ready to eat food.
Later we hiked to lower Buttermilk Falls. James was actually pretty awesome about hiking. He walked in the right direction at a reasonable pace and when he was tired he let Adam carry him.
After some bubble tea with Dani and Gabby, we went to Taste of Thai Express. The beginning of my Thai food obsession.
Top left is the Wesleyan Chapel, where the 1848 convention for women's rights was held. There is a wall right in front of in that picture that looks like the top right picture. It has the entire Declaration of Sentiments. Something I read and thought of how much of it still describes the way I feel as a woman at church.
I couldn't resist a picture of the bathroom signs. I rarely see both men's and women's restrooms with baby changing stations but of course they would here.
Anyway, we drove on to the airport and flew home through LGA/JFK (tip: make sure you have more than a three hour layover if you need to transfer from LGA to JFK. You think it's only ten miles, but in NY traffic that can mean all sorts of things).
James has been to:
California
Utah
Washington
Oregon
Idaho
Colorado
Nevada
Arizona
New Mexico
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Maine
New Hampshire
Vermont
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
Connecticut
New York
Florida
First, we took the red eye from San Diego to Atlanta, an annoyingly short flight at only three and a half hours. James took about an hour to fall asleep so none of us got that much sleep before landing. Then we had a four hour layover before our connecting flight to Rochester. So, we set James up in the car seat and I fell asleep while Adam went to fix our tickets. James fell asleep eventually without any complaint :)
We eventually made it to Rochester with that exhausted I-didn't-sleep-enough start. We rented a car and headed to Palmyra.
We headed to down town and saw the Book of Mormon print shop, a three level building that gives tours. James didn't quite have the patience to not touch every single thing so I spent lots of time bribing him with fruit snacks.
Then we drove over to the Mormon temple and the Sacred Grove. James fell asleep in the car so Adam ended up carrying him around.
Sleeping in the sacred grove.
Eventually he woke up...
And spent an hour running around pulling up dandelions.
It was so beautiful and green. I forget how desert like San Diego is until I go back east. It was so nice to be back.
We drove on (and James fell asleep again) to the Whitmer farm, where once again we took James and he woke up just in time to get back in the car and drive to Ithaca. But it was all good because he was totally content to look out the window at this crazy new place where there were so many trees and open farm spaces.
Just as we were entering Ithaca, we stopped at Taughannock falls. Spring is a great time for water falls in the area because of all the melted snow (it snowed there two or three weeks before we went so it was definitely early spring) so it was big. The look on James's face when he saw it was something else. He was in awe of such a huge towering waterfall.
Finally, we made it to Cornell:
Anabel Taylor hall, the Cornell religion building where we had institute and fhe.
It was so weird to be back to a place you lived for four years but haven't been to in three. It was fun to watch James running across the arts quad and terrorizing the students studying for finals.
The next day we went around to a bunch of our old haunts and visited some long lost friends.
Ithaca Falls, right next to my old apartment, was one of my favorite places. James loved all the water and playing with all the dandelions.
For lunch, we visited Wegman's. I thought I was imagining how awesome that grocery store was, but no, it's HUGE and has amazing ready to eat food.
Later we hiked to lower Buttermilk Falls. James was actually pretty awesome about hiking. He walked in the right direction at a reasonable pace and when he was tired he let Adam carry him.
After some bubble tea with Dani and Gabby, we went to Taste of Thai Express. The beginning of my Thai food obsession.
The next day we were heading out. We drove up the east side of Cayuga lake this time, seeing all the lake houses and having fun looking up how much they cost (especially now that we're used to La Jolla housing prices). We passed through Wells College in Aurora and saw some dairy cows in a barn that James went to say hi to.
Our last stop was at Seneca Falls for the Women's Right's National Historic Park. Now, I'm not going to lie, I have been to every other place we went on this trip dozens of times before. But I had never stopped in Seneca Falls.
But when I was in college I didn't really have any strong feelings about the place (why, I have no idea). But now I do. Since I've started being active in Mormon feminism I've really wanted to go back and see where the original action happened. It was closed, but Adam knocked on all the right doors and talked people into letting us in anyway.
Top left is the Wesleyan Chapel, where the 1848 convention for women's rights was held. There is a wall right in front of in that picture that looks like the top right picture. It has the entire Declaration of Sentiments. Something I read and thought of how much of it still describes the way I feel as a woman at church.
I couldn't resist a picture of the bathroom signs. I rarely see both men's and women's restrooms with baby changing stations but of course they would here.
Anyway, we drove on to the airport and flew home through LGA/JFK (tip: make sure you have more than a three hour layover if you need to transfer from LGA to JFK. You think it's only ten miles, but in NY traffic that can mean all sorts of things).
I loved being back in NY and seeing the places I took for granted in college. It was awesome to take James to see where we'd met and worked and studied. Cornell was a great place to go to school and I miss it a lot.
James has been to:
California
Utah
Washington
Oregon
Idaho
Colorado
Nevada
Arizona
New Mexico
Minnesota
Wisconsin
Maine
New Hampshire
Vermont
Massachusetts
Rhode Island
Connecticut
New York
Florida
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