Palmyra et al Family Vacation

Hi all:

Some friends have asked for details about our Church Sites trip on Nov. 6 to 8, so here's a little travelogue that may help in your planning, along with our highlights.

We left on Thursday night around 5 p.m. as the kids had Friday off for a school conference. I was surprised that the mapping systems said it was fastest to go on I-80 through NJ and Penn. to Scranton and then up through Binghamton and Syracuse, and then on to Rochester.

Driving at night definitely has its perks and its drawbacks. It was great the kids all fell asleep at some point. But I had some heavy rain in NJ, and then snow going over a peak outside of Syracuse, and all that in the dark wasn't fun. But the new Honda van drives smoothly and that was part of the reason for the trip.

We arrived at the Homewood Suites in Victor, NY around 11:30 p.m. -- it took us about 6.5 hours with stops, snow, and rain. I'm a big fan of Homewood Suites as it has sleeping for 6. This unit had one big bedroom with two doubles, then a small pullout couch for the little boys in another room -- along with full fridge, microwave and oven. The rate was $150, but we knew of a promotion that got it down to $135. We felt it was the perfect location as it was just off the Thruway and perfectly situated between Rochester and Palmyra, which was convenient. We liked the free hot breakfast each morning, the pool was the right size (and actually warm) for the kids, and low hassle.

On Friday, we got in the van again and drove to Niagara Falls. I had never seen it and I was actually very impressed. It's about a 1.5 hour drive, I believe. We arrived around 9:30 or so. The Maiden of the Mist boats close in late October, so we couldn't do that. But the state park was free except $10 to park (which allows you to park at the welcome center and then over on Goat Island....I never mind paying a little into the system to keep it up and running).

I knew that the view is more impressive from the Canada side, but I also knew that all U.S. citizens need a passport when driving into Canada now. Unfortunately, I didn't look closer to see that kids with a birth certificate can go sans passport so we could have driven across as Kathryn and I have passports, but alas, we didn't. Something for next time.

But the view from where we were was amazing. I'm surprised we could get so close to the edge at the top of falls. It's not really very fancy but I like that it's just kinda simple and I like that the safety experts haven't shut down such close access. All in all, we spent about 1.5 hours there.

(For the record, the towns on the NY and Canada side look very cheezy and dated...yet again, kind of refreshing to not see everything all "Disney-fied". It is what it is)

We then drove back to Rochester to the National Museum of Play (and Toy Hall of Fame). We felt this is the best kids museum we've been to. We arrived around 2 p.m. and stayed until about 5:30. Lots of open space, no crowds (as it was a weekday), and fun things for everyone, including a well stocked arcade of video games familiar to me (Asteroids, Tapper, Defender, Q-Bert, Popeye, Ultra Bowl, Berzerk). From a career perspective, it was fun to walk through the Toys Hall of Fame and identify the Hasbro stuff.

We returned to the hotel (about a 20 minute drive) and tried to go to Chilis, but a 45 minute wait at 5:15 at night. Well, what else do you do in Victor? So we went to Denny's which was surprisingly fun and good. The highlight was Sammy making a biscuit snowman. Then a visit to the pool and everyone collapsed into bed.

Sat and Sun. to be covered in my next post....

General Conference

So it's general conference weekend, and I was thinking about how my listening and/or viewing of it has changed over the years while being in New York:

• Single, living in the city from 1994 to 1998: We would have to go to the stake center (which is now a temple) to view all the sessions. Sometimes, on Saturday, we'd go to Dallas BBQ between sessions 1 and 2.

• Newly married and living in Tuckahoe: We actually got a session or two on cable, but as I recall, they had a habit of cutting off after one hour.

• Married and living in Tuckahoe: the cable option stopped after LDS member David Checketts stopped being the CEO of the cable company. We'd take turns attending sessions at the Scarsdale chapel with the other parent staying home with the kids

• More married and living in Tuckahoe: Internet broadcast seemed to work well, but just audio for us. We "only" had one computer and it wasn't on wireless, so we had to squish into the upstairs "office" room and listen to it up there.

• More married and living in Tuckahoe: Kathryn's greatest upgrade suggestion: still broadcast the audio on the computer on the 3rd floor BUT broadcast it downstairs via the baby monitor

• Even more married and living in Tuckahoe: Wireless router and a laptop at work (that came home on the weekends) allowed for us to have conference "live" (no baby monitor) in any place in our house. Video wasn't reliable enough for us yet

• Eastchester house: video better and we can watch it as a family on my laptop or our bigger desktop computer. The system "skips" a bit and a 2 hour session ends up taking 2 hours and 10 minutes. I bring home a speaker from work to amp the sound.

ª Oct 2009: Eastchester, four kids, one on the way: we can now plug the laptop into the flat screen and watch it on TV (just like Utah!) We will plug the laptop into the internet router with ethernet cable to hopefully enjoy a 2 hour session in 2 hours.

GOOOOO Conference!!!

Mark

Good thing I market "Boys Toys"

Well, we'll continue to need Star Wars toys and be playing with Transformers for many years to come .....

Our 5th baby, due Jan. 31, will be a boy. Fun times!

Mark

Summer Travel Recap

Hi:

I'm welcoming a co-author tonight as Josh helps me recall the best and worst moments from our summer trip out west. These are in no particular order:

GOOD
• Cherry Hill water park
• Josh and Kathryn going to Yankees game at Angels Stadium (and taking Amtrak there from San Diego)
• Dad's birthday breakfast at the diner in Coronado with just Josh and Caroline
• Kids' reaction to finding out that we're having a 5th baby in January
• Our "first night in San Diego" hotel including nice pool
• Collecting sand dollars on the beach
• Seeing Dad when he arrived in Utah after being away from the family for a couple of weeks
• Dad taking Sam and Matthew to Legoland....LOVED the water park portion
• Seaport Village on our arrival day in San Diego
• Day 2 of the Rytting Family Reunion in Utah
• Being with the Sackewitz kids for most of our time in Coronado
• Lagoon, for those who went -- Fun Day with Parker for Josh, who didn't go
• Going with Grandpa to Shivers -- just Josh and Caroline
• Mommy and Daddy getting their i Phones -- and the little ones getting to play with them
• Mommy's high school reunion and trip to San Fran (including seeing Uncle Don and family)
• Marching in Children's Pioneer Parade
• Annual Sackewitz BBQ and fireworks
• Hiking Desolation trail with older kids -- though it was longer and harder than anticipated

BAD
• Waiting in the hot sun for autographs that didn't happen at Angels game
• Matthew getting lost at the "first night" hotel for a very short spell...just long enough to panic his parents
• Mom falling off the wagon....literally...at This is the Place State Park
• Enterprise claiming we had damaged the rental car and then having to deal with the paperwork

Returning to Blogging

Hi all:

If I haven't alienated my one follower -- and the one fan in California who, during a 'author mix and mingle' at an LDS chapel said she loves the blog -- then I'm going to get this blog active again.

As rain is forecast for this weekend, washing out the trip to our boss' pool, I'll have time to actually post something witty and insightful....or at the very least, my travel highlights.

Cheers.

Mark

I've lost my medallion status :(

Well, I now have to be part of the huddled unwashed masses when flying Delta. I've been defrocked. Delta took away my medallion status . Turns out they expect you to fly often to keep that status.

Last week, I had my first Delta flight since last August. I checked in and found out I had to pay $15 for baggage. I asked when they started charging for medallion passenger. They said "We don't.....you aren't." ARGH.

I now don't board in group 2....I boarded in group 8. Bye bye potential upgrades. No more access to the super secret toll free line that goes to U.S.-based operators. I'm just like everyone else.

Then again, the price for Medallion is flying often, and after this last flight, I realize that's a high prize. I think if they want to torture terrorists, they should have them fly coach in a window seat on Delta. Tack on a red eye on the return, and it's one of the inner circles of Dante's hell. And I didn't even have kids with me!

But the trip was a success. I was in Pasadena for the Transformers Convention, and we got a great big story in the New York Times. So who's complaining?

Mark

I've lost my medallion status :(