We left China and arrived on Long Island the third week of June. It was a short summer break as we had to arrive in Germany 2 weeks earlier than returning teachers to do all the “new staff arrival stuff”. However, we made the most of our time and had a wonderful summer.
We managed to get the whole family together, except for Mark and Kelly who live in Florida, for a Tex-Mex dinner one night. The weather cooperated and it was a great outside fiesta.
A motorcycle trip on the Goldwing took us from Long Island, over to CN to see where Greg and Jess live, then the beautiful weather beckoned us on and we headed to upstate NY. A night in Windham is usually quiet, however this year the town was busy as they were just finishing hosting one round of the Mountain Bike semi-finals - there were bikes and bikers everywhere. I wish we could have seen some of the racing, but the events were finished by the time we got there. They were next on to Switzerland.
A trip to Chuck and Laura’s home is always full of family, conversation, and great food! We toured the Brewery where Jane works, swam in the lake, talked ‘shop’ with Chuck, and visited with some of their friends.
The stop at the Classic Car Museum in Norwich was great fun - amazingly, pristine restored cars from the early 1900’s to the 1960’s with lots of information and descriptions, along with costumes of the times. I didn’t get a picture of a classic, black dress with gold trim from the 1920’s - I’d wear that today! It was fascinating, even for a non-car geek like me and Billy, as a car buff, loved it as well.
We spent a couple more days onward through more open roads of NY state, into VT, down to CN and finally back to Long Island. The weather cooperated perfectly - sunny, warm (not too hot) and no rain!
Amidst trips and visiting, we made our annual pilgrimage to Kohls for shopping, did some bike riding, and Ann spent hours doing an online course for “English Language Learners” course to renew her certificate with Arizona.
Photo Gallery: click on each to see a larger image.