Friday April 13, 2018

I joined Carolann Hill, Peggy and Pastor Craig at church this morning, where we got coffee, tea, etc and cookies ready to take over to the school next door for the teachers.

This is an outreach they do a few times a year and Peggy asked me to help.

I forgot to take my camera, but it probably would have been hard to take pictures anyways since I had a huge flat box of cookies (from Carson's) in my hands most of the time.  The teachers all seemed to enjoy this.  It was fun to see an inside of an elementary school with kids artwork all over.

After that I went over to visit my Uncle Bob and Aunt Hiroko.  I took a cigar box full of items that I think my grandmother (Bob's mother) saved when she was young.  It is some letters and several postcards.  I think I found the box in a closet when I was a teen and that my parents said I could have it.  I left it here at this house when I moved away to go to school, and then I found it again after my mother died in  1979.  It moved with me to Oneonta and then back here!  I got it out a couple of weeks ago and posted a scan of a graduation program from a Catholic school here in Lockport.  After I posted the scan, Uncle Bob called and asked to see the box of items.  I left it with him today so he can spend time going through it.  I had a nice visit with them.

I had planned to go to the rummage sale (Grandma's Attic) at Covenant Church in Gasport, but I decided against it.

I went over to Faith Tab for a CONNECT Team Meeting with Peggy, Dee and Elaine.  The team is a new thing, the four of us will be sharing responsibility rather than Peggy doing all the work for the seniors group.  I think we generated a lot of good ideas.

I met Peggy and her friend Bev at Kalamata's Restaurant

so we could celebrate Bev's birthday.  I had the BBQ ribs.  We had a nice time.

Meet TEDDY ROOSEVELT at the Lockport Library

I spent the morning with Mary Ann at Roswell and then we went to lunch at OUTBACK STEAK HOUSE.   We both had the six ounce sirloin, which came with two sides.  

This event was held at the Lockport Library tonight.  I asked my friend Pam to join me there. 

Mark Carra is the name of the man who does the impersonation. 

The first half hour, he spoke about his (Teddy Roosevelt)'s life and the second half he spoke about nature and animals showing pieces from his extensive collection.  Its apparent that he and the real Teddy Roosevelt were both interested in this.

One of the men who attended this event brought this picture of Teddy Roosevelt in:  

FRIDAY April 7th, 2018: Return to New York

We did not rush this morning, and I had a leisurely breakfast in the hotel.  I prepared myself a huge waffle, and ate about half of it.    I think we left around 9:40 a.m.

We stopped for lunch in Medina, Ohio at a Bob Evans...................we all enjoyed it.  I had the chicken pot pie and a side of carrots.  We all shared the two huge biscuits that came with my meal.   We had a laugh about how the three young female servers did not know what a buckeye is. After all, OHIO IS THE BUCKEYE STATE and they haven't been out of school long.    I purchased two bags of candy before leaving.

The weather seemed to deteriorate after we got to New York.  By the time we got to Niagara County it was snowing lightly, but the snow was not sticking.  It was still light out, so Marsha was not concerned about driving home.  Cindi got her car out of the driveway and we loaded her stuff into her trunk.  She called me less than fifteen minutes later to let me know she arrived home safely.

I had my leftover spaghetti from LaRosa's for supper!  It was SO good to be home!!!  It was a wonderful trip, and we have a lot of great memories.

THURSDAY APRIL 8, at the ARK ENCOUNTER !!!

After breakfast at the COMFORT INN, we headed south towards THE ARK ENCOUNTER, it was about a 45 minute drive.

We parked and then walked to the ticket center,

where we turned in our tickets and were given wrist bands.  We were taken by shuttle bus

to an area closer to the ark and we walked the rest of the way.

It was VERY chilly and windy ans we were glad to get inside. There were NO lines, probably because of our early arrival.

There are three floors to the ark.  My entire set of pictures can be seen here:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/juneny/sets/72157695398100205   and here are a few of my favorites.

 this one is from one of the short movies.

We had a late lunch at EMZARA'S BUFFET which is just outside of the rear exit of the ark.  

The senior price was very reasonable.  It was very noisy and crowded, but the buffet offered just about everything!  Then we went into the gift shop.  This was my favorite part (I do not enjoy gift shops much).  

Then we headed back to Lawrenceville, Indiana,  to our lodging at the COMFORT INN.  We rested up for a couple of hours until it was time to go out to supper.  We decided to go to WHISKY'S FAMILY RESTAURANT

(it was recommended to Marsha and I by Gary Beers, who we met yesterday at his shop.  We all enjoyed this restaurant.  I had a teriyaki steak salad, which was huge and very good.

Back at the hotel, we played a game of SCRABBLE, which Cindi won.  I went back to the room early while the other three continued playing games.  I read for a while and got a good nights sleep.

Wednesday April 4th, 2018 at the CREATION MUSEUM

I went down to breakfast alone early, so I could read and have a long relaxing breakfast.  I tried the scrambled eggs, bacon and sausage as well as a bagel with cream cheese and jelly.  After a bit, Cindi joined me and I had 1/4 of her huge waffle.  Everything was delicious.  After a while, Marsha and Marlene came down but had to take a separate table from us.

Our plans were to try to leave the hotel at 8:30 but it was 8:45 when we headed out.  The CREATION MUSEUM is just a few miles from the COMFORT INN.  We found things a bit confusing once we got inside the building and finally found the right line for tickets to the Planetarium shows.  Cindi got the tickets for both shows while the three of us waited.  Marsha took advantage of the machine that crushes and imprints a souvenier penny.

The two shows in the planetarium were CREATED COSMOS (this was VERY good) and ALIENS: FACT or FICTION (not so good).  Then we walked through the museum.  The exhibits were very good.  It was a bit crowded, but people mostly moved along at a good speed.

We had lunch at NOAH'S CAFE.  I had a chicken salad with a whole tomato, which came with a side.  (I think I chose coleslaw).  It was very good.  Prices were reasonable in the café, my meal including a drink was around $9.00.

Marlene shared her fish and potatoes with me.  We had ice cream at a shop just outside the café.  I had mint chocolate chip in a waffle cone.  It was over six dollars!.

Then we went to an auditorium where we watched the film THE LAST ADAM.  It was good.  Then we went to both gift shops.  I purchased a bag, and three journals.  Marsha found a _______ so that she can carry her camera around her neck.

We arrived back at the COMFORT INN around 3:30 p.m.  We decided to rest until about 5:30 p.m.  I napped a bit.  I think Cindi spent most of that time looking at maps and figuring out a better route to take back to New York that would go around the construction area.  Marsha and Marlene both reported that they were able to nap.

We headed out to find a place to have supper a bit before six p.m.  While looking, Marsha and I noticed BEER'S AUTO SALES:

  a building with a lot of old gasoline and other signs on the front of it.  Cindi stopped so we could get out and take pictures.  It was amazing!!!   We met the owner, Gary Beers,

and talked with him a bit.  We both took a LOT of pictures.  Gary said that his place is pretty empty now due to someone coming in and buying a LOT of stuff a couple of weeks ago.  He said AMERICAN PICKERS have been there.

We decided on Frisch's Big Boy for supper.  I had a patty melt which came with sweet potato fries and coleslaw,  which was good but not excellent.  The others were happy with their meals.  We decided to order desert.  Cindi was able to finish her pecan pie, but the rest of us took most of our coconut cream pie back with us.

After getting back to our lodging, we decided to play BOGGLE down in the breakfast room.  It was fun.  I begged off early so that I could take a shower before DESIGNATED SURVIVOR.  Apparently, Cindi and Marlene got into an argument over the rules to Scrabble.   Cindi also watches DS and she got back to the room in time for it.

Tuesday April 3, 2018 Drive to Kentucky

Marsha drove to my house late yesterday afternoon and we had supper together and she spent the night here so that Cindy and Marlene could pick us up early to drive to Lawrenceburg, Indiana for our lodging during our visit to THE CREATION MUSEUM and THE ARK ENCOUNTER.

Marsha brought TOO MUCH STUFF, so we left some of it behind at my house, and were able to load the back of Cindy's jeep up and still allow for space so she could see out of her rear view mirror.

The first couple of hours on the road were fine (we stopped at the ANGOLA PLAZA on the thruway so we could use the bathroom).  However somewhere in Ohio,  we encountered a detour on the thruway which caused us to lose a lot of time, due to being stuck in very slow moving traffic.  I took a few pictures of stuff seen during this traffic slowdown. 

During that slowdown we stopped to have lunch at a McDonalds. in Conneaut, Ohio.

We got back on the road and headed into Ohio.  I think we were beyond Columbus when we encountered bad weather.   There was BIG hail, strong winds, and the weather app on Marlene's phone informed us that there were tornado warnings.  After that the rain and lightening continued and there were warnings of possible floods.  We saw large fields flooded as we got close to Kentucky.

At any rate, we arrived at our lodging in Lawrenceburg, Indiana (just over the border  from Kentucky) later than we had planned.

We dropped of our luggage in our rooms (Cindy and I were roommates and Marlene and Marsha roomed together down the hall) and met downstairs to go out for supper.  While waiting I talked to a man who was also staying there, and I asked him if he could recommend a restaurant.   He pointed to LA ROSA (one of a large chain) which was pretty much on the same property as THE COMFORT INN and said they liked it a lot.  So, when the rest of my group came down, I suggested we check it out instead of driving someplace.  I think Cindy especially liked this idea.   We walked over (about a thirty second walk) and looked at the menu and liked what we saw, so we stayed!!!   It was a good choice.

I had the Spaghetti-a-Plenty which was basically all you can eat spaghetti, salad and garlic bread for less than six dollars (a special on Mondays and Tuesdays).  I added meat sauce which brought the price up.  The salad was really good.  I only ate a tiny bit of my spaghetti

and took the rest back to our room (which had a nice size frig).

We all retired to our rooms right after supper.  I slept well, but definitely it was not a full nights sleep.

Easter Dinner at my house

I prepared Easter dinner at my house for Carrie and I, Peg and David, Becky and my friend Pam.  David prepared a small ham, Peggy brought vegetables, Becky brought two pies and Pam brought corn muffins.

Our meal consisted of ham  and raisin sauce
sweet potatoes
mac and cheese
turkey, stuffing, gravy and homemade cranberry sauce
corn muffins
vegetables
devilled eggs

Everything was delicious!!!!!  and we all had a good time.  Now, I have to get ready for my trip to Kentucky.