John and I just spent a couple of days in Old Forge, NY and a very short trip brought back a flood of memories.
Lots and lots of memories, many having nothing to do with Old Forge. For now I'll share just a couple. Sometime I'll have to write more about my memories of camping as a kid.
In my travelogue I mentioned that we'd had trouble with room locks in the past. One time we stayed in a motel in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Our youngest came down with a fever so John took the boys out to pick up some medicine leaving me alone in the room with our daughter. Knowing that they wouldn't be gone very long I didn't hook the chain. A few minutes after they'd left a man entered our room, with a key. I was startled and a bit afraid but I was able to convince him that the motel must have given the same room out twice and he left to get it straightened out.
There was another time in the Dominican Republic when we were surprised in our room. We had had a problem with our first room assignment and had been moved. I can't remember if the door had a chain or not but I suspect not. After a day in the sun we decided to take a nap before dinner. We slept a bit longer than we'd planned and it was dark out. Someone entering the room woke us and we weren't quite dressed appropriately to receive company. It was a resort representative intending to leave us a surprise tray of rum and fruit to make up for the earlier room problem. Surprised we were! My very little Spanish didn't wake up with me and the hotel rep. had his little bit of English startled right out of him.
I also talked about having taken the train before. My mother and I have never had much time alone together. My siblings were still at home when I went out on my own, then there were my children. A few year ago, before Mom's health had deteriorated to the point it is today, she and I took the train out of Utica. I can't remember why for certain but I think it was a birthday gift to her. It was during the week and there weren't very many others on the train. We had a chance to talk and enjoy just being with each other. I don't remember which station the train had it's layover at back then (it may have been Remsen) but I know that when we got there, there was no food available at the station. Mom was not able to walk into the little village so I had to leave her sitting at a picnic table by herself and I felt terrible. It seemed to take forever to get sandwiches and take them back to her. She didn't seem to mind the wait and we had a picnic all by ourselves at the station before re-boarding the train for the return to Utica and the drive home.
No comments:
Post a Comment