Lake Pictures

Kingsley Looking at the Lake

Gizmo

Boating at the Lake

Kingsley and Gizmo Sleeping

The one restaurant we at lunch at

My yummy cupcake!

Seneca Falls, New York Pictures

Women's Hall of Fame

Restaurant we ate lunch at

Location of Women's Rights Convention

Cooperstown, New York Pictures

Accommodations in Cooperstown, New York

Baseball Hall of Fame

Art Museum in Cooperstown

Wood Carving by a Prisoner!

Beading by Native Americans

Bakery where we got our breakfasts

Vermont and New Hampshire

Here are a few pictures from the end of our Northeastern Vacation - when we stopped at Norwich, Vermont and Hanover, New Hampshire, the home of Dartmouth College.

Our Hotel in Norwich, Vermont

Dartmouth Hall

Restaurant in Hanover, New Hampshire

Side Attraction we stopped at

Down at the Lake

Today, it was quite hot outside - at lunch, the car read 100 degrees! It's been so hot and dry down here for a month or so that the lake level is down at least several feet and we couldn't put on our own fireworks show. But more on that later. Well, for the past few days, I have gotten into a rhythm. I wake up around 6:30 AM (yeah, this really hasn't been the sleeping in vacation I expected) to go for a walk with my dad and Kingsley because that's the only time it's cool enough, eat breakfast (so far, pancakes, omlettes, and french toast courtesy of my dad), put on my swim suit, and go down to the lake. Once down there, I have swam, tubed behind the boat (the waverunner is broken), and gone on boat rides. One time when I was tubing with my much younger cousin, the new tube, which I haven't gotten used to yet, almost flipped, but I made a great save by shifting my weight more to the middle. With my cousin OMY, the same happened, and then on another turn, I was thrown off, and skipped across the water like a rock. Let me tell you, I was sure I was going to develop a bruise on my thigh, it hurt so bad.
Then, on the Fourth of July, I went on my first ride on Aunt "Rose" and oldest uncle's pontoon boat. Up to now, our timing had always been bad, and missed the opportunity, but we finally got to experience it. I must say, I was expecting it to be extremely slow, but it wasn't too bad. The only problems were the only station on the radio was country music and the sun beat down on our faces. I had to completely cover myself with a towel to make sure I didn't burn. As I said before, since it has been so dry, we weren't able to set off our own fireworks. Understandably, we weren't too excited about the notion of burning down a house or trees. So, we went down to the helicopter pad nearby, where we were supposed to be able to see the fireworks put on by the city of Shell Knob, but it was a dud. Since we couldn't see anything by the time they were supposed to start, we left early enough to miss them, and late enough to miss the ones going off across the lake, when sitting on the back deck. A bit disappointing, but I guess that's not really what the day is supposed to be about. We did get a batch of iced cookies from a neighbor out of the deal, as well as a good viewing of the orange, almost full moon.
Today, we had reservations for us all to go out to lunch to celebrate an early birthday of one of my aunts. Since the reservation was at 11:00 AM, and many didn't get up until 9 AM, most didn't go down to the lake beforehand. But I kind of wanted to cool off and get away from all the drama at the house, so I went down with my dad for an hour. It was actually kind of nice just sitting in the water, taking, with no one to interrupt. Then we went to Nonna's Nummies, a new restaurant in town that I have never been too. I didn't know what to expect, but it was quite nice. They were very friendly and accommodating. I got a chicken panini and a huge "Death by Chocolate" cupcake (I wanted chocolate and peanut butter cup, but they were out). Both were filling and delicious. I hope to go back some other time, maybe next year. From there, we went to the Old Church Gallery, a store that sells rocks and minerals samples and jewelery. I got this beautiful snowflake obsidian necklace that wasn't too expensive. There were some emeralds and rubies that were hundreds of dollars, but I obviously didn't get those. After a quick trip to the Red Barn, a flea market, we went back to the lake house and down to the lake. Good times at Table Rock Lake - too bad tomorrow is our last day here :(

End and a Beginning

Well, we didn't get to rest for very long. On Wednesday, we drove home from Cooperstown, and we (my dad, brother, and I) are already on vacation again. The drive home wasn't too bad. For breakfast, we went to Schneider’s Bakery, which was right next to our inn. I got a sprinkled donut, which was much, much better than anything our inn had to offer. Since the drive wasn't too long, we decided to stop at Seneca Falls, so that we could see the Women's Rights National Historical Park. The first place we saw, though, was the Women's Hall of Fame. Naturally, we went there, as well. Though not nearly as expansive as the baseball hall of fame, it was still interesting to read the biographies of all the people who had been elected. I was especially interested to see all the women in the field of science, most of which were in the medical field or physicist. A few names I recognized were Elizabeth Blackwell (whose sister was also in there), Rachel Carson, and Grace Hopper. Others I knew the women's accomplishments, but not the actual people. In the end though, I wasn't able to read everything that I wanted, for my family wanted to continue on. We ate lunch (the last on the trip) at Downtown Deli, which was right down the street and was recommended by the lady at the Hall of Fame. They also told us to share a sandwich, and when we got there, we saw why - the corned beef sandwich that I shared with my sister was like two completely different sandwiches, that's who large the bread was. Since we were running a bit late, and my dad had to go to work the next day, we then only went to the visitor's center for the Women's Rights National Historical Park. It was much like the Minute Man National Historical Park, in that all the locations to see were spread out across town. We did see a short video on the history of women's rights and the convention that was held there, as well as the reproduction (I think) of the church where said convention was located. On our last cross over to Canada, the border crossing took forever and the person was very thorough, but other than that, the trip home was pretty smooth. We got home about 11:30 PM, and the final mileage was about 3,528 miles (this is an approximation, for I forgot to look at the odometer as soon as we got home).

We had a few days of rest at home, I read Oedipus the King for school (man, that story is really messed up!), and then we were off again. My mom and sister had to stay for my sister's college orientation, so they had to stay home. But the rest of us were good to go. My brother wanted to leave immediately on Saturday, but I insisted on staying until after going to my friend's graduation party (where we arrived when we thought was fashionably late, but actually was too early). So, we compromised and drove partway to Plainfield, Indiana, about five hours from home and nine hours from Uncle "Frank's" lake house on Table Rock Lake in southern Missouri. On Sunday, we got up early, ate our continental breakfast, and started driving. This is the first vacation without my mom and sister, so it was kind of weird being just us three. I even drove partway, for the first time on vacation. God bless the person who invented cruise control - who knew it could be so useful! On the way, we saw llamas on the side of the road, as well as a bunch of cows clumped under the few trees around, since it was so hot. We did not, though, see the "JESUS" billboard I have wanted a picture of for so long. I don't know if it is still there, or we just missed it, but I was really hoping this would be the time.

Since we arrived relatively early in the day - about 2:45 PM, Central Time, we still had time to go to the lake and swim. Man, did that water feel good when it is so hot outside! My uncle even got out his brand new tube, and we went tubing behind his boat. Unlike the previous tube, this tube was the kind where you lay on it and hold onto the handles, so we fell off a bunch of times. My brother or I fell off every single turn, even though we weren't going that fast. One time, my bikini bottoms almost fell off, and I decided that was more important than holding on. Another time, I was practically pushed off by my brother, who claimed I did the same. Still, it was quite fun, perhaps more so since we fell off. Hopefully, we can do more today!