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!