Buffalo was an interesting choice for a marathon as it meant I would be in close proximity, relatively speaking, to much of my family, so I should make an effort to visit, but on the other hand often it’s impractical to visit my family. We saw my father on the last day of our travels for lunch and then we saw my mother, briefly, as she was working. In fact, she returned home from Florida the day before we saw her. But first, we woke up in Aurora.

We started the day in Aurora with the Coffee and Croissants cruise – a rescheduling from the day before. This enabled us to sip coffee and enjoy croissants from a pontoon boat. To be fair, we both had coffee before and we actually, well, one of us, went running and then more walking, before boarding the boat at 9am. Then we packed up most of our stuff and headed to the docks.

It was a beautiful late spring day looking the length of Cayuga Lake. The sun was bright and warm with the water cooling – the air temperature was in the mid-70s but water temperature was perhaps 58 or 60 at the shoreline and I think he said 48 in the center of the lake. Definitely moderating and I think only two of us plus the captain, out of seven, were wearing shorts.

On checkout we went to the Grill at the Laurel in Watkins Glen to meet my father for lunch. Dad won a gift certificate at a car show sometime last fall so we let him take us there for his birthday (Mom would not go with him for some reason…. She is suspicious of the place, so I figured we’d better go lest he use it simply on takeout instead). It’s always good seeing my father but it actually takes several hours to have a conversation. And saying goodbye takes forever. We were standing and talking to him, as he moves slowly walking around this earth, and then we said goodbye and he got into the car. By the time I walked around and got into the driver’s seat to drive away he had pulled away and down the road – basically disappeared. At 85 years old, walking isn’t his forte, but put him behind a lawn mower, a tractor, or a piece of machinery, and he’s as good as anybody you know.

This was the final posting of this travelogue. Five hours home from there, with a stop to visit Mom, and pick up Meraz who had been at her doggy vacation spot.

Next up – My conference in Baltimore, camping at Big Meadows, and likely a handful of other adventures.