Day Eight: Canton to Watkins Glen, NY

Before leaving for Watkins Glen, we met Grandma Lois for breakfast. Sunday breakfast choices in Canton are pretty slim pickin's. But we found a place not far from where Lois lives. Probably the best part of the breakfast was after we finished eating and the kids started to play under the table. Normally I don't like the kids to crawl around on restaurant floors but pretty quickly, a game began with Grandma Lois and the kids. They would crawl near her and she would reach under the table and grab them and hold on until they were able to escape. The sight of Lois bent over the table with a mischievous twinkle in her eyes as she grabbed the kids to a chorus of giggles from under the table.

As I planned the first leg of our trip homeward, I realized that we could take a southern route and stop not too far from cousin Sarah's family. A quick e-mail sent by the flickering wifi in our hotel confirmed that Sarah and crew would be able to meet us at a campsite in Watkins Glen. We were anxious to explore the area as there is a very beautiful gorge there.

As we set out, we checked the weather and saw that a very serious storm was heading directly to Watkins Glen. We made plans to stop at Sarah and Adam's house if things continued to look bad.

Several hours later, we pulled up much to the surprise of the kids' cousins. Seeing Rose, Hugh, Grace and Danny pick up just where they left off three months ago was heartwarming. After a good supper we all set out to set up camp. Many thanks to the Ithaca cousins for sticking around in the pitch dark to set up a tent with us in two separate spots! We finally settled down for the night with a surprise sleepover guest: Rose. The first night in the campsite was marred by campers next door who played their car radio for most of the night. Not a usual occurrence in a KOA campsite.