my daughter and granddaughter, to go on a week long trip. It was to start in Charleston, West Virginia (where I was born and raised) and culminate in NYC, where my grandson is a student/teacher, getting his PhD in Paleontology.
I was going to Charleston for an all class reunion of my High School (Stonewall Jackson), with grads from 1944 to 1989 (when the school became a middle school.)
For me, it was my 65th reunion, and I never expected to make it that long.....so many of our classmates have passed away. The all class reunion was held on Sat, evening at the Charleston Civic Center, with 1,050 people in attendance. The planners did a bang-up job! That is not an easy task, and the committee was such a hard-working, well-organized group.....nothing went wrong, that I could see.
It is always nice to see old classmates, except I was often reminded of good friends who have passed away or didn't make the trip this time. I always miss those who are not there. But it is good to see the ones who are - even if you don't really remember some of them (LOL). Our class had 447 people in it, so it was hard to get to know everyone. And if you didn't own or have access to a car, you seldom saw kids after school, unless they lived in your neighborhood. Charleston had good buses, but some areas required multiple transfers, and so I never bothered to go, except to go uptown to shop.
The reunion was fun; we had a class photo taken, which is supposed to be mailed to us in 4-6 weeks. In previous years, our photographer took the class photo and returned about 10 pm with copies for everyone, but I guess it is harder when you have over a thousand people. As soon as I get the photo, I will post it here and on Facebook.
On Sunday morning, we met with my birth mother's granddaughter for breakfast at First Watch. It is always nice to see her, and nice for my granddaughter to meet her too. Then we left, on our way to our next stop:
Cleveland, Ohio, where my brother-in-law lives with his wife and his daughter and her family. Unfortunately, his wife had been taken to the hospital and was facing surgery, so we didn't get to see her this trip. But we went to his daughter and her husband's home and saw their two adorable kids, whom we had not seen in 6 years.Her husband loves to cook, and he put on a Mexican feast for us (although he is Italian). The tacos were delicious and she made street corn which was really scrumptious! Prior to the dinner, we had chips with guacamole, melted cheese, salsa, sour cream and all the trimmings. We enjoyed it all, very much, and mostly seeing all of them and catching up on family news.
After 2 days in Cleveland, we drove to Dubois, PA, where our Best Man and Matron of Honor live, and had brunch with them and their daughter, at a place called Dutch Pantry. I heartily recommend it, especially their apple dumplings (or fritters). They were delicious! I had not seen Cindy, their daughter, since the 70's, when they lived in Colorado, so I was very happy to see her again! We saw Joe and Fern last September, when they came to our home to visit us, and it was special to see them again, and talk of old memories. They seem to miss Jim as much as we do.
After breakfast in PA, we drove to our final destination - New York City. Route 80 from Cleveland to NYC is a good road, and we were lucky not to encounter much construction or bad traffic. We arrived in NY about 5 pm. so traffic was bad there, and it took a while to get to our hotel. After we arrived and checked in, my daughter had to return the rental car (to Brooklyn, no less) and that took her about an hour.....she rode the subway back. My older daughter had flown to NYC that morning, as we were all going to see one of her sons. The granddaughter with me on the trip is his twin.
We had dinner that night at Patsy's, 256 West 58th Street; it opened in 1944, and was a favorite of Frank Sinatra's.
2 comments:
Sounds like a great time. I loved NYC the only time I went. I'd love to go again. Those reunions are bittersweet. The last time I went to Florida, I was struck by the number of friends I've lost.
I'll be coming up on my 50th High School reunion in two years... I can't image so many classes together at one time (I had 750 in my class). It's hard to believe. Sounds like you had a nice trip.
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