Ellen Isaacs: Travel journal: Arrive at Mohonk resort

Today was the day to head up to Mohonk, the resort where we would have the reunion. Check-in wasn't until 4pm, so we had the morning and early afternoon to do other things. Walendo came by and chatted with my parents a bit, and then he and I took off to do errands. We went to Target to buy some stuff we'd forgotten, feeling our way on Long Island based on memories from childhood. After tooling around Target and having fun buying, we were hungry, so we went to the Landmark Diner, a place I'd seen many times as a kid but never went to. The waitress was surprisingly friendly, but still quick & efficient -- a solid NY waitress. We went back to Walendo's and fixed the vacuum (well, he did it, but that was cuz I was chatting with his mother), and said hello to his mom and the dogs.

We hit the road around 2pm and had a pretty traffic-free ride up to Mohonk, in New Paltz. Walendo's mom's car has an EZPass device, which is a great invention. You drive through a special lane at tolls and the right amount is deducted from your account. Much quicker. The drive up was very green, so unlike California. We stopped at a roadside rest stop so Walendo could get a huge, sticky, fattening, delicious Cinnabon. He was very happy (and sticky). When we got close to Mohonk, driving on a little country road, we saw some flares on the side of the road. When we turned the corner, we saw some cars at the side of the road, and it looked like an accident had happened. I noticed someone I thought looked like Nancy, and as we got closer, I saw that it was! We parked and got out, and found that their minivan had been hit by someone (who worked at the hotel) as she came around the curve. It dented the back of their car and damaged the rear axle. Everyone was okay, though, which was good. Things were being taken care of, so we headed up to Mohonk and checked in.

Mohonk hotel and lake
It was a cool, wet day, which was a shame, since it had been so dry and warm for so long. Our room was pretty nice, an old-fashioned room but comfortable. We changed into warmer clothes and then Laura came by to say hi. She was all excited about having gone to South Carolina to see Dawson's Creek being taped, and even becoming an extra in one of the scenes. Since Walendo's a fan of the show, he asked some questions and the two of them chatted about it, thus forever endearing him in Laura's heart. We looked at the pamphlet to see what activities there were, and were happy to find that they do in fact have boats. Walendo was amused to see the literature that explained that you can wear casual clothes during the day but "our guests prefer to dress for dinner." He wondered when they had last surveyed their guests.

Mohonk Gardens
Before dinner, we walked around flower gardens and decided to come back for pictures the next day. Then we dressed for dinner, Walendo uncomfortable in his button-down shirt, nice pants and jacket. As soon as we got to the dining room, he took off the jacket, and still he was sweating. The rest of the family arrived and Walendo met Ann and her family for the first time. At dinner, Walendo sat next to my mom and chatted with her a bunch while I talked with Nancy and others across the table. The meal went well, even though they didn't have a pure chocolate desert. (I stole a brownie from the kids buffet instead.)

After dinner, we all went to watch this show Ann was talking about called "Who wants to be a millionaire" or something. Before that, though, we collected to get our Reunion T-shirts and we all arrived together wearing them. (Click here to see the design of the front and back of the shirt.) We presented M&D with theirs, and they were very touched and pleased. Actually, Mom first exclaimed about how we were all wearing the same t-shirt and it took a while for them to get the idea we'd made them as a gift. But once they did, they were touched. After watching the show, Jeffrey gave a little demo of his "semi-sparring." At first he was too shy, so Laura wanted to encourage him by offering to sing first and then he would go after her. She didn't hit the first few notes quite right, and Nancy went "oy" and said she shouldn't sing since she didn't sound very good. This of course hurt Laura's feelings and they had a little row over that, sigh. After giving my parents the t-shirts, Ann told my mom that she wasn't so happy with her telling her two days before that we should do something for dad, since it took away from having thought of it ourselves. Mom said she didn't know we had done anything, and I said to mom that it doesn't matter, that she should realize that by telling us to, she undercuts anything we did do or makes it forced if we didn't do anything. This hurt mom's feelings (both Ann's comments and mine), and so a typical Isaacs get-together got underway.

Later, Ann and I conferred on arranging the $25,000 Pyramid for the next night, and then others joined us, including the kids. Walendo had had his fill of Isaacs noise, so he took off for some quiet, taking the FRS radio with him. When the kids saw mine, they wanted to talk to Walendo, quizzing him on arithmetic, so he didn't get his peace & quiet after all. Eventually, I left and found him chatting with my dad, so I joined them and we talked pleasantly out on the porch in the rocking chairs. Finally, we went off to bed.

Best Joke Of The Day:

Previous
(SF to NY) Next
(Mohonk)