We Drive

Friday July 24, 2009
Today we wake up in our adorable, but old cottages and find that it is pouring outside. Yuck!! We are all almost totally out of clean clothes and the rain makes everything damp. Aunty Up cooks us pancakes and bacon and invites us two at a time to breakfast in her cottage. It is good and we supplement the pancakes with cereal. We manage to stuff everything into the van. We end up running around barefoot because there are mini-lakes around the car. Good thing we did not camp!! Not good for the budget, of course. So we decide to head toward Rochester, NY our next destination for sightseeing. It is a long drive but it is raining and no-one wants to doodle around outside. Kids settle in with their books, electronic amusements and Mama heads west. We stop outside Springfield Massachusetts for a pizza lunch break. We enjoy wood-fired pizza, except for Myles who doesn’t get enough pepperoni on his. The restaurant – Bertucci’s – also serves us delicious fresh rolls, with seasoned oil for dipping and all the salad we can eat. We leave and head west again. The driving is OK but we are seeing lots of traffic. However after we cross into New York the going smoothes out and after a weird dinner at a rest stop from the beleaguered cooler and picnic basket we make it to Rochester. We get very nice rooms at a Holiday Inn (free upgrade to suites) and after a little fun jumping on the beds settle down to sleep.