On trips and technology

So, don't get me wrong. I'm definitely very excited about this trip. It's a version of several extended roadtrips my family of origin took when I was a child. We did not camp, however; my bones were much younger; and I don't believe we were gone for an entire month. (I wish I could ask my mother how she felt about the trip.) I do remember my father's mantra: put down the comic books and look at the Rockies. In those days, we recorded the trip the old-fashioned way, with a journal. The comic books have been replaced with digital doo-dads, which will no doubt interfere at times with what's going on outside the windows. The difference is I may have to impose a limit on my own screen time!

There does seem to be something a bit perverse about heading off into the wilderness loaded for bear (as it were) with technological devices. We borrowed a GPS from a friend and that has been plenty of entertainment for Leo and me; the kids watched a movie on our computer and listened to their iPod while we travelled through the beautiful rolling hills of southwestern New York State. Travel boredom? No problem. We even managed to squeeze in a game of 20 questions, and pulled out some actual maps as we reviewed some basic geography with the kids. No, we will not be passing through Rhode Island.

I imagine that the more beautiful the scenery becomes the less I will want to be behind a screen.....

Some highlights of Day 1 were lunch in Schenectady, my mother's home town; and passing through Oneonta, NY where my mother had a brief and somewhat scandalous college career at Hartwick College before transferring to Eastman School of Music. That was tricky to explain to the kids....

We were intrigued by the place names, and could imagine a record of contact between Old World and New in the towns that remain: Owego, Oneonta, Elmira all mixed up with Cornell and Binghamton. We spent the night in Bath, New York at a pleasant Microtel with no mosquitoes and (I'm hoping) no bed bugs either.

Today we are headed to visit Leo's sister and view the so-called eighth wonder of the world, in Olean, NY:
Rock City Park: http://www.rockcitypark.com/