Watkins Glen, NY

We headed off North West to a bit cooler area in New York State. The next few days we spent outside with the fresh clean air.

We arrived about 330pm, and shortly after that my friend Jackie Nightengale and her sister Kathy and her brother in law Mike joined us.

We picked Watkins Glen as a place to visit for a few reasons. One, is that we needed to get from Mass to Ohio and needed a stop in between. We could have stopped closer to where I grew up but really the only person I wanted to see what Jackie and she was happy to take a few days off and enjoy glamping. Second reason was that my mom’s biological sister and brother live in Watkins Glen and I thought it would be cool to meet them. And third, I have never been there and thought it was time we needed to get back to nature and mentally relax for a few days.

We had a normal cabin, and the others got a deluxe cabin. In hindsight we could have all just had a cabin together as there was room for us all and we were at their cabin for most of it. We got our steps up walking back and forth!

First night was a catch up, listened to the live music at the club area, outside down from the cabin, and enjoyed the fire (which was pretty much flaming the few days). We even got to see fireflies in the dark woods at the live music.

The next morning Inara got a trim, Brandon got to go fishing with Mike at the local pond behind the KOA, and at 2pm Kathy and Mike (my moms biological siblings from the maternal side) along with their spouses came over to Jackie’s cabin to meet us. They brought food to share, drinks and even camping chairs to sit in.

They didn’t leave till about 6pm, with time going by and not knowing how late it was. We had great conversation, learned about my biological grandparents, how the secret of my mom got out, and all the rest you chat about when you meet brand new family members. It was a very cool experience and it’s nice to add to the family, even though we will probably never see them again.

That night it stormed and lots of the campsites throughout the KOA had flash flooding, but it was all dried by the time we woke up.Read more