Although, I said that we had no travel plans for the end of the year, it just so happened that we ended up taking a mini road trip to New York to spend Christmas with our two great aunts and extended family.
It was such a lovely time. Everything aligned perfectly.
Monday, December 23, 2019
On Monday morning, the final decision was made that we would make the trip. With our great aunts being 97 and 86 (the last of that generation) it was important to me that we make the effort to get there, which is exactly what we did.
Who is to say that this opportunity would come around again?
With the final decision is mind, I did what any logical person would have done. I went grocery shopping for tons of travel snacks. What’s a road trip without tons of snacks?
“It doesn’t matter how old you are, buying snacks for a road trip should always look like an unsupervised 10 year old was given $100.”
And, that’s exactly what it looked like.
Of course, I grabbed the basic sandwich making stuff (meat, cheese, and bread). But also grabbed a variety of chips, cookies, fruit, fruit snacks, cheese sticks, fruit bars, water, soda, Gatorade, etc. You name it. We had it! I even grabbed us a few energy drinks because you never know how the road trip will actually turn out.
I packed most of the food items in a huge, linen-lined basket and saved the cold items for the cooler for the next day.
You may enjoy reading A Guide to Road Tripping Off the Beaten Path.
Once that was all done, I packed our clothes and gassed up. I was super thankful that I didn’t need to get any vehicle maintenance done because everything had already been taken care of.
Within the past month few months, I’ve had my headlights replaced, tires aired and checked, an oil change, etc. So, all that needed to be done was a quick surface inspection, fill the tank with gas, and make sure that my AAA car was good to go in case we needed roadside assistance at any point.
You may enjoy reading Road Trips: 10 Single Mama Safety Tips.
Tuesday, December 24, 2019
Yes, we left on Christmas Eve.
Since, the drive was approximately nine hours, I planned for us to leave by 5:00 AM. We didn’t too bad. We left town close to 5:45 AM; a little off from the initial departure time.
Surprisingly, the weather was gorgeous with the exception of some random patches of fog into the daylight. But, somewhere close to noon, the fog eased and the trip was beautiful the entire way to Niagara Falls.
The clouds were gorgeous, the wind was not overwhelming, and the sun was shining bright. Although, it was cold out, it was not dreadfully cold and there was no snow.
All I could say was, thank you, thank you, thank you.
The trip was simply meant to be. If you know anything about winters in Buffalo, New York, you would know that there are always mounds of snow during the winter months! And, this time, it wasn’t. Wouldn’t you say the trip was meant to be?
We began our journey on Interstate 74, until we picked up Interstate 70 a bit outside of Indianapolis which took us through Columbus, Ohio. Columbus is about the halfway point between our town and Buffalo. Once we entered Ohio, we pulled over for a couple state photos, like we always do.
If you ever miss the state signs while driving, there is usually a rest area or welcoming center within the next few miles that has a state sign and or state signage which make for great photos for your photo albums, scrapbooks, and other memorabilia.
From Ohio, we picked up Interstate 71 towards Erie, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has one of the cutest state signs I’ve seen but I couldn’t get my phone together fast enough to get the photo. I adore the font that was used for Pennsylvania, along with the saying that goes with it.
“Welcome to Pennsylvania, pursue your happiness”.
How adorable is that?
One day, I plan to return to Pennsylvania to visit Randyland. Randyland is Pittsburgh’s Most Colorful Public Art. When we make that road trip, I’ll be ready to pull over and get a great photo of the sign. Until then, we’ll just make use of our rest area signage.
From Pennsylvania, we took Interstate 90 through Buffalo and to our final destination of Niagara Fall, New York where our hotel was. We stayed at Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel, which was only about 20 minutes from Buffalo. Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel was rated one of the 10 best hotels of 2019.
You may enjoy reading Seeing the American Dream Up Close in New York.
Did you know that Interstate 90 (I-90) is the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at 3,020.54 miles?
We arrived at our hotel at about 4:30 PM which was right in time to have valet handle the vehicle, so that we could sprint off to meet our cousins for dinner at the hotel’s, Thunder Falls Buffet.
After dinner, the boys wanted to swim, so they had about an hour in the pool and hottub, before we had to get dressed and out the door to Midnight Mass.
A little after 8 PM, we headed back into Buffalo to meet up with the family, so that we could all ride to church. My aunt wasn’t for sure that we were coming, so I couldn’t wait to walk into the house and surprise her.
When I walked in, she said, “Awww, Brennon! I love your determination! We’ll have time to chat later, but for now I need to you to set the table.” Since, I love table settings, I was overjoyed to jump in and help.
But, as I began setting the table, all I could think about was hiring a maid service like maid service Manhattan to help with some of the duties so that we could spend our time enjoying each other’s company for the holidays instead of working.
Nevertheless, it all got done and we were able to make it to Mass on time.
Once the church service was over, it was time for my brother and I to wind down by spending a few hours at the casino.
I even won $20! Whoohoo!!
Wednesday, December 25, 2019
Waking up on Christmas in Niagara Falls was definitely a first for us. We didn’t have room to pack gifts. And, to be honest, I didn’t even do Christmas shopping for the boys this year. Wasn’t this trip more than enough? I believe in my heart it was.
I read a few articles that were circulating on the internet that explained that experiences were more memorable than materialistic gifts at Christmas time, especially for children.
With this in mind, I simply brought the boys a stocking full of goodies so that they could open once they woke up. I also brought cute Christmas mugs, hot chocolate, coffee, cappuccino, and marshmallows, so that we could wake up to a warm Christmas morning beverage before we checked out of the hotel and headed off the Christmas brunch at our cousin’s house.
After we checked out, we had a little bit of time to spare, so we made it to the New York Welcoming Center to take a few photos with the I Love New York sign.
The New York sign photos were a very important aspect of our road trip because my youngest son only had one thing on his vision board that he not yet completed for 2019 – which was to visit New York.
And, what do you know? This Christmas trip made it happen for him. I couldn’t be more happy for him! So, once we took enough photos for everyone to be satisfied, we headed to Christmas Brunch.
We spent about three hours at our cousins house, eating breakfast, talking, opening gifts, and meeting family that we had never met before. It was such a wonderful time.
Once brunch was over, we headed to our great aunt’s house for Christmas dinner. Once gifts and dinner were complete, we got back on the highway and headed home.
I know. Doesn’t that sound crazy? I know it does, but my brother was ready to get the ride over with. I don’t blame him. So we headed out at about 5:30 PM and made it back home safely at about 2:00 AM in the morning.
Whew! What an intense schedule, but it was definitely worth every single moment of it.
My plans moving forward after this trip is to send personalized thank you cards to everyone with some of the photos that I have. I always think that doing that is such a memorable and hospitable thing to do.
What do you think?
