I was bummed because one of my kids made fun of my blog adventures or lack of adventures. Then my oldest daughter, Kate said, "Forget about them. Why don't you write about the trip that we took to visit your relatives? That was really funny, and quite an adventure."
I thought about it and realized that it was a funny adventure. It was the first time that I traveled with my daughter, Kate, to my hometown of Utica, New York. We would stay with my cousins for a few days. I had a lot of things planned like, attending the Italian Festival, visiting the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, touring the Utica Club Brewery and seeing the neighborhoods where my parents grew up. Along with that we would sample a lot of Italian pastries, and eat the most delicious pasta and meatballs. I told my daughter that Utica had the best Italian food ever.
The drive to Utica started out an hour later then scheduled while I tried to find my only set of car keys that I had misplaced. I found them one hour later after a frantic search, peppered with a colorful array of four letter words. Except for that, the drive was perfect and I exited off into Utica and showed Kate my favorite Italian restaurant, the Cafe Canole, with a For Sale sign in front of it. It was now permanently closed. We drove along the historical Memorial Parkway, and I turned off the street to show Kate the house where my mother used to live. We did stop at the Florentine Cafe and drank cappuccinos and ate some wonderful Italian pastries.
After we drove to my cousins house. That evening, we ended up sitting at the table for six hours eating and listening to our family stories...over and over. The next day we visited the Brewery but couldn't ride the trolley because it didn't pass inspection, and we saw only half of the Brewery because of a major fire last year. We did have two beers, which we needed. That night we went to the Italian Festival where I assured Kate we would be able to eat some authentic pasta and meatballs, only to find that they ran out of the pasta. Who runs out of pasta at an Italian Festival? We stayed at the festival for one hour because my cousin wanted to leave and go back home, where we would sit at the kitchen table for a few more house, and hear the same stories... over and over.
The next day we went to the Baseball Hall of Fame, where we ate a fantastic brunch at the historical Otesaga Resort Hotel. Then my cousin bought two senior citizen tickets for the Hall of Fame for my daughter and I (I like to point out the fact that neither my daughter or I are senior citizens). While we went through the Hall and looked at the displays, my cousin and his wife sat out in their car waiting for us. Don't ask.
Finally, the next night we went to a restaurant where my daughter was ready to order pasta and meatballs only to have my cousin stop her with the fact that his wife made the best meatballs and pasta sauce, and we would have that tomorrow night for dinner. The next night we sat at the kitchen table and ate a pork roast with all the trimmings. After dinner, my daughter escaped to her room as I listened to the same stories for a few more hours.
Our trip home was fast; too fast. I received a speeding ticket for going 80 mph in a 55 mph zone. I pleaded guilty, received a ticket for $125.00, and would eventually receive three points on my license. My daughter took a photo of me holding the ticket and posted it on Facebook. I might add that it was my first ticket ever!
My adventure with my daughter was fun, and we still talk about the famous "pasta and meatballs" that she never got, my speeding ticket, how well we actually got along for a whole trip, and the fact that we didn't fight once. Now that was some adventure!
* Photo from myrecipes.com
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