THOUSAND ISLAND VACATION

MAY 2006

Jill and the Giantman found time to go on another adventure. We wanted to go this time to places we had never been before. The trip planning started out with Jill wanting to visit Hersheypark, an amusement park in Pennsylvania, near Harrisburg. Then looking at the map we saw that Niagara Falls was nearby so it was added to the itinerary. A suggestion to also visit the 1000 Islands region of upstate New York was made by a co-worker of Jill's at church.      The week prior to leaving was very busy as both of us put in a lot of late night hours working on the Dreams Auction at Serene's house. We decided to leave on Mothers Day, Sunday May 14th, as soon as Jill got home from church.  It was forecast to be raining for the entire week that we would be traveling in the northeast, but we were ready for a break and wanted to spend some time together.  Sunday afternoon was overcast as we left St. Charles, and as we were crossing over the Mississippi River, the Giantman placed a call on the cell phone to his mom to wish her a happy Mothers Day.      You know how traveling always makes you hungry, so it was decided that we should stop in Effingham, Illinois and look for a Subway sandwich shop. The Giantman, in a previous life, had made many visits to Effingham during his casket delivery days. He tried to draw on his memory to steer us in the right direction to find the Subway shop. We were successful and enjoyed a couple of delicious sandwiches before getting back on the road. As a side note, this particular Subway was the first one that we have seen that had a drive thru.      Later on we made a pit stop at the Indy West 70 Travel America travel center in Indiana and got more fuel. Gas prices on this trip weren't too high, considering the current cost we all pay nowadays.

Back on the road we were making good time driving through Indianapolis and as we neared the Indiana/ Ohio border, Jill spotted a Cracker Barrel in the town of Richmond, where we could have our evening meal. The restaurant was very crowded because it was Mothers Day, but after about a 30 minute wait we were seated at our table. Jill tried the sampler dinner plate, while the Giantman took it easy with the Chicken salad sandwich. Our server talked the Giantman into having a Strawberry Shortcake for dessert.

With our bellies full, it was time to get back to driving towards our first destination of Mansfield, Ohio. We had reservations for our first nights lodging at the Travelodge in Mansfield. By the time we had arrived at the motel it had begun to rain and it was dark outside. We made our way to the front desk and was greeted by the clerk who must have come from India. Tired from our day of driving we found our nice, but simple room, and the Giantman quickly fell asleep.

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