Elizabeth interment

Saturday we drove to Montour Falls, NY — about 4.5 hours. The family was gathering in Montour Falls for the interment of David’s sister, Elizabeth Elmore who passed away in June of 2015. We had planned to have the interment last year, but when Leah, Elizabeth’s granddaughter, was diagnosed with cancer last fall, she and her parents were unable to travel for some time.

Fortunately, Leah is recovering remarkably, so Liz’s family and friends were able to gather for the weekend. 27 of us met for dinner at Jerlando’s in Watkins Glen. It was great to see everyone and once again Amanda’s gold medal drew interest from all in the restaurant. Some of the servers knew Amanda’s fellow rower-2015 boat mate-Watkins Glen native, Liv Coffey, so there was even more interest and selfies.

Sunday morning we all met at the cemetery on the top of the hill for a small service for Liz. We spoke of Liz and how much we all miss her. In particular we noted how much she would have enjoyed being there with us all. Family was very important to Liz, and she was the one who worked the hardest to make sure that we got together regularly.

After the gathering in the cemetery, Rick, Ikuko, and Mary had to go with Mike to Philadelphia for their plane home. Bev, Bill, and Ilse also headed out, but the rest of us went down into Watkins for lunch at the Watkins Glen dairy bar. They have a shaded outside patio where we could eat their freshly made sandwiches and visit. Nice to talk some more with family before all headed home.

We were spending one more night at the Mountour Falls Marina Campground. We had stayed in this campground one other time. This time however, because it was the Labor Day weekend, it was very crowded. A bit like a parking lot with grass. But people were very pleasant and not too noisy, so it worked out well, and we had campsites right on the Chemung canal.

In the afternoon, David and Janet took a 4-mike walk along the canal while the rest went swimming at a park further up Seneca Lake. Dinner was steak and fresh vegetables from a farm stand on Route 14.

Monday we packed up to head home, but before leaving Janet, and Andrew took the canoe out on the canal. It was a lovely paddle and it would have been fun to go further.

Once again our route home took us along the Southern Tier Expressway to I-90. Near Cleveland we took I-71 south to US-30 which we took west across Ohio. This route took us through some stunning scenery and except for a bit around Cleveland has little traffic.

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)