robbo and leeazaa’s travel adventures

Just a quick one today. We managed to tackle the subway system with success and made it into Manhattan for the first time. We spent most of the day at Times Square which is a pretty crazy and busy place. We will have to go back there at night time to get some better photos.

Times Square in the middle of the day

Times Square in lined with overpriced souvenir shops and also the odd interesting thing. Such as…. a gigantic Toys R Us store which has a 7 story Ferris wheel inside. Ofcourse, Rob insisted he go in.

Ferris Wheel in Toys R Us

There was also a Hershey’s chocolate store which sold a whole bunch of branded merchandise. Oh and they sold a bit of chocolate too…. I took the time to pose while holding the Worlds Largest Hershey’s bar.

Maybe its a normal sized chocolate bar and I have just shrunk...

After working up a sweat walking around everywhere, Rob spotted a little micro-brewery which we went in to check out. He ordered the taste-tester plate of 8 of the brewery’s beers. Mmmmm…. by the end he was almost about to vomit because each beer he tried seemed to be worse than the one before. Note to any other visitors going to NYC – don’t visit Heartland Brewery.

The eagerness to try the beers soon faded after this photo.

So far so good in NYC. The streets seem safe enough and we should be able to handle the subway system from now on. I think it is going to rain tomorrow so we might take the opporunity to go to a museum or two so that we can be indoors.

Leeane

Tags: new york

It was hard to say goodbye to Uncle Bob and Aunt Luci and the Piersons after we had grown quite close over the past month, weeks and days however we had to leave sometime and just like the dog poo on the side walk in New York, the longer you leave it, the harder it becomes.

I swear the airport security checkpoints are becoming more and more convoluted every time we go through one. The one in Rochester consisted of the usual conveyor belt, x-ray machine however in addition you had to step into what I can only describe as a claustrophobic, body odour analyzer. Essentially you step into the coffin shaped machine and jets of air are fired up your trousers. You then stand there for a minute and notice that little cameras are strategically placed at every possible angle around you until after a 30 seconds or so you are prompted to step out of the coffin and then begin the usual metal detector drill. I have come to 4 conclusions about this machine.

1. The airlines are finally cracking down on letting smelly people onto planes now.
2. It is an expensive replacement for sniffer dogs which could probably sniff out 10 people in the time it takes to electronically ‘sniff’ one person.
3. This machine is somehow able to smell terrorists.
4. It uses captured 3D images and scents of people to create clones.

My bet is ‘all of the above’. At any rate, I’ve mentally noted not to wear mini-skirts through airport security anymore lest I want to do a bad Marilyn Monroe impression.

On a less jaded note, we are staying at the Pan American Hotel in Queens. The US open is right down the road and far more interestingly is the Wendy’s restaurant which played host to McDowells in the Eddie Murphy movie Coming to America.

The Golden Arcs

Instead of the ‘Big Mick’ though, Wendy’s has the Baconator. Two quarter pounder beef patties and six, count them six strips of bacon. Should make a fine breakfast tomorrow.

Rob

Tags: new york

When we first arrived in Texas, Uncle Bob knew that he was coming to Chicago with us however what he had only found out was that our cousin Kim had stumbled upon a real estate listing of the original family farm in Scottsville, New York. Uncle Bob made contact with the owners – Bob and Nancy Pierson and before long they had invited us to come stay with them at the farm.

What can we say, it was an astounding feat of generosity and hospitality on their part but furthermore they had oodles of Miller family history to bestow upon us…. needless to say Uncle Bob and Aunt Luci were completely gob-smacked and years of unanswered questions were FINALLY put to bed thanks to the memorabilla that Bob and Nancy had saved and combined with the the historical places in Scottsville which often had tributes to the original Millers for what they had contributed to the town.

First up, the house is magnificantly restored and maintained and where possible the original furniture and decorations have been used.

The front porch

on the front porch

view from where the windmill used to be

The side, below the "best room in the house"

The sun room again...

Interestingly there is a hops bush located across the street. We aren’t sure if that’s something the Miller family planted but Uncle Bob is going to take some of them back to Texas to plant and hopefully find a way to get it to me back home so I can make a brew out of it.

The hops bush across the street

Hops!!

The garden and the view to the neighbors property is stunning as well.

The restored pergola out the back

The orginal barn

We visited the family plot where 8 of the ancestors are buried.

The Miller monument at the family plot

The headstones. Still in reasonable condition

Aunt Luci, Uncle Bob and Nancy pouring over photos

We have also seen the original Miller house before they moved into Fraser Farm.

Original Miller house

The North Road Farm

The old schoolhouse where Aunt Laura taught

Out to dinner with the Piersons

inside the school house

This post is a little rushed as we are about to go to the airport, but we would like thank the Piersons immensly for having us in their home and letting us eat their delicious food.

Rob

Ma & Pa, we will email you more pictures when we get to New York City, we need to organise them a bit as we have heaps! Hopefully this blog post will keep you happy until then.

Tags: family, new york

Oh boy what a day we had yesterday!!

We have been staying in Rochester, New York which is a beautiful place. Rob will tell you more about that in his post soon about the Miller family history.

We all took a break from the genealogy and went on a day trip to Niagara Falls which is a 1.5 hour drive West of Rochester. There was also a bonus to going there as I would also get to meet my second cousin who I didn’t know existed until we started planning our trip to the USA.

After getting the 3rd degree from the Canadian Border Patrol Officer as we drove over the Rainbow International Bridge, and we were in Canada!

We had then arranged to meet up with my cousin, Maureen and her husband Norm. They very graciously endured a 3.5 hour drive from Stow, Ohio (south of Cleveland) to meet up with us. The original plan was to go to their house to stay with them for a bit, but unfortunately getting to their town was impossible without a car of our own (and we are still too apprehensive to drive around ourselves in America). So, I was really glad that they were willing to drive to the Falls to meet us.

Maureen and Norm were great people and it was fantastic to hear the Scottish accent again! The only downside of them having such a long drive was that we were only able to spend an hour or so with them over lunch. But hopefully we can catch up with them again in a family reunion they are having in the South of France in 2010!!

Eating our Lunch by the Falls. Left to Right: Leeane, Maureen, Norm, Uncle Bob and Aunt Luci

Maureen and Me

Posing by the Falls

Next up was the Falls. And gee-whiz, they are incredible!! The noise, mist cloud and sheer volume of the water rushing over the cliff is just awe-inspiring. They also have a natural rainbow which you see in the middle of the waterfalls which is marvelous.

The Rainbow on the American Falls

The Horseshoe Falls - amazing!

American Falls and the Rainbow Bridge

By the mist

Lastly, we went on the very famous Maid of the Mist boat tour which stupidly takes your right into the belly of the Horseshoe Falls – in the middle of the mist cloud. It is really gusty in there and we got soaked even with the raincoats on – but we all had such a ball.

Before: Lining up to get on the boat

After: The Drowned Rats

That little boat is where we were headed

So all in all, a very memorable day for all of us – but I think particularly for me as I got to meet my cousin – really special!

Leeane

Tags: family, new york, niagara falls, rochester