Mom's Father was Born in Hartland Four Corners, Vermont - Tuesday, July 13, 1965

Tonight we are on Mascoma Lake in New Hampshire. We went through a lot more of the Adirondacks and crossed into Vermont via a ferry on Lake Champlain. We saw many picturesque New England villages. Woodstock, Vermont, where some of our family history begins, is so pretty. We went through Hartland Four Corners where Mom's father was born. A little farther on, near Hartland, we drove out into the country and found an old distant relative whose poorly kept house I can hardly believe, was real and not fiction! These mountain lakes are so pretty.

Saw Jean Gaylord's House Overlooking a Waterfall - Monday, July 12, 1965

We are just beginning to get into the mountainous region of New York. Tonight we are staying in the Adirondack Forest Preserve at a motel on Oxbow Lake. We girls took a rowboat out on the lake and went out a second time with Mom along. We visited friends of Grandma from her school days in Skaneateles and Syracuse and saw some of the houses in which she used to live. We also stopped at the garden store of Mom's cousin Jean (the one who still has a cabin on Lake Canandaigua) and her husband. She took us out to their house - fabulous, overlooking a waterfall on their own property. We really do like Jean.

Niagara Falls, Lake Canandaigua and a Summer Cottage - Sunday, July 11, 1965

We left Grandma's about 6:00 and drove first of all to Niagara Falls. They let me drive from the New York Turnpike through Buffalo and the city of Niagara Falls to the site of the falls. They were a tremendous thing to behold, although maybe not quite as large or as loud as I had imagined. We saw both the Horseshoe (Canadian) and American Falls from Goat Island. Then we drove on to Canandaigua and got a motel room. We drove along Lake Canandaigua, one of the Finger Lakes, where Mom used to spend summers as a girl. We waded and collected rocks on Gaylord's private beach at the cottage (no one was there) next to where Grandma, Jane and Mom's cottage was, and went up to peek in the windows.

At Grandma Kay's for the Start of a New England Trip - Saturday, July 10, 1965

We got to Grandma Kay's about 6:00 our time, after having left at 6:00 this morning. There was quite a lot of traffic - the most we've seen on the turnpike - but we took our time and had a good trip. I hope not all of those cars were going to New England! I drove for a while from near the Indiana - Ohio border to 30 miles from Cleveland. After supper we walked over to look at the new swimming pool that has been built in the park in back of Grandma's house. We've been looking at family history and New England brochures.

Clyde Johnson's Wife and Kids Stopped to See Us - Friday, July 9, 1965

I got a nice letter from Tex this morning and used up some leisurely morning hours answering it at the picnic table in the back yard. I was more or less waiting for him to write first, since he mentioned that he would, so that our letters wouldn't "cross." This afternoon Mrs. Clyde Johnson and her four kids from Indiana stopped on their way home from Hannibal. Mr. Johnson used to play with Mom on Arthur Avenue. He is a Great Lakes steamship captain. I did some ironing - some things twice, after I got them messed up in my suitcase. Ann showed me a preferred way to pack clothes so they won't wrinkle as much.  

Helped Daddy with Typing in His High School Office - Thursday, July 8, 1965

Mom had the club ice cream social here tonight. There was a nice group for it, and for once it didn't get too cold. Daddy had a school board meeting so couldn't be here. This morning I went over to the high school with Daddy and acted as his "private secretary" by helping him with some typing. Other than the fact that I sometimes had a little trouble reading his handwriting (his "Wyse" looked like "Wipe") and starting the salaries in the wrong blanks of a page, I got along fine. I went to town with Phyl this afternoon to take my Park check to the bank, and we washed the car. She had to go back to the eye doctor.

Saw Mrs. Leary Teach First Graders in Reading - Wednesday, July 7, 1965

This afternoon I drove over to Wellman to watch Mrs. Leary teach twelve first graders in remedial reading. I wanted to see how someone else's approach compared with mine. She was doing okay but is kind of "set in her ways." I'm pleased with some of my own ideas. (That about sounds like a direct contradiction.) I really am being lazy this week, except for some reading. I haven't even written any letters. I think I won't do much until after we get back from our New England trip, and I wonder how much I'll do then.