Road trip number three is under way. I am typing in a hotel room on Niagara Falls Boulevard in Niagara Falls, New York.

My youngest son and I left home yesterday about 10:30 after a mad day Thursday of cleaning and baking – of which the baking carried over into Friday morning. You see, it is Family Weekend at Niagara University and the college kids want you to come with food they cannot get at school. So, with the car loaded with zucchini yogurt multi-grain muffins and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for the college kids and brownies (with squash in them but he doesn’t know that – or didn’t until he had almost polished them off) for the ride, Dan and I headed to Syracuse.

The ride to Syracuse was great. Only a few sprinkles but the foliage was absolutely beautiful. I was truly amazed that it was a nice as it was out and the trees going up the I-81 corridor – I have a few but no cord to upload til I get home – were much more vibrant than the trees at home.

We were going to meet the oldest son and wait for him to get out of work and then head out. Dan and I got the car ready – gas and all, managed – after driving through parts of Syracuse I don’t like – to find the new credit union location, and went to the mall to kill some time. If it had been nice out, we may not have resorted to mall shopping but it all works out in the end (he is sporting a new pair of jeans and I got a new sports bra and a new pair of shoes).

I am not a mall rat so when we were done at Steve and Barry’s, we decided to get a drink at the Hess and head for Ed’s office. It was about 45 minutes early but I would rather sit in the car and listen to tunes than wait in the mall. Ed saw us pull in and could leave early so off we headed to Niagara Falls at a little before 4 pm. Needless to say, the ride on I-90 was not very nice. We drove through some horrendous rain storms. The sky, though, was gorgeous in its fury. The contrast among the dark clouds, the sun trying to appear, the lighter clouds slightly closer to the horizon was amazing. Unfortunately, no pics of this as the flash off the windshield screwed them up.

We checked into the hotel – one of my favs and even more so this weekend as I am using points from previous visits to pay – and were at the small restaurant next door by 7. By 8, when Elise was scheduled to be off desk duty, we were walking in the dorm with her chicken fingers. We did a little visiting.

More tomorrow or Monday as I have no idea what the plans are for today.