If I had to guess, I’d say this is the first portrait of Louisa Priezula and Blasius Knezetic in the United States somewhere near about 1905 after they passed through Ellis Island. My great-grandmother, while known as Luba in her village of Ozalj near Karlovac, Croatia, would become Lillian in America in order to better fit in. Blasius became Robert. Seven years after taking up residence in Buffalo, New York, they started having children, starting with my Uncle Bob and stopping at the seventh child, my Aunt Ann.

It’s a shame that I never dug deep into who my family was as I was too preoccupied with my own travails to be able to take much interest in people who felt distant and foreign, combined with the fact that I’d never know them. Growing older, I now know that I’d like to know more about their story, but those who could share and might have known something are all gone. Keep in mind that while I’m writing the majority of the blog entries from this trip in 2007 based on notes Caroline kept as we drove across the Eastern United States, is now 2020 when I’m finally assembling this. Hindsight is really at work these days: back in 2007, I felt like my family would somehow always be there – wrong.

Before leaving Buffalo, we stopped at Barnes & Noble to pick up a map of the United States, a coffee, and hopefully, something that would detail hiking and bike trails across the Buffalo region. Sadly, that kind of book does not exist.

Our route is moving in reverse of the trip my mom and I took a couple of years ago and so Caroline and I drive this abomination car called Mustang north through Lockport and Newfane up to Olcott Beach on Lake Ontario.

You just knew Caroline had to step into Lake Ontario at the first opportunity. From this point east, we’ll be traveling the Seaway Trail National Scenic Byway.

To some, these may be simple dandelions, but to these two people from the desert of Arizona, they are a field of glorious color.

Thirty Mile Point Lighthouse in Barker, New York, is only about 14 miles up the road from the previous lighthouse, but we are far from suffering from lighthouse fatigue, so we had to visit.

Why we find shoe trees so interesting is kind of strange, considering that this is likely not good for the tree. Either they are nailed to the poor tree, or they hang from the branches, and when the shoes get wet they probably put a lot of stress on it.

Charlotte Genesee Lighthouse was our next major stop along the byway. By the end of this trip, we’ll likely realize this journey to the Eastern United States should have been called the 2007 Lighthouse Tour. I should point out how nice it is to be out here with Caroline to enjoy the luxury of taking in the really important things and not being on a race to the next diner, restaurant, farmers market, ice cream stand, bakery, or winery as I was with my mom back in 2005.

Well, speaking of food. Mom and I stopped here, and I fell in love with the location right on Lake Ontario, so it seemed like a great place to bring Caroline for lunch. We had a Red Plate and a Guppy Plate, which are both haddock but in different portion sizes. Still hungry, I also ordered a Texas Hot. No wonder I’m fat. For those who may not know, a Texas Hot is a charbroiled hot dog with a red chili sauce. It’s a Western New York thing, so now you know. To top it all off, we each had a Birch Beer that might best be described as a kind of root beer.

Visiting Rudy’s Lakeside Drive-In in Oswego, New York. I wonder what kind of idiot is driving that ugly, poorly designed-Mustang out front? Oh yeah, I’m the idiot. I seriously wish we’d exchanged this thing for something else, anything else, even a moped.

Driving along, looking at the fruit trees in bloom, recently plowed fields, and the occasional glimpse of the St. Lawrence Seaway on our left, Caroline and I are attuned with senses on high alert, looking for spots that make us say ‘wow.’ This small streambed with barely an inch of water running over clean bedrock was just one of the moments. On this afternoon, we were traveling northeast on New York Route 12 to its terminus in Morristown, NY, before getting on NY 37. As usual, we passed over the stream and, recognizing the beauty of the location, had to turn around, park the car, and walk out over the bridge to take the shot. If I had a wish, it would be that we were biking this road. It is quiet out here; the occasional scent of flowers and sweet grasses is just dreamy; it’s hard to imagine the harshness of winter that just passed through before us.

There are many waterways, creeks, and streams along the road. Each is photogenic in its own right but we are recognizing that we are now starting to run behind. While our schedule is flexible, we booked rooms for each and every night, so we do have destinations we need to get to, and in some cases, we need to check in well before midnight.

At times, the road couldn’t be any closer to the water, and the flies couldn’t be thicker. I don’t believe we’ve ever encountered thicker clouds of flying insects before being out here. While some of the photos could portray just how bad they were, Photoshop came to the rescue to remove the blurs that added nothing to these photos or our memories.

Tibbetts Point Lighthouse in Cape Vincent, New York at the mouth of the Saint Lawrence Seaway. We are only 100 miles away from Massena, New York, up the seaway, but at our speed, it will be midnight before we arrive. Time to hit the gas.

Amazing photos along the seaway are not here but the memories hopefully travel with us. Dinner was at Bauernstube Restaurant for German food. This is the same place my mom and I had breakfast a couple of years ago. Hmm, wasn’t I just saying this trip isn’t all about food?

The Lakeview Motel in Massena, New York, for the bargain-basement price of only $55 a night was ours. What do you think? Was the view worth it?