A New Jersey event

Thursday, April 26, 2007
Well, the Resistant Traveler is on the road again. Dianne and I are on our way to Kenylon, NJ for the bat mitzvah of her niece. This is the last event of this type for this generation. Emily is the youngest of the nieces, nephews and cousins. The next string of event will be their weddings and then the start of a new generation. Shoot, this reminds me that I’m getting old. Shucks, in another 8 years my own grandson could have a bar mitzvah. I better stop this now before I give myself a heart attack.

Friday, April 27, 2007
We arrived in NJ late last night, near midnight. It was awful weather; thunder, lightning, and plenty of rain. It was tough to find the hotel and we got to bed about 3 am NJ time.
I accomplished a major success. Dianne and I were supposed to go into Manhattan with other visiting family and leave at 10 a.m. Wow, just what I need after going to bed at 3 a.m.; a relaxing day in Manhattan traffic, stores and tourist traps.
Normally, I get up between 6 and 7 a.m. without an alarm clock, and I did this morning as well. Dianne on the other hand has the ability to sleep in late. I find that very difficult. And this morning I didn’t want to get up or wake Dianne to get ready to go to Manhattan. Well, we slept in to 12:30 p.m. That was one success for me, sleeping late. The second success is the greater one; we didn’t go to Manhattan. Maybe that’s not a legitimate success, like I convinced Dianne to stay back and relax, but I am going to count it anyway as a success.

Friday evening
About 35 members of the family that came in from out of town had dinner with Dianne’s brother, Gary, and his family at a restaurant near his home in Smokerise. Unfortunately, Dianne’s sister, Lisa, had been sick before we went to NJ, and was feeling awful and needed to leave early. Fortunately for me, I was the navigator to get her to the restaurant and had to leave early with her so she could get back to the hotel, and we took Dianne’s daughter and two cousins with us. Dianne could stay and visit and come back later with other cousins. That worked for everyone.

Saturday, April 28, 2007
Bad start; Dianne’s mom trips stepping out of the tub, falls and hurts her shoulder. Dianne and Lisa gave her mom an ice pack, helped her get dressed, etcetera, and we left about 30 minutes late. The bat mitzvah was to start at 9:30 a.m. but we got there more like 10 a.m. Emily waited for her grandma with the sore shoulder.
Following the service, a school bus took Emily’s young friends to the luncheon at a country club. I don’t know if what followed is how Gary puts on an event, or if it is just how they do it on the east coast or NJ. The O’derves were great and plentiful; three types of pasta, steak, tuna, Peking duck rolls, fresh fruit, Chinese chicken, couscous, calamari, champagne, make your own sandwiches, and that’s just what I had.
Oh yea, and then there were the servers bringing meatballs, shrimp and asparagus dipped in shrimp.
I probably missed one of the food stations, but by the time I was done with the food I had taken, I couldn’t eat more anyway. Since I don’t drink, I didn’t care about the two bars that had enough liquor to serve the Navy on leave.
Since this was the third event Gary had hosted I fully knew what to expect and didn’t hold back on the O’derves. I ate beyond being full, knowing full well there would be a sit-down lunch with a choice of filet mignon, fish, or chicken. When the waitress came by I told her that I would not be having lunch. I don’t know what happens to all the leftover O’derves, but I was not willing to add to the possible waste of food by ordering lunch and taking two bites and have the rest thrown out. I was so full from the O’derves I didn’t even have dinner that night.

Sunday, April 29, 2007
As the weekend continued it was time for the Sunday brunch at Gary’s. With east coast families it seems that if you can still walk, they haven’t fed you enough. I won’t go into the menu here, but with quiche, bagels, lox and pastries, I’m sure you realize I don’t need to list the foods.
By 2 p.m. it was time to mosey on. Dianne arranged for us to do some touring worthy of writing about. Finally the Resistant Traveler gets to actually go somewhere in the U.S. and see our culture and be where I can speak and hear English, or so I thought.
We are heading to Lancaster, PA; the heartland of the Amish. I found out these are also known at the Pennsylvania Dutch, and they still speak Dutch. More on this in the next blog installment.