Reunited and It Felt So Good

Family selfie on Lake Chautauqua (photo/Kasy Long)

After being separated from our family for two months, my mom and I had a wonderful week with some special visitors in Jamestown--my dad, my older sister, Lara, and my older brother, Dale. They spent nine days with us, but I gladly would have had them stay longer. It felt so good to be reunited with our family after being away for so long. I just know they enjoyed the time with us as much as we enjoyed the special reunion vacation.

In preparation for the week, I developed an itinerary. There's so much I wanted to show them. I wanted to make sure I didn't leave anything out. However, as it often does, schedules change--and that's okay. We didn't do everything on the itinerary, but as you will see here, we did as much as we could. After all, I was still working with my internship. They may have had a vacation, but I certainly did not have any time off from my busy schedule! Being an adult is a bummer sometimes. Actually, a lot.

Itinerary: 

Friday, July 8 

• Arrival in Jamestown, NY [safe and sound]
• Dinner at Olive Garden in Lakewood, NY [because we love Italian food and those bread sticks are a necessity in life]
• Relax at the hotel 

Saturday, July 9 

• Kasy goes to work in the gift shop [which I did].
• Go on the Summer Wind Cruise of Lake Chautauqua [cancelled due to poor attendance, so we rescheduled]! 
• Dinner at Shawbuck's Press Room in Jamestown [one of the fine dining restaurants in Jamestown, but at a lower cost] 
• Swim in the hotel pool 

Sunday, July 10 

Lake Chautauqua (photo/Kasy Long)

• Kasy goes to work in the gift shop [Funny story: I originally had requested to have this Sunday off so I could spend time with my family. The manager, Sarah, said she would talk to another intern to see if he would take my shift. I never heard anything back from Sarah, and I requested well in advance before Sunday. So, I assumed that I had to work on this day. I arrived at work, and the other intern was there! I was so confused [and upset that I woke up earlier than I had to], I guess Sarah talked to the intern, but she just never told me about the switch. I was happy I had the day off though!]
• Go to Bemus Point, NY to see Lake Chautauqua and shopping.
• Dinner at Ellicottville Brewing Chautauqua in Bemus Point [where my brother almost burned his tongue on a jalapeno pepper in his turkey club sandwich. Who knew a turkey sandwich would have some heat?!] 
• Ice cream in the village 
• Return to the hotel for some swimming [Summer isn't complete without some swimming]! 

Monday, July 11 

• My dad and brother went to Cooperstown, NY to see the Baseball Hall of Fame museum. They loved it! 
• Kasy goes to work in the office for her internship to receive assignments. 
• Go to the Chautauqua Mall for some shopping in Lakewood, NY
• Dinner at Applebee's in Lakewood, NY
• Swimming at the hotel pool 

Side note: The schedule began to change on Monday because of an unexpected surprise! My best friends from college came to visit me in Jamestown! They planned a surprise road trip to see me and to see the museum I have been working at all summer long. How sweet of them! We had to rearrange our schedule a bit, but it was so special to show my friends the area and to spend time with them. It's times like these where I truly feel loved. My friends care about me so much to travel five hours [or more] to see me because they missed me. I know it's a cliche to say that I'm blessed, but I really am blessed to have such caring friends. 

My friends and I with the "Scary Lucy" statue. (photo/Kasy Long)

Tuesday, July 12 

• Kasy works in the gift shop [where I gave a private tour of the museum to my friends. They loved it, and they found some Pokemon characters in the museum]! 
• My sister had a hair appointment at Dorian's Plus in Jamestown. 
• My dad and brother returned to Jamestown from their trip to Cooperstown. 
• Dinner at Olive Garden [both my family and my friends]! 
• Swimming at the hotel pool 

Wednesday, July 13 

My brother, sister and I at the museum. (photo/Kasy Long)

• Lunch at the Babalu Cafe in Jamestown [where the restaurant has "I Love Lucy" decorations]!
• Family tour in the Lucy-Desi Museum & Center for Comedy! 
• Tour of Jamestown 
• Visit the murals in Jamestown 
• Dinner at Shawbuck's Press Room in Jamestown 
• Swimming at the hotel pool [Can you tell we love to swim?] 

Thursday, July 14 

• Kasy works in the gift shop. 
• Unexpected visit to the Infinity Visual & Performing Arts. I led a workshop with a group of children. I taught them how to write a short story. This was an emergency workshop. For the Lucille Ball Comedy Fest, there's a free kids' comedy show called "Story Pirates." Kids can submit stories to the show and their stories will be developed into the show's act. Cool, right!? Unfortunately, the show did not receive any submissions this year, and since I'm in charge of promotion for the show, I had to quickly arrange for a writing workshop where the children wrote stories with them. I took the stories with me and then submitted them to the show. It was an interesting experience, but the stories are so creative! I look forward to the show on August 6! 
• Dinner at Wing City in Lakewood, NY for Trivia Night [Instead, we went to Applebee's for dinner]. 
• Swimming at the hotel pool 

Friday, July 15 

• Lunch at the Babalu Cafe in Jamestown
• Kasy works in the office for her internship. [Instead, I had to go to Falconer Printing & Design to stuff festival brochures in envelopes and then distribute them to different places in the area]. 
• Go to Bemus Point, NY to see Lake Chautauqua. 
• Dinner at Ellicottville Brewing Chautauqua. 
• Get ice cream 
• Swimming at the hotel pool 

Saturday, July 16 

• Lunch at the hotel 

  

  Summer Wind Cruise (photo/Kasy Long)

• Since the Summer Wind Cruise was previously cancelled, we scheduled another one for this Saturday. We went to the Summer Wind Cruise and had a two hour cruise on Lake Chautauqua! It was beautiful! This was my first time on a boat and it was so peaceful and calming. I loved it! 
• Visit Lucille Ball's childhood home in Celoron, NY and the home she grew up in Jamestown. 
• Dinner at Shawbuck's Press Room in Jamestown.  

It was such a great week! I loved every minute of spending time with my family. I only wish I could spend more time with them! They're back home now in Indiana. I only have three more weeks in Jamestown to work for my internship, and I plan to spend my time wisely in preparation for the festival.

Here's to the good times and making memories with the ones you love the most!

My family and I on the Summer Wind Cruise. (photo/Kasy Long)

-KJL-