While I was in Russia, I received a small group email from my friend Gayle. She and two of her family members were booked to travel with Liberty Bell Wanderers on a bus trip to Binghamton, NY; Buffalo, and Niagara Falls.

A seat had opened up and they needed to fill it with someone who could get time off work and had a passport for some travel in Canada.

I fit that criteria.

I got up at 3:30 am to drive to Gayle’s so we could drive down to the Philly suburbs and meet the bus before 7 am. We stopped at Wawa and I got some watermelon, always a good start to the day.

  
We started our day with snacks on the bus while we journeyed to Binghamton, NY, where we met the local walking club reps at the YMCA for 5k or 10k walks.

The architecture in town was fascinating. They had mosaics frequently on display. They also had a Boscov’s department store downtown.

  
Our group had lunch at Uncle Tony’s where we enjoyed the juicy marinated local sandwich, the spiedie. Delectable.

  
Then when we returned to the Y, they had BIG bowls of vanilla ice cream for $1. They ran out of spoons so I used a fork.

  
We’re currently on the bus, watching a documentary on Niagara.