Village of Tuxedo Park

My dad’s uncle was like a father to him growing up, and so even though he is technically my great uncle, he IS my grandfather.  And I adore him.  So my brothers and I call him “YaYa,” which is Shanghainese for paternal grandfather.

After living in Huntington Beach, California for the past many decades, he relocated to New York City last year to be close to his daughter, who, despite being my dad's cousin, is more like my dad's sister.  I consider her my aunt and I adore her, too!  She and my uncle have a home in Tuxedo Park, NY, where they spend their summers, and YaYa is spending his summer there as well.  We wanted to visit him, and jumped at the chance to go to Tuxedo Park.

We drove up on Saturday morning and what should have been a five-hour drive turned into a seven-hour drive because of an accident on the New Jersey turnpike.  We were parked at a standstill for over 90 minutes.  People were out of their cars, wandering around and socializing, sitting and standing on the tops of their vehicles, and taking photos of themselves sitting on the guardrails.  I’ve never seen anything like it!  Even though it added almost two hours to our drive, the people-watching was great.  We also drove across the Delaware Memorial Bridge, and I love bridges!  Look at this bridge!  Amazing!

Delaware Memorial Bridge

Delaware Memorial Bridge

Delaware Memorial Bridge

NJ Turnpike

NJ Turnpike

I had only ever been to Tuxedo Park once, more than twenty years ago, and C had never been there, so this was our first visit to my aunt and uncle's house.  They live right on the water, and as you can see from the photos below, it is just beautiful.  It was so relaxing and enjoying time with family was wonderful.  Other than the fact that we greatly missed our dogs, we did not want to leave.  It is a sad reality that no matter how much time we get to spend with people we love, no visit is EVER long enough.

Arya

C and I took a lovely walk with YaYa and Arya and I hung back to snap a picture of them.  This is my favorite photo from the weekend, and I strongly suspect it is destined to be one of my favorite photos of all time.  I love absolutely everything about it.

Arya, YaYa, and C

We began our trip home Sunday afternoon and decided to avoid the NJ turnpike and I-95S.  Our route included Pennsylvania and West Virginia, so we drove through a total of seven states.  Not bad for a 36-hour trip!

Happy Tails to you!