There are a few things I learned while on vacation.

During a quick trip back home to upstate New York for the Father’s Day weekend, I found that going east was actually easier on the internal clock for me than going west.

It was an overnight flight on a Wednesday that got me from the west coast to the east coast and though I catnapped on the way there, I didn’t actually sleep and was shocked to find myself staying up the whole day on Thursday. No nap, no early bedtime; I went to sleep at roughly my normal time and woke up about 6 a.m. (also pretty normal) on Friday. Strange thing is, that’s 3 a.m. on the west coast. There wasn’t any real jet lag, although maybe it was more about the excitement of being back home than any internal clock.

Also, I’m pretty sure New York knows when I am coming because the weather seems to put on a show for me. I hadn’t been back home since Thanksgiving 2024 and that was the trip when we got a good old-fashioned Nor’easter storm, which blew in a few hours after my arrival. I think it was about 10 inches of snow on the ground and more falling on Thanksgiving Day; we ended up delaying the holiday meal a day because travel was just too hard. This trip, we were under a tornado watch the day I got there. No tornado but we did have some torrential rain and some really heavy winds that blew down tree limbs all over town.

I also learned my brother is a devoted New York Yankees fan. He was very excited to watch baseball with me, as we used to play it all the time when we were kids. He filled me in on the Yankees players, who is doing well, who he is impressed with this season, etc. He knows I am a Giants fan now, since moving to the west coast, but it was enjoyable to sit down and watch a handful of games with him while I was there.

My brother and sister-in-law live about a mile from my dad and I stayed with them this trip, since my sister and brother-in-law – who live over near Fairfield not far from the Jelly Belly factory – were also in New York visiting and they were staying with my dad.

We decided this would be a great time for us all to be in NY, celebrating Father’s Day, and making a trip to the annual ‘Gas Up’ antique gas engine show that is pretty close to where my dad lives. Growing up, we always went, as my dad restored antique gasoline engines and had several of them on display, chugging and popping. Now, he likes to sit and visit and listen to the sounds of the past.

My sister, brother and I also discovered we share some great core memories, perhaps the best of which was our weekly Sunday evening family trip to the Dairy Queen (a big deal back in the day when they were new) and a place called Flander’s, where we would pick up whatever tropical fish supplies we needed. A room in our cellar was filled with multiple tanks so there was always food to buy, a new fish to introduce, whatever. The three of us were able to recite our weekly food order word for word; my brother and I also agreed that we really have never had a better burger than the original Brazier Burger at Dairy Queen.

And though it took a few tries – three, to be exact, due to extenuating circumstances (but that’s another column) – I was able to bake my dad some of his favorite oatmeal raisin cookies, enough to fill the cookie jar and put some in the freezer.

So, all in all, a good trip. Now I just need to readjust and stop yawning and feel like it’s bedtime at 7 p.m.

Marg Jackson is editor of The Oakdale Leader, The Escalon Times and The Riverbank News. She may be reached at mjackson@oakdaleleader.com or by calling 209-847-3021.