The family members that made the trip were my father Robert,,my sister Claudia,cousins Frances and her husband Joe,Richard Musleve,and Cathy Ransdell.I'm not to sure how to start most of this,but thanks to typing it's possible to remove or add anything. SO it goes like this.....My dad invited his grandma's sisters daughers down from a part of Poland. I still have no idea where other than northwest Poland.They were driven down buy Mary's sons, Meric andYonic. When we arrived at the inn they had already been there a day due to our plane being a day late.We came in late that evening with Helina and Andrew Malecki,our guides,and had a wonderful greeting.The bed and breakfast we stayed at was great and very modern.That evening our our hosts,Yonic and Danuta, made us some of the dishes that my grandma and grandpa may have eaten.Some were very good and some were....well you must remember they were just farmers and times were different! Well after dinner Andrew brought out his favorite drink that he shared with whom ever would have some.Some of us had a little and some had more, then my cousin Richard brought out some scotch and that was the end of the night for me.
As we woke the next morning,(yep too early for me)the breakfast was very good and we soon were off in our little caravan to Snietnica It was a beautiful ride in the country and all the turning and twisting roads really made me...well...I just had to lean over and ask Andrew to stop the van for a moment,Ah yes the night before.There were many beautiful mountains to see and wonderful places to look out over once in the higher areas.This is when it really starts to set in that you truly are in a very different and beautiful place.
The part of being in the town of Snietnica and all that happend there I will leave to others to write. This was a wonderful day and a lot of thanks go to Helena and Andrew for it! Everyone just had an outstanding time.I hope that my fathers cousins,Anna,Mary,Yonic and Merik that came in from so far away found this day to be as great! They were only here for a short time.
Outstanding is truly the feeling you get when you travel the roads in the area. Andrew was just wonderfull at driving us around,you always had confidence in his driving and you could really relax and enjoy the beautiful veiw from the van.
During the trips Claudia was taking pictures with her new video camera and Richard with his new digital camera.It is possible to get a copy of these by sending us an email. I have always enjoyed traveling and to be able to travel across the mountains as the passenger and not the driver was great. The following names and places are to be corrected soon. Places we were to visit, a Priests home to ask about birth records may be located.The larger town to locate and get the birth records!!! WOW this was amazing. Other places, town that had mineral waters and market place,name of town I went off on my own to buy gifts for my family and had everyone worried,this was a fun day.The trip were we went over the Slovoc border, they had a parade and festival, wow to be in an old communistic place, this was an eye opener.
Later on to the Lemko festival and lemko museum.This really brought it home for me on how they lived in every day life. The day we all went for a walk down the road in front of the inn to I belive it was Helina's parents house, then out further for a nice walk to the top of hill were Andrew had water and snacks. Onward we went to see shepards and have some goats cheese and more. There was one day we all went for a ride in a horse drawn cart/buggy .,Have to fill this day in more . We were very busy every day and I would like to say thanks to Halina and Andrew there son Paul for all the work they did in making all this happen.
The day that Andrew drove Richard,Claudia and I to the Dunajec river for the raft ride.This day started with a ride threw the city of Nowy Sacz. Andrew worked hard to park the van as we now found ourselves at the local market with,food,jewery,clothing. This was hard to pass up but we were on a misson to get Rich's camera downloaded. Andrew lead us down a couple of streets and into a small passage and we came out on one of the main streets of town. The download took about 1/2 hour so we sat in the town square and all had a beer.I guess this is when it really sets in your mind that you are on VACATION!!! With a relaxed mood we found our way back through the town, purchased some food, gooseberries, cherries, rhubarb(for pie ) and off we went into the mountains.We all enjoyed the drive and stopped at the most beautiful place to look out from. Here we took some great pictures out over a valley and into the next mountain.We would soon arrive at the river were Andrew made sure the tickets and destination were correct. He then left and would pick us up at the end.The boats reminded me of 5 wooden canoes held together with boards across the width to sit upon. The ride was smooth and only twice really went over rushing water,this made it easy to take memorable pictures.Andrew was then waiting to pick us up in the town of Szczawnica were the idea of kilbasa,fries,and a drink were had. We were delighted to find that Andrew knew were there was a ski lift in town Soon we found ourselves riding to the top.This was the first time my sister or I had ever been on a ski lift.The excitment of being that high up on such a small chair was fun!! At the top they had a louge type sled with metal track for you to ride in. Andrew and I were the only ones willing to try this.The sled was just long enough to sit in.You use the stick in the center to slow the sled downThe ride back down was great. About the time we were to leave a gypsy festival was starting, more fun? No it's time to get home. We returned and talked a lot about what my father and Kathy had found out at the records office .See Kathy's page.
This story is on other pages the end for now,4/23/04,it is wonderful to have these memories.
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