New York World's Fair memories

So way back in 1964 (or maybe 1965) Citizen Grouch who was all of 10 (or 11) traveled with his parents and his siblings to see the World's Fair in New York.  We drove to Connecticut and stayed with his niece and family. I knew her as Aunt Jean and at that age I had no idea that she wasn't my aunt but actually my cousin.  Aunt Jean and my Dad were close in age and had a fun relationship which surprised me to see.  My Dad could be somewhat stern sometimes but he obviously had a great time when with his niece.  She was funny and had a loud laugh, she told great stories of her adventures and once accidentally put her cigarette out on my hand when we were riding in the back of the family '57 Plymouth sedan.  I jumped and knocked the cigarette out of her hand where it fell to the plastic seat cover and burned a hole right through it and I was forever more reminded of that incident by the bullet size hole through the clear plastic cover.

Her son took me sailing in their small sail boat on Long Island sound and we ate at an ice cream parlor called 'Friendlies'.  At some point we visited Mystic seaport to see antique whaling ships. 

I thought their house and their lives was the most exotic thing I had encountered, besides my grandparent's house in Ft. Lauderdale that is.

My memories of the fair are actually pretty sketchy.  I remember the GM pavilion and riding in cars through the diorama.  I remember the Disney 'Small World' ride and the animatronic Abe Lincoln that showed up later on in Disney World.  I remember some of the other commercial pavilions, one of them putting on a magician's type show that made stuff by mixing chemicals.  The food was great for a kid of my age and I found the people in national costume fascinating.  I remember seeing a group of French sea scouts with their pom-pom hats go running by us to get in line for a show.

I think there was a trip to Niagara Falls involved in the whole expedition.  I have a memory of my Dad asking the hotel clerk on the Canadian side 'what's the deal with exchanging money?' which one of my sisters found to be terribly funny.

  Probably if I saw some photos of the trip much more would come back to me. 

It was an adventure of a life time for this small boy.  I hope I wasn't too much of a pain for my suffering parents on this extended journey.  I probably wasn't appreciative of the trip at the time but it is something that I have thought of many times since then.

Thanks Mom!  Thanks Dad!