Each summer, my wife Robin and I take a road trip from our home in Dexter, Michigan, to Big Indian, New York, to participate in Magical Mystery Camp. This year, we made the trip in style in the 2026 Genesis G90.
Magical Mystery Camp is a weeklong gathering of Beatles fans, hosted by the band The Fab Faux. In between performances of Beatles music by the band and special guests, campers gather for presentations about the Beatles, their recording sessions, films, stage appearances, lives, and other works. Additionally, there are Q&As with musicians and other artists with ties to the Beatles, jam sessions, sing-alongs, and the opportunity to be part of bands that perform for fellow campers on the closing night. Mix in great food, a beautiful setting, comfortable accommodations (either in cabins or tents), and a welcoming atmosphere, and you’ve got the recipe for a Beatles fan’s ideal week in the mountains.
Drive My Car
The Genesis G90 was an ideal vehicle for our journey. Genesis loaned us a fully loaded example: the 3.5T E-SC MHEV Prestige Black AWD (try saying that quickly), priced at $107,895 (including the optional $650 Vik Black paint and a mandatory $1,495 destination fee).
I am a committed SUV guy. I love the interior space, the command seating position, and the cargo capacity. However, on a road trip like we just had, the G90 full-size sedan had several distinct advantages.
Most importantly for a musical road trip, the G90 has a big (10.59-cubic-foot) lockable trunk. The space was big enough to hold two guitars in their hard cases, a small amplifier, plus all the luggage two adults needed for a week away from home. In an SUV, I’d be concerned that the guitars might be visible, attracting unwanted attention at stops. I know that a determined bad guy can break into a trunk as easily as an SUV’s cargo hold, but I felt more secure knowing my precious instruments were locked away out of sight. Everybody’s Got Something to Hide (Except Me and My Monkey).
Not Misery
Do You Want to Know a Secret? If it’s been a while since you’ve driven a sedan in this SUV-crazy age, a few miles down the highway will remind you that a sedan feels like a magic carpet compared to the wind-blown ride of a big SUV. The G90 Prestige Black is particularly smooth on the interstate, thanks in large part to a standard multichamber air suspension. The sedan’s low profile and low drag (unlike a full-size SUV) cheat the wind, and the rack-mounted motor-driven power steering setup delivers just the right road feel.
Robin and I like to explore the back roads on our journeys, but when it was time to get from Point A to Point B after A Hard Day’s Night, we appreciated the comfort and security of the G90.
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
What would a road trip be without detours and stopovers? Our first day of driving took us to Jamestown, New York. As big comedy nerds (as if being Beatles nerds wasn’t enough), we had always wanted to visit Jamestown’s two big attractions: The National Comedy Center and The Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum.
The National Comedy Center is “the United States’ congressionally designated cultural institution dedicated to presenting the story of comedy and preserving its heritage for future generations,” according to its mission statement. It’s an ultramodern interactive space with words, images, video, audio, and comedy artifacts like the “Seinfeld” pirate shirt, George Carlin’s notebooks, Carl Reiner’s movie scripts, and thousands of other cool, historic items.
The National Comedy Center also runs the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum, located a few blocks away in downtown Jamestown. I hope everyone knows who Lucy was, but just in case: Lucille Ball was the queen of television sitcoms in the 1950s and 1960s. “I Love Lucy” ran from 1951 to 1957, and starred Lucy and her real-life husband, Desi Arnaz, as Lucy and Ricky Ricardo. The show pioneered the 3-camera setup that’s standard for live television sitcoms to this day and later introduced the rerunning, recording, and rebroadcasting of episodes. The museum claims that “I Love Lucy” has never been off the air since its initial broadcast of 179 regular episodes. After the show ended, Lucy went on to star in several sitcoms and a few films and took over as the head of Desilu Studios after her divorce from Desi. As a studio head, she was responsible for producing “Star Trek” and “Mission: Impossible,” among other significant series. Jamestown was Lucy’s birthplace, which is why both museums and the annual Lucille Ball Comedy Festival are based there. And I Love Her.
On the way out of Jamestown, we were pummeled by one of the most vicious rainstorms I’ve ever driven through. We were in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains by this time, heading toward our next stop before Big Indian, when the skies opened with a deluge that would have had Noah wiping his brow in concern. Once again, I appreciated the G90’s low profile and sloped windshield, as it shed water efficiently with the help of powerful wipers. The sedan’s traction control and electronic stability control worked perfectly, and I was able to maintain a reasonable speed in treacherous conditions. I felt bad for the work crews we saw along the way, Fixing a Hole while we rode in comfort.
The rain finally stopped, and we couldn’t help but say, “Here Comes the Sun.”
Roll Up for the Magical Mystery Tour! Step Right This Way!
We arrived at our next detour, the Zippo/Case Museum and Flagship Store in Bradford, Pennsylvania. Zippo patented its first lighter in 1934 and opened this museum in its hometown in 1997. The Zippo lighter is famous for its wind resistance, timeless style, and lifetime guarantee. This free museum, which shares space with the company’s flagship store on the factory grounds, tells the Zippo story through dioramas, videos, and other displays. The museum has a hall devoted to the W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co., a fellow Bradford company that Zippo acquired in 1993. Case has made some of the coolest knives around since 1889. Of course, I had to pick up a souvenir of our visit — a Zippo lighter with a brass case and a flaming skull painted on the face. The total was $45 plus 6% for the Taxman.
As we were paying for our purchases, we chatted with our cashier. She wanted to know more about the G90 parked out front, as she was a Mercedes-Benz owner and this was the first time she’d seen a Genesis in person. She wasn’t the first person on our trip who admired the G90’s appearance, and she wouldn’t be the last. The car has an aura of quality, with beautiful paint, body work, and trim. The design is classic, yet fresh. People may not recognize the Genesis logo yet, but they know they’re looking at a luxury vehicle. I was able to convince myself that they might be thinking, “Baby, You’re a Rich Man” when they saw me behind the wheel.
What Goes On
We arrived at Full Moon Resort in Big Indian for Magical Mystery Camp. I won’t go further into A Day in the Life at Beatles camp — that’s the subject for another article on a different site. But I will tell you that the G90 had a prime parking space and drew its share of admirers.
Soon, it was time to Get Back to Michigan. We had one more detour planned for the G90: The National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. I’m a big baseball nerd (add this to my list of nerddoms), and this was a bucket-list visit for me. I had no idea how remote Cooperstown was from any big towns. Located in Otsego County, NY, Cooperstown is a village with a population under 2,000. Nearly every business on the main street has a baseball theme, and there’s a small baseball stadium, Doubleday Field, right near the Hall of Fame, legendarily on the site of the first-ever baseball field. Don’t go down that rabbit hole — the origins of baseball are heavily debated. But the legend was strong enough to snag the Hall of Fame for Cooperstown, and it’s a wonderful place to spend a few hours exploring baseball history. From Me to You, I could have easily spent all day there seeking out displays of ephemera from my favorite players and teams. But Robin and I decided when we left Big Indian that we would drive all the way home that day, a trip of about 650 miles.
Once we returned to the highway, I let the advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) on the G90 ease the journey. I set the adaptive cruise control to the speed limit, and the car engaged a suite of active safety systems, including forward collision-avoidance assist, lane-keeping assist with lane-following assist, and more. The driver attention warning feature, which I usually deride as an electronic nuisance, helped keep me alert, especially as the miles wore on. The head-up display allowed me to keep my eyes on the road, and I felt less fatigued without having to dart my gaze from the instrument cluster to the road. Of course, the front seat massage feature was great — maybe the biggest reason to take a loaded luxury car on The Long and Winding Road.
The Bang & Olufsen 3D Premium Audio system was no slouch, either. We listened to a lot of music during our drive — mostly Beatles, I’ll admit — but we also listened to plenty of podcasts and news programs. The presence and sound staging of the 26-speaker system never failed to impress. On well-recorded and engineered songs, like the Giles Martin remastered versions of the Beatles’ catalog in high-definition audio, there was a great sense of presence and space. The G90 cabin acts as a great listening room, almost a private music studio.
The End
Just when I was starting to feel like a real Nowhere Man, signs for our hometown of Dexter guided us to our destination. As we covered the last few miles, I thought, “I’m So Tired,” but Let It Be. Something about the 2026 Genesis G90 moves me. When I Get Home, I’ve Got a Feeling I’ll remember this trip for a long time. Over 1,550 miles on the road at an average of 28.6 mpg (way over the EPA estimate), and I Feel Fine.
Jason Fogelson
