Quick Catch Up

I left you on July 2nd and now it is August 3rd!  In order to fill in events, I'll do a recap by week!

Immediately after the Berkshires, we spent a great week in Massachusetts visiting my sister and brother in law, Marilyn and Barry.  

This is a picture of us celebrating July 4th New England style!  We swam in Morse's Pond, tried to pick out granite for the new kitchen, and experimented with different restaurants because of the gutted kitchen!

Michael and I took time to visit Providence, RI and see cousins Kenny and Leah.  We also visited a culinary museum, a very nice independent book store, and found time to relax at a coffee house!

After Massachusetts, we went to Springfield NJ to spend time with Susan and David. We fit in a day trip up the Hudson Valley and stopped at Hyde Park and Cold Spring. What a beautiful area and if you are ever in Cold Spring, make sure to stop at Moo Moo's Creamery!  Yummy!

Uh oh, another kissing picture!

Michael and I had time to take a trip to Yonkers to visit out cousin, Dana.  Fun was had as we went out to Applebee's, Dana's favorite restaurant.

There is no picture to show our visits to Cathy and Bill Sacher, but we were so glad to find Cathy on the mend from almost a year of hip problems.

No trip to NJ would be complete without a visit to Broadway!  Susan, Barbara, Debbie, and I got rush tickets to see Something Rotten.  The seats were crazy- one balcony, one mezzanine, and two orchestra!  We traded around at intermission so it was fair for all.

Next we were off to LBI- or Long Beach Island!

The Berkshires

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CI have always heard about the beautiful Berkshires, but I have never had the opportunity to visit.  Even though it was raining off and on, we had a great time. We stayed at Conroy's B&B in Stockbridge which was convenient for visiting lots of area attractions. 

We started by driving up to North Adams and visiting Mass MOCA.  What a fabulous venue!  It is an old factory space  with football - size gallery spaces and unique exhibits . 

Our next stop was the Crane Museum of Paper in Dalton, MA.  They make all the paper used for US currency.  It is a secret process so we didn't get to tour the factory, but the retired factory worker explained the process.  It was a quick stop, but I loved it!

The day was moving along and we were off to Tanglewood.  For me, Tanglewood  had a reputation of almost mythical proportions.  I had heard about "the shed" and concerts on the lawn, the Boston Pops, and music students .  Well,  the stories are true!  We didn't see The Pops, but we did get in on the student fellows string quartet marathon !  We listened to 9 string quartets that played for a half hour each in gorgeous Seiji Ozawa Hall.  Fantastic music in an amazing concert hall.  These students were young adults from all over the world who had competed in their area and won a scholarship to study at Tanglewood .  So much talent!  Each quartet had their own style and flair. One of the pieces was a world premier of a piece that had been commissioned just for this occasion !

We finally got back to the B&B after 10 even though we had skipped out on the last quartet.

The next morning leaving the Berkshires, we were talked into going to the Norman Rockwell Museum.  We had originally scheduled this museum for our first stop, but because Cooperstown had been so crowded we had not gotten there in time.  I knew a little about his work, but not more than the Saturday Evening Post covers.  Was I surprised!  This small museum details Rockwell's methods and his whole career.  The grounds are spectacular, the outdoor cafe was a good lunch spot, and his original studio is now on the grounds behind the museum and open to the public.  I am so glad that we stopped!

Cooperstown-Baseball Mecca

It poured all the way to Cooperstown-and it was cold!  We thought that we would hit the baseball museum in the morning and the Norman Rockwell museum on the afternoon. Little did we know that 140  little league camp games were cancelled because of the rain!  It took us four hours to go through the museum and it really was fun to see the excitement of all those young ball players.  

After having had my equality awareness raised just the day before, I was conscious of the minimal role women play in our national pastime.  

We had fun looking for everything Giant!

I just can't understand why there is so much emphasis on all those other teams:)

Seneca Falls-A Reminder

It was pouring rain as we powered on to the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, NY.

That's me and Susan B.  This was a small national park building that was very inspiring.  In summary all I can say is ALL women and men are equal and we all would be better off if we were more conscious about it.  

We drove a bit more and stayed at a little family- owned motel in Vernon,NY.  The only memorable thing about the evening was our dinner at Vernon Downs CSino and Race Track ! Every so often during dinner the trotters would trot by the window!

In the morning we had a standard egg breakfast at Apple Betty's and we were off to Cooperstown!

Niagra Falls

What can I say?  Spectacular, commercial, must see, and done.

Yeah Linda!

Linda and I have not seen each other in 13 years and we picked up our conversation as if we had spoken yesterday!  She welcomed Michael and me, offered us her washing machine and gave us a cozy guest room.  We stayed up late talking and sharing a delicious Cabernet .  

In the morning we dried out the tent and re packed the car with all our clean clothes - thank you Linda !

It was hard to leave on Friday morning, but we were committed to reaching Niagra Falls so off we went.  Some connections are there forever- at least I hope so. 

Return to Athens

I left you when we were camping outside of Cincinnati. It was a beautiful setting.  There were a few scattered campers around and a lovely lake.  At night we saw more fireflies than I have ever seen before and they twinkled all night!  I now know where the idea for fairy lights comes from. 

We packed up the tent and drove to the shower building where we saw two maintanence men taking the water heater away!  No showers:(

After camping in 90 degree heat I was really looking forward to a rinse.  Oh well, a quick wash and off to Athens!

The campus of Ohio University has really grown in 40 years!  The main green is still the same, but many buildings have been expanded, repurposed , or rebuilt. We needed a map to find things!  The new student center is gorgeous and goes from "down the hill" up to the green.  Shively Hall has been redone and is airconditioned.  We got a tour because it was open for Orientation! No more giant window fans!  

For those of you who were there, the golf course is still behind the South Green- although I don't know if it is utilized at night anymore.  

We visited Stewart MacDonald, the instrument makers, and checked in on the Hillel - but it was closed for the summer . 

14 Brown Avenue, our home for 2 years was there , but it is a different house!  Not as cute and clearly a student rental. 

In the evening we had dinner at a great brewery, Jackie O's.  On the way back to the car we heard music and found the Athens Community Band playing a concert!  A lovely end to our evening in Athens.

We camped out a Stroud's Run state park.  It was pretty, but there were only 3 spots taken out of 81.  It felt pretty deserted.  Pit toilets that were gross, no showers, and iffy water. To add insult to injury, it started to rain just as we were finishing breakfast. We threw everything into the car and headed for Cleveland - hoping that our friend Linds  would take in this bedraggled couple .