Fairfield Inn & Suites By Marriott Cleveland Beachwood

... better than that of LSU.

Getting back on the road, we stopped in Cleveland to check out the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The building was impressive, but the City was not. The displays were nice, but we weren't real R&R fans. There were lots of displays of old musical equipment used by the legends of R&R.

Back to the road.

... meet them or see them out of habit. I've gotten a few looks. Also ordering food and normal daily activities - I'll catch myself trying to speak in Spanish. whoops. It's just weird being back in the states. Good, but weird.

I love seeing all of my friends and family. I love the Christmas decorations! I can't wait to go shopping and look at all of the lights around town. Drink hot chocolate. Go ice ...

... ll be a whole new life! I am just glad I don't have any kids at home, or a hubby to deal with - makes the situation a lot easier!

Surprise 50th Birthday party was a BLAST! Cannot believe Karen G. was able to surprise me! Thanks to all my friends who showed up with booze, gifts, and $$ for the Alaska trip!

Saga continues....

... br> We finished packing, finished our cups of coffee. After goodbyes all around we hit the road with the Picketts on the iPod. The Amish carpenters were back at work repairing a porch on a lovely Federal-style brick building along Mill Street damaged in a recent storm. Although they deemed not to drive themselves into town, they did come ...

We returned to Betsy's parents house from our time in Mexico. After throwing a few more things away - we took off in our car on a road trip to Cindy Snow's wedding in Arkansas. We visited our friends Bill and Chuck in Cincinnati, then we followed the Ohio river to the Mississipi. We stopped at some small towns along the way like Metropolis (the home of superman).

... br>
For more information about how you can involved, please contact me at Lukas@irtfcleveland.org for more information about volunteer possibilities!

[Lukas is a full-time volunteer on the IRTF staff. Lukas is doing human rights work at IRTF as an alternative to obligatory military service in Germany. He is in the US through the United Church of Christ and Action Reconciliation Service for Peace.]

We left Florida and drove to Berea via Winston Salem so we could visit Jed and Cecilie (Peter's nephew). When we arrived in Berea we spent the month of March getting Betsy's parents house ready to put on the market. The house market in Cleveland is horrible so we thought we better try to sell the house as soon as possible so they would be ready to move into their new retirement apartment in Chagrin Falls when is was completed in the fall.

... IRTF wurde 1980 gegründet, weil 4 US-am**ikanische Nonnen, zwei von ihnen kamen aus Cleveland, in El Salvador misshandelt, gefolt**t und schließlich **mordet wurden. Sie wurden **st 2 Tage nach ihrem Tod von einem Bau**n im Wald gefunden. Die zwei Nonnen aus Cleveland, Jean Donovan und Schwest** Dorothy Kazel , hatten noch Stunden gelebt nachdem sie in den Kopf geschossen wurden. Sie waren nach El Salvador gegangen, um für Frieden und G**echtigkeit ...

... HAL, perhaps just poor design. And what happened to the Queens Lounge? Now it is the "Explorers Lounge" with a full and openly exposed bar. It totally lost it's intimacy compared to the Noordams Queens Lounge. And the quartet, who were attractive and played passably, were stuck on one end of the room, instead of situated in the middle. It seems too stark, too thrown together, like an afterthought. The Pinnacle Grill is lovely, and ...

... no pre-set itinerary, and drive to small towns. We would see a kinder and gentler America than the one we knew from big city life in Orlando, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, and Cleveland. We would eat where the locals eat (the small cafes in every town that always have ...