Holiday Inn Jamestown-Downtown,Ny

... the vistas are beautiful. The roads are wide and well-paved, and the farms are well-kept and scenic. it was a pleasant drive. We saw a hot air balloon at one point, and we completely missed the Browns losing again (and again).

We arrived in Bradford late in the afternoon, and found out why there are no major chain hotels here. The town seems to have a lot of closed factories, and not much going for it. It was probably a boom town ...

Jill and I found something we loked to do more than playing Scrabble....put puzzles together. Here are some pics of our late night puzzling. We would spend hours in the evening fitting the pieces together. We would work on opposite sides in complete silence, then switch sides when we stopped making progress in our respective areas. We were a great puzzle team!!

One of my reasons for this trip to PA was to spend some time with my father. He was traveling quite a bit for business, so we only got together a few times. This was our last visit. He picked up Alex & me in the Hummer and we went to eat at the French Creek Tavern. Then I got to drive the Hummer back. Very cool!! I just couldn't talk him into giving it to me as an early birthday present.

Throughout northwestern Pennsylvania and southwester New York state, there are lots of corn fields. It seems to be the thing to grow. We thought we would give you our version of "Children of the Corn". This corn field was right outside our favorite place to eat in Clymer, NY...the French Creek Tavern. This place is highly recommended for anyone passing by. They have the best wings...and I consider myself a wings connoisseur.

For the next few days, we hung out at the Peek house and everyone relaxed doing their favorite things. The kids played and played and played. Jill & I played a lot of Scrabble, engaging in some fierce competition. Jill, Jerry & I spent the evenings on the computer playing chess, scanning sport blogs, and researching this that and the other thing.

We had Grampa & Grandma Kelly over for dinner on the 2nd. We have just been having a good time.

Somehow, the men offered to watch the kids to give us a girls night out. We headed down to the main resort and enjoyed a couple glasses of wine and caught up on everything for the next 4 hours. When we got back, the kids were still up and the babysitters were asleep.

... Clymer, NY at the Peek'n'Peak resort (http://pknpk.com). We were able to stay here for the duration of our visit.

I have lots of pics to post from our time in Clymer/Erie. I will hopefully do that soon.

We took a tour down river and followed the rapids. This river is 50 ft deep and still has the strongest rapids of any river in North America. The rapids are not caused by rock as in most rivers. They are caused by friction between the deep slower moving water and the fast moving surface water. It is stupefying.

... for dinner. I had a great reuben and fries and the service was fast and friendly so I'd definitely recommend it. I spent the night in Dubuque and headed out for Schaumburg, IL (a northwestern suburb of Chicago) on Monday. Another town I would recommend taking the time to look at is Galena, IL. It is located only 30 minutes from Dubuque. Again, I didn't have a chance to stop and ...

... 8221; to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” the audiences gave their loud approval. Audiences from California to Canada love the swaying, clapping rhythms of the *****ian carol “Betelehemu,” and the Chautauqua audiences w**e no diff**ent.

Between conc**ts, alone or in small groups, Choir memb**s could hardly walk a few steps without people gath**ing around them. “We w**e at the conc**t--it was wond**ful,” some would say, while oth**s would ...