Summer 2004
A very busy summer this year.
In May I visited the Veterans’ Memoral Park in Edgewater NJ. This park is the home of a colony of Monk Parrots, decedents of a bunch of imported birds intended to be pets that instead escaped from JFK airport and made New York and New Jersey their new homes. I also visited the Great Falls of the Passaic River, in Patterson NJ.
At the beginning of June I went to Atlanta GA on a business trip. While I was there I took some extra time and visited the Warner Robins Air Museum, about 1½ hours drive south east of Atlanta. At the end of June, Mary Ann and I took a weekend and visited Gettysburg; we got in one day of battlefield touring, but our second day there was rained out.
Meanwhile, back at work, my pair of Canada Geese were back in the courtyard outside my office window raising a second family of goslings, just like last year.
In July I took a long trip, to Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. I began in Lancaster OH, where I attended the C&O Historical Society meeting, which ran for 4 nights and 3 days. While I was there, my sisters Patti and Lynne visited me. After the conference closed on Sunday morning, I drove to Old Man’s Cave state park, part of the Hocking Hills parks, and spent a couple of hours walking around and taking pictures. From there I went to Hopetown for a brief visit to the site of my grandparents home when I was growing up, and then on to Circleville for supper and a nice visit with my Uncle, Aunt, and another Uncle who drove up from his home near Cincinnati to see me. I left there about 8 in the evening and drove on to Richmond IN, where I spent the night.
From Richmond I traveled to Peru IN to visit the Grissom Aerospace Museum. Sadly, it is closed on Mondays, but I was still able to see the planes over and through the fence, and to get some pictures. From Grissom is was on the Kalamazoo MI and a visit to the Kalamazoo Air Zoo.
The next day (Tuesday) I visited the Gilmore Car Museum, near Kalamazoo, and then moved on to Willamston and a visit with another Uncle and Aunt, and them back to Lansing to visit and have supper with Glen and Mary Ashley, friends from college.
Wednesday it was on to Toledo OH for a short visit with a friend from the COHS, and then on to North Olmsted, outside Cleveland. While I was in college my family lived here, and I went by the old homestead to have a look. From there it was on to Frank Bongiovanni’s home, just a couple of miles away. I had a nice visit with Frank and Eva, and then we went out for supper with John and Patty Henning, two other friends from the COHS.
Thursday was the drive home, for a total of about 1900 miles in 10 days.
For the next month or so, I lived a fairly quiet life, but at the end of August I drove out to Long Island to visit the Cradle of Aviation museum and visit with my friend Sam.
A couple weeks later Mary Ann and I made the trip back to Edgewater to see the parrots again, and to visit the Great Falls.
In addition to all that, here are a few miscellaneous pictures from the summer.