Well, Gloria took a few moments to add pictures from Uganda and New York (it has only taken us four months to figure out how to do this simple task), so you might want to back up and take a looky look. (I've always wanted to write that). Anyway, Uganda seems like a long time ago as we sit in our little camper overlooking beautiful Coralville Lake on a chilly and blustery September day here in eastern Iowa.
But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. After leaving Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame, we continued westward to Seneca Falls and a brief look at the Women's Rights Museum before landing in Jamestown in New York's southwest corner. I made a wrong turn out of Seneca Falls, so we got to enjoy plenty of New York countryside before getting on the right road. To her credit, Gloria just smiled and didn't say what a dork I was. In Jamestown we had a few laughs at the Lucille Ball Museum (Lucy-Desi) which was fairly small but cute in a goofy blonde sort of way. We also enjoyed Roger Tory Peterson's place in the same town and had a wonderful time birding the trails around it.
Ohio was next -- we were back in the midwest, the place of our roots, and it felt good. We drove 478 miles from Seneca Falls to Coshocton, Ohio (see comments of my driving above). Coshocton sits along the Tuscarawas River where canal boats traveled ffrom about 1835 to 1870, and we enjoyed learning about this early form of travel before the iron horse came along and made them outdated. I played golf at River Greens there, but it wasn't as fun as usual because Gloria had pulled a muscle in her leg and had to skip it. We explored some Amish towns (Charm, Sugar Creek) and had dinner at Der Dutchman's restaurant, but the food tasted like cafeteria offerings -- except for the pie which was great. Anyway, if you ever go there, just go straight to the pie.
We stopped in at the Jack Nicklaus Museum at The Ohio State University in Columbus and watched as some of the OSU stars were being interviewed on TV. Those poor guys, in a year or two they will be multimillionaires and their whole lives will be changed forever. You know what they say, too many major life changes isn't good for anybody. Anyway, the Jack Nicklaus story was very nice, as was the Packard Motor Company Museum in Dayton where we got to drool over some really really really beautiful old Packards and wished we were the ones who became multimillionaires so we could pick up a couple of them instead of some stupid, spoiled athletes who wouldn't even appreciate an old Packard Caribbean 1955, pink and white with those big old whitewalls and hydramatic suspension......Oh yes, I guess I got a little carried away.
Anyway, we drove into Indiana, my Dad's home state and visited Columbus, a bigger town than we were used to at 39,000 (in which we got lost immediately, which is one reason we prefer small towns to visit and play golf in). It has some tremendous architecture by very famous architects, so we took a great two hour van tour. We both had colds and Gloria looked rather puny, so we splurged on a motel which was a great idea so I could play golf at the Robert Trent Jones designed Otter Creek course while Gloria rested. We missed our old camper and didn't sleep very well in the strange big room, but maybe it was the Chinese food which made us toss and turn.
Illinois was next, the home of my mother's ancestors, and we had a super time with John and Edie Corbly over the Labor Day weekend at their great home in Urbana. They treated us royally which we didn't deserve, but we tried to be good guests and so took advantage of every situation we could. They certainly were great to us and we hope we can return the favor sometime in the future. After Urbana we went to Springfield, because Illinois is the Land of Lincoln, and were wowed at the Lincoln Museum and Presidential Library. Now that is one museum you've got to visit if you every happen to be traveling this way. Lots of fun for all ages and extremely well-done. We visited Lincoln's tomb before heading out to Monmouth in northwest Illinois, a cute small town where it is very difficult to get lost. There I played at a beautiful course called Gibson Woods. While the rest of the state is flat with lots of corn fields and soybean fields, Gibson Woods is hilly with great old hardwood trees and it was the cheapest course on the trip so far. Gloria was still nursing her cold and sore leg, so worked on our pictures while I played. In Monmouth we listened to the Agribusiness Report on the radio and had a wonderful time at the little Wyatt Earp Birthplace run by a delightful older couple, Melba and Bob Matson. We walked up the narrow stairway to see the room where he was born in 1846 and Bob told us to listen carefully, because sometimes you can still hear that first "Earp Burp." We didn't.
So now we are in Iowa and the weather has changed from hot and muggy to chilly and breezy in just one day. Summer just kind of disappeared overnight and now it's Fall and we've still got a long way to go with many friends and family to visit. We're just having the best time and think everyone should do something like this when they can, rather than waiting until it's TOO LATE, if you know what I mean. Well, I've got to go -- the Amana Colonies in Iowa are waiting.
But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. After leaving Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame, we continued westward to Seneca Falls and a brief look at the Women's Rights Museum before landing in Jamestown in New York's southwest corner. I made a wrong turn out of Seneca Falls, so we got to enjoy plenty of New York countryside before getting on the right road. To her credit, Gloria just smiled and didn't say what a dork I was. In Jamestown we had a few laughs at the Lucille Ball Museum (Lucy-Desi) which was fairly small but cute in a goofy blonde sort of way. We also enjoyed Roger Tory Peterson's place in the same town and had a wonderful time birding the trails around it.
Ohio was next -- we were back in the midwest, the place of our roots, and it felt good. We drove 478 miles from Seneca Falls to Coshocton, Ohio (see comments of my driving above). Coshocton sits along the Tuscarawas River where canal boats traveled ffrom about 1835 to 1870, and we enjoyed learning about this early form of travel before the iron horse came along and made them outdated. I played golf at River Greens there, but it wasn't as fun as usual because Gloria had pulled a muscle in her leg and had to skip it. We explored some Amish towns (Charm, Sugar Creek) and had dinner at Der Dutchman's restaurant, but the food tasted like cafeteria offerings -- except for the pie which was great. Anyway, if you ever go there, just go straight to the pie.
We stopped in at the Jack Nicklaus Museum at The Ohio State University in Columbus and watched as some of the OSU stars were being interviewed on TV. Those poor guys, in a year or two they will be multimillionaires and their whole lives will be changed forever. You know what they say, too many major life changes isn't good for anybody. Anyway, the Jack Nicklaus story was very nice, as was the Packard Motor Company Museum in Dayton where we got to drool over some really really really beautiful old Packards and wished we were the ones who became multimillionaires so we could pick up a couple of them instead of some stupid, spoiled athletes who wouldn't even appreciate an old Packard Caribbean 1955, pink and white with those big old whitewalls and hydramatic suspension......Oh yes, I guess I got a little carried away.
Anyway, we drove into Indiana, my Dad's home state and visited Columbus, a bigger town than we were used to at 39,000 (in which we got lost immediately, which is one reason we prefer small towns to visit and play golf in). It has some tremendous architecture by very famous architects, so we took a great two hour van tour. We both had colds and Gloria looked rather puny, so we splurged on a motel which was a great idea so I could play golf at the Robert Trent Jones designed Otter Creek course while Gloria rested. We missed our old camper and didn't sleep very well in the strange big room, but maybe it was the Chinese food which made us toss and turn.
Illinois was next, the home of my mother's ancestors, and we had a super time with John and Edie Corbly over the Labor Day weekend at their great home in Urbana. They treated us royally which we didn't deserve, but we tried to be good guests and so took advantage of every situation we could. They certainly were great to us and we hope we can return the favor sometime in the future. After Urbana we went to Springfield, because Illinois is the Land of Lincoln, and were wowed at the Lincoln Museum and Presidential Library. Now that is one museum you've got to visit if you every happen to be traveling this way. Lots of fun for all ages and extremely well-done. We visited Lincoln's tomb before heading out to Monmouth in northwest Illinois, a cute small town where it is very difficult to get lost. There I played at a beautiful course called Gibson Woods. While the rest of the state is flat with lots of corn fields and soybean fields, Gibson Woods is hilly with great old hardwood trees and it was the cheapest course on the trip so far. Gloria was still nursing her cold and sore leg, so worked on our pictures while I played. In Monmouth we listened to the Agribusiness Report on the radio and had a wonderful time at the little Wyatt Earp Birthplace run by a delightful older couple, Melba and Bob Matson. We walked up the narrow stairway to see the room where he was born in 1846 and Bob told us to listen carefully, because sometimes you can still hear that first "Earp Burp." We didn't.
So now we are in Iowa and the weather has changed from hot and muggy to chilly and breezy in just one day. Summer just kind of disappeared overnight and now it's Fall and we've still got a long way to go with many friends and family to visit. We're just having the best time and think everyone should do something like this when they can, rather than waiting until it's TOO LATE, if you know what I mean. Well, I've got to go -- the Amana Colonies in Iowa are waiting.
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