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We left home Saturday, November 13 and drove the first day to Cleveland, Ohio where we spent a night with Scott and Beth Trossen and their three daughters. After spending a little time saying our hellos, Scott and I went to work on the project of replacing his sliding glass doors to his deck. It was a true mental challenge for both of us, as no written instructions came with his replacement doors. After a two-hour struggle we finally completed the job and enjoyed pizza and a nice time to catch up on what was happening in all our lives.
Monday we took it easy, going out shopping for about 5 hours. Some of our stops included a candle shop, a Christmas store and Home Depot (to find Tony Stewart racing merchandise). We came back to our hotel to enjoy the hotel's "early-bird" specials in the restaurant. In the evening we did some reading and watched (as we are doing almost nightly) "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire"
Tuesday was probably the most exciting day of the trip. We made the two-hour drive to the New Jersey coastline, just across the Hudson River from the Manhattan skyline. Returning by Ferry to Jersey State Park, we then went into downtown New York City to visit our friend Kimmy Davis, whom we had met a year ago in Athens, GA on our Florida vacation. This was quite an adventure, entering the Lincoln Tunnel into the city at precisely 5:00 p.m., so we got to experience first-hand the famous New York City traffic congestion. Once we finally got into Manhattan, we were amazed to find a FREE parking spot on the street.
We walked several blocks to meet Kimmy. She lives just two blocks from the Empire State Building. After our visit with Kimmy, we walked down the busy streets until we came to the famous Macy's department store. Afterwards we drove about 45 minutes to her farm in the rural mountain area north of Albany. It was was a very pleasant evening, going out to dinner with Sandy and her friend Dave. Driving most of the day Thursday, we ended up again in Cleveland. This time we spent the evening with Scott and Micki Lewis and their son Morgan. Scott grew up living across the street from our family here in Berrien Springs. Another fun vacation, with lots of activities jammed into a six-night trip! We want to say thank you to Scott and Beth Trossen, Dave Cook and Sandy Stewart, and Scott and Michelle Lewis for their fine hospitality and pleasant conversation.
For our vacation this fall Karen and I decided to travel out east. We had previously been given a 3-night stay at any of 10 hotels around the country as compensation for participating in a time-share presentation. We chose to go to the Four Points Sheraton in the Pocono Mountain region of Pensylvania.
Scott and Beth had lived in our area and we had attended church with them for several years. Scott was part of our softball team and Beth and Karen were on the women's ministry team together. On our arrival Scott and Beth were preparing to move once again. This time they are relocating to Minneapolis where Scott has a new job in the human resources department of General Electric. He is leaving a similar position with the Eaton Company.
Sunday we drove about six hours to our hotel in Stroudsburg, PA. 
Because it was so late in the year, we had missed the fall foliage display, but the view of the mountains along the drive was very scenic and enjoyable.
We took a ferry boat first to Ellis Island. This is the place where hundreds of thousands of immigrants first entered the United States from the late 1800's up to 1954. It is now a musuem to the history of immigration.
From there we rode the boat for the short trip to the Statue of Liberty. Karen has had a dream to visit there for many years and finally has it fulfilled. We took the elevator to the top of the pedestal where we got a great view of the surrounding New York and New Jersey sights. Then we walked the narrow stairways to the crown of the statue, peering out through to small windows onto the Hudson Bay. 
The three of us had supper at Mendy's, a deli that is used as the outside setting for the restaurant where the group in the TV show Seinfeld hang out regularly. (The inside scenes are shot in a Hollywood studio.)
Karen wanted to go in, so we did, just browsing, but not buying any of the high-priced merchandise. Our walk also took us past such landmarks as Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. We are both convinced from our little visit that we really appreciate our life in quiet little Berrien Springs.
Wednesday we checked out of our Poconos hotel and drove four hours north to Albany, NY. We met up there with Sandy Stewart, a former classmate of mine. Sandy is an aide to a State Senator. She arranged for us to tour the elaborate state Capitol building while she finished up her work for the day. 
The carving in the picture to the left is just an example of the amazing detail of the building.
We went back, reminisced about high school days, talked about how Berrien Springs had changed since she left right after graduation, I filled her in on the doings of some of our classmates and then we introduced Sandy and Dave to the excitement of "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire". After that we watched the excellent movie "Message In A Bottle". We got up the next morning and had a pleasant breakfast with them before hitting the road.
To the best of our collective memories, we hadn't seen Scott and Micki since they were at our wedding in 1990. We had a nice night together, then went into Cleveland with them for a little tour of the area and a fine lunch downtown. We finally headed home mid-afternoon, arriving back in Berrien Springs around 7:30.
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