On the road again…..

Well, it’s time to drive 756 miles.  We started out on Sunday with church and a big Hotel breakfast and took off about 8:30 am Eastern.  The trip went well with Cathy doing most of the driving this time.  Pennsylvania is the best part of the drive.  The mountains were beautiful, especially this time of year, and there were many interesting sites along the way.   We stopped for lunch halfway through Ohio and got home at 8:20 pm Central.  Speaking of interesting sites along the way…… here’s one of them.

The Reason we came…..

Well the wedding was wonderful.  The reception was at a country club near South Hampton Pennsylvania.  This was Cathy’s cousin Joe’s daughter Eileen and her husband Josh.  We had a great time!

Bethlehem PA

 

Thursday afternoon we rolled in here to have dinner with cousin  Margaret Mary as well as Kathleen & Bernice.  This is a nice little town  near Allentown.  The weather still stinks but fortunatly all of our activities are indoors.  We had a wonderful dinner at MM’s house and got to catch up on old times. 

Friday we plan on visiting downtown Bethlehem before taking off for our final destination for the wedding which is only about an hour away.

Those are clouds up ahead!

Like many towns here this one is cut into a moutain.

On the turnpike driving in your ears would sometimes pop like when going up in an airplane.

Hills hills and more hills. You even get one when you die.

His name is Rocky and yes…… he pooped on my shirt.

“I pulled in to Nazareth, was feeling bout half past dead”

 

So the song goes…….  we were feeling somewhat better 🙂

This is the home of Martin Guitars which has been in operation in this location since 1833.  Ya, that’s a long time and there’s a lot of that out here.  Cathy and I did the one hour factory tour, visited the Martin museum and gift store.  There’s also a “pick’n parlor” where all of the high end guitars are hanging on the wall.  Grab a chair and start pick’n!

I was very surprised that a factory with robots in it still had so much hand work on each guitar that they produce.  Everywhere you looked there were people sitting at tables with sanders, files and assorted hand tools doing all sorts of work that takes a very special eye to do.  We were both very impressed.

The “pick’n” parlor

Just one of many work stations

Putting the braces on the tops

Fitting the necks to thel body is all done by hand.

Finishing rack

Assembly….. of course you gotta play it!

One of the many museum displays

That’s an old six/twelve sting combo.

An early harp/guitar

This mini back packer has been around the earth 244 times.

Jim Thorpe PA

Lot’s of Wows! on this trip.  This is a beautiful little town literally cut into the side of a mountain.   Had dinner that evening with cousin Bud.

The Inn of Jim Thorpe

The Inn of Jim Thorpe

Breakfast at the Albright Mansion

The dining room

Niagra Falls

Wow…. not much more to say. Did “Maid of the Mist” today and rode right up to the falls. Walked the foot bridge to Canada today and took a ride 4 miles uptown to the the Niagra Power Authority Power station per a special reqest from Cathy. It reminded me of the Hoover Damn. The difference here is that they saved the Falls by building the damn into the side of the river downstream and feeding it by diversion pipes upstream.

Foot bridge to Canada. Those tall buildings are casinos!

Niagra power station

Preparations…..

Well we’re very excited as it’s been awhile since we’ve been on a trip.  This all started by deciding to attend a family wedding in suburban Philidelpha.  We thought we might just leave early, see some sites & inflict some visits on relatives in Pennsylviania.

Cassius is also going on vacation complete with his bed, food, pills & play rope. He’s going to Niles to visit Mike, Adina, Aiden and Caleb.

Cassius

Hmmmm, let me see, it’s 5:00 am….
GPS, Check!
Handsfree Bluetooth, Check!
Cameras, Check!
Netbook, Check!
Cooler, Check!
Thermos, Check!
Wife, Check!
Ready to go.

First stop, Niagra Falls.  More to come.