Thursday 29th April

Today was a long and busy day. Our first stop was at 7.30am when we attended the breakfast meeting of the Owego Rotary Club. After briefly introducing ourselves we discussed many different topics with those at the meeting.

From there we headed to Corning and to the Rockwell Museum for Western Art. This is housed in the former City Hall and displays items collected by local businessman Bob Rockwell, which he donated to the museum. We were given a tour of the many paintings, photographs and other artefacts.

We had lunch at Old World Cafe in the centre of Corning. As ever the food was delicious and plentiful!

We then visited the Corning Museum of Glass. This is the largest glass museum in the world and we were treated to a whistle-stop tour of the exhibits. Helen and Caroline then took part in sand-blasting to create their own patterns on glass - as you can see sticking the stencils on the glass is dangerous business and safety goggles are needed!

In the evening we each spent time with our host families. Carol, who is hosting me and Tom, invited several friends and neighbours round, including someone from Australia who went on a GSE to America about 25 years ago and subsequently moved to the States. We took advantage of the great weather to have a barbecue - thanks must go to John who was chief barbecuer adn cooked the steaks to everyone's individual preference.

Wednesday, April 28th

After breakfast with our hosts, the team made the trip over to the Best Buy dispatch centre in Nichols. The centre is responsible for dispatching items to stores across the North East of the US. We were amazed by the size of the building (over 750,000 square feet, with miles of conveyor belts and shelving). We were given a truly fascinating tour and would like to extend our thanks to Susan Pedersen, who gave us a brief history of the warehouse and her role as Loss Prevention Manager, and all of the staff who we met during the morning. Thanks to Arnie Youngblood from Best Buy who forwarded us photos of the trip (they won't upload for the moment, I'm investigating).

For lunch we attended a review of "Three Cups of Tea" and "Stones into Schools" by Greg Mortenson, which took place at the Coburn Library in Owego. The review was carried out by Linda Brisson. Greg was a rock climber who has established the Central Asia Institute. CAI is an organisation promoting education and literacy in outlying areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. We were all impressed, so much so that Barbara's planning a trip to a bookshop to pick them both up.

After the review we separated off - Caroline travelled to Owego Middle School (and I'm going to add more on this later) - while the rest of the team headed to Wagner Lumber. Wagner are the largest manufacturer of hardwood in the North East United States, and the speed with which they transform logs into lumber is incredible. We were all surprised that the drying process can take so long. I was a little nervous at seeing 6ft bandsaws whizzing merrily through gigantic wood, but we were protected (and looked very fetching) in our hardhats and safety goggles. Thanks to everyone for arranging this for us - it was a fascinating tour.

We finished the day with dinner at Carolyn and Orville Wright's home (Barbara's host family for our stay in Owego). We were joined by a number of Owego's most prominent citizens, and had a great time chatting and feasting on wonderful food. All too soon, we'd started to flag and had to say our goodbyes for the night.

Tuesday 27th April

Today was our last day in Cortland before we transferred to Owego.
Jim our generous host had prepared some vocational trips for us so Barbara, Tom, James and I began our day with the pleasure of the Cortland City Fire and Rescue Department. Caroline had a vocational morning herself so headed off on her own.
The Fire and Rescue Department covers four square miles from where it is based. There are approximately seven people to a shift and they have 30 volunteer reserves who are on call and will attend from home.
Captain Carl Grantham and Fire Officer David Jensen showed us round the station and discussed the issues concerning modern emergency services. They also gave us a ride in the engine to City Hall. I was like a child in a sweet shop so a big thank you to both of them for taking the time out to be with us.
We have then called in to the 911 dispatch centre in Cortland. We were shown round and the intricacies of their job roles was explained to us.
Whilst there I discovered a T-shirt with the insignia to the left on it. I personally think it expresses feelings felt by emergency services both in the US and the UK, we share a common purpose.
The dispatch centres are slightly different to those in the UK. They deal with police, fire and rescue. Our dispatch centres tend to be individual for each emergency service i.e. the police have their own dispatch centre. This allows the UK centres to have access to more information, the police centres have access to police records and information systems and are trained to do so. In the US they can access certain systems but the police are expected to do a lot of the identity checks etc on their own in-car computers. However, the US also have an immediate overview of all the services in their district, which is only obtained in the UK through interlinking between the various centres.
Following this we have then gone to visit the Mayor of Cortland Susan Feiszli. She was very
welcoming (especially after the extensive search we had on entry to the building- I am getting a bit of a reputation for setting off every security alarm we go through at least three times before being allowed to pass) and discussed the difference in the systems in the UK and US systems of local government.








We have then headed straight to Cortland Rotary Club where we gave our presentation and exchanged banners with the club and their President Doug Larison. A very enjoyable lunchtime.

From here we have been whisked away to our next stop, Owego.
We have been welcomed by John Spencer the owner of Riverow Books. He has made Caroline's year by stocking two books which she has been trying to obtain for some time in his highly interesting shop. We have spent the first couple of hours having a well deserved coffee at the most fabulous shop, the Hand of Man and having a browse through the shops (the boys were thrilled at this).

We have then headed to Jo Ellen Rose and her husband Paul's for dinner (my new hosts). This was a fabulous reception, where the food was absolutely superb and the company was even better. Paul is a very talented musician and sung for us with guitar accompaniment (played by him).
An evening enjoyed by everyone. Thank you very much to my wonderful hosts for looking after me so well and providing such a warm welcome.

Niagara Falls!

We awoke this morning at some horrible time (around 6am) in order to leave for a road trip. We ended up in 2 cars, one driven by one of our hosts, Jim Place, and another by Warren Eddy. I was in the car with Warren, whose background is also in libraries. We traded notes until we stopped for some breakfast, at the very appropriately named Barb's Diner.

After some sensibly-sized portions (I managed to eat everything!) we then met up with President-Elect Bob Ross, who took Barbara, Warren and myself in his large car. We arrived at Niagara around 11am - fab! The river really starts to gain momentum as you approach the viewing areas, it was really exciting and we took some fabulous pics, which I'll share below:

Just arrived!

On the Maid of the Mist...

Over in Canada... we all got another stamp in our passports!

Tom and I make a friend...
After wearing ourselves out walking around, and wearing down our camera batteries, we headed back to the cars and drove home. At Bob's house, Barbara and I decamped back into Warren's car, and he took us to a fab Mexican place for our evening meal. Jim's wife Christine (who did all the amazing cooking yesterday) joined us and there may have been a few margaritas consumed.

Tomorrow we have a vocational morning here in Cortland, before travelling to Owego. A big thank you from all of us to our drivers today, Warren, Jim and Bob, for taking the time to drive so far with us and explain all the sights to us.

Sunday 25th April

The weather today was typical English weather - murky with lots of rain. Jim and Christine, our hosts, had only returned from Columbia at 2am that morning so after a leisurely start we had a delicious brunch prepared by Jim.

After that there was further work on Project Camel and a brief tour of the Cortland sights (by car, as it was still raining). In the evening, we had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and were joined by Bob Ross, District Governor Elect, and his wife Shari, and Doug Larison the Cortland Rotary Club President. Here you can see Christine with the dinner before we all tucked in!

Saturday, April 24th

Yesterday was our final day in Unadilla. After Polly gave us a wonderful breakfast - pancakes and bacon, eggs, muffins, and fruit - we headed into Unadilla. Polly had arranged with a local resident, Bob, to show us his house which overlooked the town. When I say house, I mean mansion. It formally belonged to his grandfather in the 1950's. Bob bought it back a few years ago and has dedicated his time into restoring it to its original condition. The house is beautiful, and the views over the valley were incredible. Thanks to Bob and his wife Nelly for giving us a tour.

We then made the trip from Unadilla over to Cortland. Thanks to Abby and Breianna, who showed us around our new home. The girls have opted to take the room with a Cockatiel and a collection of childrens game, and there's no prize for guessing who made that choice.

After a quick lunch, Steve Franco took us on a tour of the area. We stopped at Skaneateles (pronounced Skinny Atlas apparently), a beautiful town situated on Skaneateles Lake (one of the Finger Lakes). Later we headed on to the Carousel Mall for some retail therapy. We were surprisingly well behaved, which I can only put down to concerns about baggage limits on the return journey.

We finished the day with dinner at Kitty Hoynes, an Irish pub in Syracuse. The original plan had been to visit the Dinosaur BBQ, but we're weak willed and couldn't wait an hour and a half to get a table. Hoynes' was excellent though, good food and a great atmosphere. We'd like to thank Steve for giving up his Saturday to show us the sights and keep us entertained - we all appreciated it.

Friday 23rd April 2010

Today we had a restful day in Unadilla. The morning began with us all having a lie in and the a gentle stroll out to appreciate the quiet village way of life.
We have had a chance to update our journals, contact family and have a general catch up morning, a rare thing on this trip.
For lunch we have joined the Unadilla Rotary Club at Panni's for some delicious food and an informative meeting where we learned about the survival of businesses in rural towns and the effects of the recession.
Fowllowing this we had a further relax at Polly's before heading to Sidney where we had a very important appointment booked with the Emerald City, or rather us girls did.
For those of you who don't know the Emerald City is a pampering salon for hair, nails and everything else you can think of.
Barbara, Caroline and I spent an enjoyable afternoon getting our nails done by Motoko Mack who managed to make all of our hands look beautiful under serious pressure. We had a time limit as we were meeting for cocktails at the Sylo restaurant at six.
As you can see from the picture below, we now have long beautiful nails. I for one am struggling a bit, the boys are having to do a lot more tasks for us as we can't do it with our long nails (or at least that's the excuse we give). It has taken me all night just to type this blog!!!














In the evening we met Mike Wilcox, Judy and David Derr, and David and Michelle Reynolds for a drink at the Silo restaurant. We all had a wonderfully delicious meal (including parts of Mike's huge ice cream sundae), lots of wine and the views over the countryside were fabulous. Thank you to them all for taking us there.

Bainbridge Rotary club etc.

We were all pretty exhausted after NYC and slept soundly last night, having a rare lie-in this morning (I did not get up until 8.10AM!) We were served a lovely breakfast, featuring more of our host Polly's fab baking and scrambled eggs with cheese, and homemade bread.

We then prepared to head out to Bainbridge Rotary club. Due to a bit of a mix-up in communications, nobody came for us at 11.45. We called the club shortly after 12 and after some strings being pulled, two of the club's members commandeered an SUV - from a showroom! - and came to the rescue. The club were very welcoming once we finally arrived, and we had a quick bite to eat before our presentation. I was delighted to see kids in the audience (no school for them this week) and managed to get some participation from them in my segment - the Very Hungry Caterpillar is a well travelled creature! We'd all like to thank the club for such a warm welcome and for staying later than usual to allow us to present.


Our vocational afternoon had been rearranged, so we next went to an animal feed production facility, which produced pellet feeds for dairy cattle, horses, birds, goats, poultry and, of course, bunnies. We took a quick tour of the premises and watched the machinery producing pellets, and had a bit of a laugh at Helen's expense as she'd chosen to wear her skirt and heels today!

From here we nipped across the road, to the garden centre/farmers' store, where we chose a plant for Polly, as today's her birthday. I was in my element because it had a goat with kids, hens and roosters, piglets, ducklings, chicks... oh and some bunnies!



We next stopped briefly at a horse farm, which I probably enjoyed the best, before heading to downtown Greene. Our first stop was at the Village Cafe and Bakery, where we ate the 4 remaining tea cakes and had teas and coffees.



Mike then collected us in his wonderful 1927 Pontiac called Betsy, and drove us to an ice cream store, where we all ate enormous ice creams.




Following this we stopped for a brief drink at The Silo, a fabulous bar/restaurant set in gorgeous rolling hills. The bar was full of character with unusual decorations, including a wall of bills (notes) behind the bar. Then we dashed off to the Olive Branch at Jericho for food - once again, I was faced with a massive sandwich. I think I need to be on half rations from now on!

Project Camel...

...is underway as I type. All will be revealed in due course, keep watching the blog to find out!

New York City

On Tuesday and Wednesday we visited New York City. Mike Wilcox and Tom Overbaugh picked us up first thing and we then had a four hour drive to the City (although it is the same state, it is a long way!). Rather than write lots I'll let the pictures do the talking - we must thank Mike and Tom for giving their time and expertise to allow us to visit the City.

Our first good view of New York City, on the way in the car.

 Times Square - a major intersection in Manhattan but now mostly pedestrianised.

Lunch in Hard Rock Cafe

The entrance to New York Public Library - guarded by two stone lions named "Patience" and "Fortitude". The main part of the building was covered in scaffolding for restoration but Caroline managed to get inside to take a look.

Grand Central Station, the largest railway station in the world by number of platforms (44 in case you were wondering!)

St Patrick's Cathedral - started in 1858 and completed in 1878.

View of Central Park from the Rockefeller Centre. The Rockefeller was built during the Depression in the 30s, with construction finishing in 1939. This building was the setting for the famous picture of workers sitting on a steel beam having their lunch.

In the evening we went to see a Broadway show, Million Dollar Quartet. The musical charts a Tuesday night in December 1956 when Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley gathered at the Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee and had an impromptu jam session. We were all impressed by the musical skills of the cast as well as the fabulous set and lighting effects.

Dinner at the Brooklyn Diner just off Times Square. Tom thought he would have a light meal by opting for a hot dog but as you can see it turned out to be a bit more of a challenge than anticipated!

Empire State building - completed in 1931 and at the time the tallest building in the world. It's now the tallest in New York and as you can see there are fantastic views at night.

The Statue of Liberty commemorates the centennial of the signing of the US Declaration of Independence. It was given to the United States by France in 1886 and is made of pure copper. The pedastal was designed and built by the US.

Ellis Island was the nation's busiest immigration station for many years from 1892 to its closure in 1954. 12 million immigrants were processed during the years it was open.

New York Stock Exchange - located on Wall Street. It's the world's largest Stock Exchange by the value of its listed companies.

Ground Zero - reconstruction is well underway and the tower in this picture will be 1 World Trade Centre which will rise to 1362 feet, the height of the original World Trade Centre South Tower. Its antenna will rise to 1776 feet, referring to the year 1776 (see the Statue of Liberty part if you need a clue as to the significance!).

At the United Nations, which is on international territory in New York.

To finish, a few more unusual photos...

We returned to Unadilla yesterday evening, arriving back at 10.30am. We're all feeling refreshed now and ready for our next presentation at lunchtime. Once again many thanks to Mike and Tom for accompanying us and enabling us to see so much of the City in such a short period of time.