OUR TRAVELS

Season's Greetings...Merry Christmas...Happy Hanukkah...Happy Kwanzaa...Joyeux Noel...Feliz Navidad or whichever other holiday you celebrate. We didn't decorate our room at all this year for the holidays.  We simply walked around DC and took the pictures you see below.  It was enough to get us in the holiday spirit! Wishing you joy and peace now and in the new year!

Two nomads living in our nation's capital for the winter.  As we flew into Reagan National Airport in the third week of November, Donna was reminiscing about the fun she had last winter in DC while Don was busy taking yet again a photo of his favorite landmark.  Can you guess which one that is????  (Hint:  It's tall and narrow.) Our first few days were spent stocking the hotel room with stuff - mostly food.  The grocery store is a mile and a half away, so it was important that we buy a rolling shopping cart again.  Even with our new shopping cart, it took us several trips.  On our treks to the store and sightseeing, there was still fall color to spot. And interesting architecture. And even a protest march.... We've hiked Rock Creek Park a few times so that we can get some exercise with some elevation change.  We need to burn all of the calories we are eating (cookies, chocolate, chips, ice-cream, you name it....) Note the frost on the fallen leaves.  It was a little chilly

Glad we made it out of the Lake Erie/Lake Ontario and Thousand Island regions before the snow hit.  The areas are expected to get 2 to 4 feet of snow by the end of the weekend!  Yes, that's FEET not inches!  All we can say is Wow, we dodged the bullet!  Here in Johnson City we only received a couple of inches of snow that has already melted. Here are a few interesting tidbits and pictures of our journey over the past two weeks. Penn Yan, NY, the self-proclaimed buckwheat capital of the world, holds the world record for the largest pancake ever made.  Back in 1987, Birkett Mills built a 28 foot in diameter metal pancake griddle over a bed of hot coals.  Using a cement mixer, folks mixed 15 gallons of cooking oil, 2000 gallons of water, and a ton of buckwheat before pouring it onto the griddle.  A crane flipped the flapjack.  The pancake was topped off with a 2 foot by 3 foot pat of butter and 15 gallons of maple syrup.  One might ask how many people it fed and the answer is: 5000 pe