Lazy Daz:

What a beautiful day! Sleep in! Go for a walk! Visit a museum! It was great. I briefly contemplated getting up and going for my usual 10 k day off run but I must admit it was very brief, like maybe only a few seconds. I opted instead to roll over and catch an addition 45 minutes of sleep.

After a leisurely breakfast Jim and I wandered down to the maritime museum where there is a reproduction of the US brigantine Niagara. The US Niagara became Admiral Perry's flag ship after he was forced to flee his ship the Liberty during the war of 1812. This ended American expansionist goals into Canada. The museum is very well done and the ship itself is currently used as a training vessel. We also learned a great deal about the city of Erie PA. It was a major ship building center and of marine engines. GE had a huge locomotive plant here and more locomotives were built here than any where else. However it would appear that the hay days are over as there are lots of empty buildings and vacant lots. Having said that there is lots of interesting architecture, and judging by the real estate guide that I picked up it looks like there are lots of homes to be had for less than replacement cost. Too bad the winters here are so tough.

For supper we went to this very nice restaurant called the Blue Moon. I had the Chicken Thai Pad it was really good. They had a live band playing in the bar area of the restaurant which was excellent. They were playing classic rock tunes. Speaking of eating at least three people on different occasions have told me I have loss a lot weight. It is really hard to believe considering how much food I have been putting away. Maybe just more gristly.

Today's picture is of the Niagara as she is today. However she is flying the flag under which she sailed. It has 15 strips and 15 stars rather and the current 13 strips and 51 stars. They only have two of the twenty guns that she use to carry, and the current crew is 17 permanent crew and 26 trainees. When the ship was serving in 1812 she had 150 crew. I cannot imagine how crowded it must have been, with that many people and guns on the ship. Looking across the harbour is very pretty.

The past weeks pictures have been posted on the Webshots and are in the folder labeled Champaign IL to Erie PA. The link to the picture is: http://community.webshots.com/user/hot_biker

Before I thank you for visiting my blog and for your comments I would like to re-assure one of my readers who has been suggesting that in no way have I harmed any cats or dogs. However dear reader I would like to confirm that root beer and root beer floats have taken a lot of damage. On more than one day the root beer consumption could have been measured in the gallons. So having passed that little thought on I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for visiting my blog and for your great comments.

Looking for adventure in whatever comes our way.

(Steppenwolf)

Terry