Friday, May 27, 2011

On the Road: Day 3: May 27: Food, Family
and Birding in Milwaukee

Nearly 20 of us got together last evening for a dinner treat near where Brian and Vicky live. A nice called, County Clare Irish Inn & Pub at which we nearly completely occupied the dining room. The food was excellent and we all had a great time. Although we, rather selfishly, remained separated into the bride's friends and relations and the groom's. That will not be the case tonight! Actually, since the guests came from all over, this was sort of a chance to get together after lengthy absences. Now we can get to meet new folks and intermingle.

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Last night we got a 3 AM phone call from our security company telling us that the power was out at the Aerie. The line of storms we ran into in Toledo swept through PA and NY on their way to the coast. Heavy winds and hail took down trees and powerlines in both the Northern and Southern Tiers. There was even a possible tornado in Tioga County--New York--just to the northeast of where we are. Schools, businesses and roads were closed while several thousand folks were without power this morning. I called the Aerie several times and could not get through to the answering machine which indicated the power was still out at 9 AM EDT, so I called Ann, our friend who is caring for the cats while we are away. I wanted to tell her that if the power was still out, she wouldn't be able to get into the house via the garage doors. She confirmed that she had already figured that out but not to worry, the dry food was dished out in copious amounts on Thursday so they should be okay. (She called back a few hours later to let us know that, sure enough, she couldn't get in but the good news was that the Aerie still stood. While there were plenty of trees down in the Route 15 corridor, the Aerie, being on the lee side of Armenia Mountain, was relatively untouched.

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More folks arriving today and tonight. Grandma has already gotten here from NJ. Rick and Sandy were in Chicago area last night with her parents and should be here tonight. Joe and his wife, Pat, should be arriving today from New Jersey (they are driving) and Joe's sister Nancy will be flying in later. Brian's sister (Laura) and brother (Adam) are flying in from San Francisco today. And Laura's husband--another Joe--will be flying into Chicago and then on up to Milwaukee. As a commercial co-pilot, the first leg is work, the second is not.

It will be interesting to see how many folks are here tonight for the rehearsal dinner.

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Meanwhile, the weather here in Milwaukee is great! The high during the day has been around 55 degrees but the warm sunshine makes it very, very comfortable. After getting t he storm reports from back home, Terry and I took a ride up the Lake Michigan coast to the place the wedding will be held tomorrow: The Schlitz Audubon Nature Center.

What a great place! Smack dab on the shores of Lake Michigan, this 185 acre facility has a beautiful welcome center, a variety of bird habitats, and miles of trails on which to enjoy them. We took one loop that carried us north of the welcome over to the east to the shore and then south and back to the center. We walked slowly enjoying all the birds, wildflowers and benches along the way. And, even though we were on the trail for two hours, we saw few people and covered only about 1/5 of the available forest area. I wish I lived closer, I'd be there once or twice a week. (A list of what we saw will be forthcoming.)

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