Sunday 30th March
9:30am meeting at the local Kingdom Hall, so enjoyed company of "the friends" for a couple of hours. They just lurved our cool English accents. We had an invite for a Chinese buffet lunch with about 20 others - all you can eat AND drink for about £3. We were sooo impressed. We then got another invite out with another group of "friends" for Pizza later that evening. Stuffed was the word - us that is, not the Pizza.
Monday 3st March
Our first sign of rain since we had been away. Considering the weather forecast for the whole of the States, we have done really well, with clear sunny blue skies the pattern for our busy days together. The rain soon cleared, and we made our way to Niagra. We spent some time on the 'American' side, before making our way over to the Canadian side. That was definitely the better of the views. Most spent time taking photos, and doinf the touristy bits - the Skylon (observation tower) and the 3-D film which left the group singularly unimpressed. However, a good time was enjoyed by all.

Tuesday 1st- Thursday 3rd April
A gentle drive down to Pinebush (100 miles north of New York City) finds us at The Harvest Inn. Owned by brothers, this becomes a convenient location to Watchtower Farms & Patterson.
http://www.harvestinnmotel.com/
Wednesday - Watchtower Farms, where all literature and magazines are now printed; and Thursday, The Education Centre Patterson. We were privileged to get invited to Lunch with the 'friends' . A special treat was a visit to the A.V. (Audio Visual ) Centre, where educational DVD's are made in one of three full size studios. This is also the place where ASL (sign language) DVD's and dramas are made too. These very thorough processes were explained to us, and a greater apreciation for all their hard work greatly enhanced out visit to these fantastic facilities.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ie=UTF8&hl=en&ll=41.4954,-73.575096&spn=0.006766,0.014505&t=k&z=16
Weekend of Friday 4th of April to Monday 7th
We stayed at a Marriot Inn's & Suites near Newark International Airport. We then a got a free shuttle into the airport, then a $1.75 ride to Newark Centre, then a $1.75 PATH train onto Manhattan. The parking prices on Manhattan can be $30 an hour, thus a car free visit is to be recommended. So Friday was spent visiting the 'sights' and shopping for the lasses; and Saturday we met up with friends from Connecticut, who gave us a 'personal guided tour' of the sights and sounds of Manhattan. The day ended with a free ride on the Staten Island Ferry, which gave a fantastic view of the Manhattan skyline.
ooops...this is Monday morning. We fly home later on today. I am being called. I must go, but will catch up later......... Bri
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- 2008-03-17 @ 02:37:36
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- http://ihug.co.nz
- 2008-03-17 @ 08:55:47
Gday folks, sounds like all having fun. You go always goto LAX and get flight to litle oulde NZ. Plenty to see and do out here. Pancakes for breakfast could always be arranged.
LOL kimberleyxx -
- 2008-03-17 @ 16:33:57
Hello!!groovy gang! Wow!!
hope you are all having a fantastic time!?!
Thanks Sam for the Breakfast list..made us hungry!
have you seen the Sequoia trees yet? The brother ment them in his talk on Sun.! amazing what a small seed they come from!
mick n Hel n Co just back from the states had gr8 time! saw a Broadway show and visited the Bethel!
keep in touch!
lots love Di n John N lads
XXX XXX -
- 2008-03-19 @ 08:30:19
Hi Gang just to let you know we are following your blog. Bet your having a fantastic time. Bet you were the one scared to camp out cos of the Bears wer'nt you Brian. Oh! & Sam who's Miss Winkworth. By for now, will pick on some of the others later. Enjoy your holiday
Geoff Tine & Ben. -
- 2008-03-20 @ 22:01:11
Hey Caroline!
Glad to see/hear you're having such a great time.
Thanks for the link. Have fun. Looking forward to seeing more photos.
Debbie -
- 2008-03-23 @ 14:44:02
Excellent blog more photos please. I'd love to see funny ones. What did Miss Winkworth's new hairdo look like? I heard stories of people falling over in the snow, give us a laugh with pics of you flat out in the cold! We'd all enjoy it.
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- 2008-03-24 @ 01:32:22
There are some pictures that will never been seen on this site if I can help it and my hairdo is one of them!!!
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- 2008-03-26 @ 10:12:29
Hi folks! Glad to hear you're having agood time, and that Mom and Dad are still alive! On that note, could you ask then to email me please? I think they're enjoying themselves a little too much.....
Paul-
- 2008-03-26 @ 10:16:30
...I probably should make this a bit more simple for them; My email address is megalift(at)hotmail.com
Please someone explain about the @ thing.....
Thanks!
Paul
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- 2008-03-29 @ 15:28:08
Well howdie all our pals in the big country!
Glad to hear your having such a great time. Very impressed with the pics, particularly the one of the Tree! Should have taken your chian saw & log splitter Bri! Would 'v kept the old wood burner going for years!
Regards Tom. -
- 2008-03-30 @ 15:31:11
We love your curls Caroline,
samharries007
Hi sam here, so here's some more info of our trip so far, after "playing games" with Miss Winkworth our games master!! And going to bed, we woke early this morning (07:40ish), and we went to have breakfast at a local cafe (well as the sign outside said "Eggs Bacon and Things!) We had: Brian; Toast, jam, cereal, coffee, yogurt. Caroline; Bacon, egg, pancakes, coffee. Denise; Eggs, fries, coffeee. John; Toast, jam, coffee. Millie; Coffee. Russell; Sausage, eggs, pancakes, Pink Lemonade (UGH!!!) Helen; Toast, jam, eggs, coffee. Sam; Pancakes. (I KNOW you don't belive me but its true!) At 1:00pm (our time) we went to the local congregation named Oakhurst (The ladies toilets were so AOWSOME!(not that i go looking in the ladies toilets!!! No i just got told they were.))where 3 congregations use the hall one at 9:30am, one at 1:00pm and one at 3:30pm. Will write some more later but going to "play games" with Miss Winkworth again and some of the other gang so, TTFN