Years ago, I converted the master bedroom of my house into my office/computer room. The closet became a "storage" facility of sorts. While I was ripping carpet and laying tile, I had to get in there. This meant that I had to take a few things out of the closet in order to do so.

One of the items I removed was a cardboard box. Inside the box I discovered hidden treasures. One of the items was a journal that my great grandfather, Leander Briney had started in 1880 and kept until 1886. Nothing spectacular--mostly "Went to church, went to Sunday school" type entries that were made once a week, but interesting to me just the same.

Another treasure I discovered was an envelope of my grandmother's poetry and artwork that she wrote mostly in the 1930's. I can only remember meeting her once or twice when I was little. She passed away shortly before my sixth birthday.

I went through the poetry and art work and put it to hard disk. One hundred pages worth. Anybody know a publisher?

These are people on my father's side of the family. My grandmother was Leander's daughter. She was my father's mother. No one that I know that knew them wants to talk about them. I hardly think they were ax murderers, but I didn't even know that Leander was my great grandfather until I started to read some newspaper articles that were written about him and basically put two and two together.

The family history centers around Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Some of you may have heard of it. They've had two or three large floods in the past that have tried (unsuccessfully) to wipe the town off the map.

I've lived in Arizona since 1967. I hadn't been back to Pennsylvania since 1973. While I have become a "desert rat," I still miss the trees and seeing the leaves change in the fall.

For our vacation in October 2000, Mark and I went to Johnstown, Pennsylvania. When I first suggested it, he was a little dubious, and we almost changed our minds several times because we wanted to go back to Lake Tahoe. But, we stuck with Pennsylvania. It was the best time we've ever had.

We toured Johnstown. We took photographs of the houses my great grandfather lived in, and the house where my dad was born. We stayed at a wonderful Bed and Breakfast called Stone Ridge in an A-frame cabin back in the woods with squirrels and chipmunks for entertainment. Mark stayed and supervised the squirrels and chipmunks while I took one day to wander off and visit relatives.

We toured two houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

My birthday was on Friday 13th AND it was a full moon.

Best of all...the leaves were changing, and the air was cool and crisp. A welcome reprieve from the desert heat (it was 98 degrees the day I left Tucson).

So here are a few of the photos (out of 15 rolls) that I took during our journey. It's only fair to warn you, though...the larger photos are indeed larger, so they may take a minute or two to load. But they're worth the wait. Enjoy!