"Bill's Excellent Adventure!"

3/13/07 - Tues. Decided to go to the Belmont Mansion today. It's about a 20 minute drive from the hotel. Was in for quite a surprise. It's actually on the ground of Belmont College, a faily small but comfortable place. The belmont's from the 1850's I believe had about 180 acres and apparently their decendants turned the farm into a prep school for girls. Its now co-ed and seems to have a focus on performing arts and is a liberal arts facility. Spent some tme walking the grounds and taking pictures. Never actually went inside the Mansion as I hate to pay $10 for a guided tour. Door was locked and I was supposed to ring the bell, but I just didn't want to do it.

The surrounding area is quite congested and on the way out I ran across a rather large Army Surplus store with a wide selection of gear and hunting and fishing equipment. I don't know why they call them surplus stores...perhaps less than 5% of the floor space has anything one might consider surplus...mostly new commercial gear.

Took a nap late afternoon, went to a 5:30 meeting and back to the room for dinner and relaxation. Temps today were as high as about 78.

Tomorrow (today, Wed) and Thur supposed to be warm but 50-70% chance of rain respectively. Probably take it easy for a couple of days then get to the Zoo, although the temps are going to drop on me beginning Fri.

See ya!