People had been talking to me about this place and encouraging me to go there for my entire time in Erie — twenty-two years or so. And I didn’t fight them about it, it did sound like an interesting place, I just never got there until last Monday.  It worked out well — it was a retirement gift from two colleagues and it turned out to be the perfect date — our 31st anniversary.  Ay caramba!  Where did the time scoot away to on that one?  Anyway, it was an interesting excursion/ event — we took it easy and went back in time a little, walking down the narrow cobblestone streets and seeing lots of houses from the 1800’s with big porches like I enjoy.  I did notice that we were about the youngest guys on campus for a while there, but there were some youngsters working in the shops and restaurants, and in the conferences or retreats that were going on.  We made our way to the famous amphitheatre to see a fascinating interview with one of my heroes, Charlie Rose.  For once, he was not asking the questions…that end was handled by the marvelous Time managing editor / writer, Nancy Gibbs.  We had good (hard) (antique) seats and there were lots of interesting points made.  I watch Charlie Rose on PBS every day so it was a treat.  Even Isabel had a good time.  It was nice to be there on a quieter weekday, although the theatre just about filled up.  It will be nice to have the time and energy to get out to do things like this more often — inspiring, edifying, fun things.  Not that work isn’t a whole lot of fun.