Monday, April 20, 2009

The Northern Tour

Last week, Suzanne and I took a trip up North to see our friends Rich Faber and Todd Dezago.

We spent Monday night with the Fabers where they graciously put us up in their lovely home. We got to hang out with Rich, Traci and their adorable son Jason. It was a little rainy so we hung out at the house and stayed up late talking about this and that.

The next day we continued north to see Todd and Sharon. Again, we were graciously allowed to stay with Todd which saved us a lot of dough we otherwise would have spent on hotel rooms. We stayed for about 2-and-a-half days and saw the sights in rural New York. I'll be honest, I thought Todd lived in the middle of nowhere. But after our visit, I was surprised at how wonderful Todd's home is. He's surrounded by incredible views and lives within short driving distance of several great small towns. It was great to see where he rests his head and hang out for a while. Unlike Mike, I absolutely hate talking on the phone and it was nice to have a chance to talk with both Todd and Sharon (and the Fabers) without having a box stuck to the side of my head.

I don't want to bore you with every detail of the trip so I'll let the photos below do most of my talking for me. Starting in Pennsylvania, we saw veritable herds of deer along the side of the road. They were a breath-taking sight.




When we got to NY, Todd and Sharon took us on a tour of the Biltmore house (smaller than the one in NC, but very cool, nonetheless).









And finally, we fell in love with Todd and Sharon's local diner. It had the best diner food I've ever eaten and, best of all, incredibly good coffee. And the service was top-notch.





Obviously, Toonces and Charlie were thrilled to have us back home. See for yourself:


7 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Matt! Glad to see you and Suzanne got a chance to have a great time with Todd and Sharon, and the Fabers. What a great way to spend a spring break

-Rich

Warren said...

Looks like a fun trip. Thanks for sharing! :)

Tim Perkins said...

Hi Matt,

Great to hear you had a great time visiting Todd and Rich and their respective families.

I was lucky enough to spend some time in Pennsylvania and Upstate New York, whilst I was working in the Defiant Offices in the mid-nineties. Both beautiful areas of America and very reminiscent of our Lake District here in the UK.

I was taken to the Brandywine Museum in lieu of visiting the Frank Frazetta Museum, which had just moved at the time to Florida.

It is in a most beautiful setting and contains some wonderful NC Wyeth paintings.

If you are ever thinking of visiting the UK, please let us know and you can stay here and we'll take you around some similar places here.

Best,
Tim...
('',)

Brian said...

Great pictures Matt, thanks for sharing and glad to hear you guys had a good time on your road trip.

As for Charlie and Toonces, they knew you'd be back and so, they didn't worry.

todd said...

...and the diner misses YOU, matt...


(i saw bonnie yesterday and she says that, last night, when she closed the place down, she could hear the diner crying...)

what a great visit!
can't wait to have you again!

Rich Faber said...

Matt,

We had such a great time with you guys too! You're awesome house guests, and you can come back anytime!

By the way how did we NOT remember to take any pictures?!? I can't believe the camera never came out...

Also, as Tim suggests, we're only about 30 minutes from the Brandywine, so the next time you guys are here, we should definitely take a trip there too.

Talk to you soon!

Best,
Rich

Robbie said...

I was re-reading the Tellos collection, and while I don't get back to your blog as often as I would like, I always think about Mike's cat Charlie -- Toonces, too -- whenever I see Mike's work from years past.

Matt, I'm glad that Charlie is still family, and hope that all cats -- and people -- are well.

-- Robbie, Canton OH