NYC - Patterson Tour

We were up at 6:30 a.m. in spite of the fact that we are supposed to be on vacation.

Oh well, since the storm rolled in last night, the air is a perfect 78, clear sky with a few cloud puffs. We couldn't have ordered better weather. Of course, none of this matters since we are taking tours indoors today but it makes for good pictures out by the fountains. Looks to be a great week of weather.

Patterson Education Center is on 670 acres of land. However, only 100 acres are developed. About 13 acres are orchards. There are 1,269 apple tress and 412 peach trees, and lots of cows roaming over the rolling hills off highway 22. One hundred calves are born each spring. Approximately 1200 live and work here. Art, Service, Correspondence, Photography, Video production and sound stages are located here.

Melissa gave us a great DVD tour of Art. We also got a custom tour of Video. At the end of the tour of Video we saw interviews of Nancy Yuen and Herold King. We also got a chance to see the making of Respect.

Kerry really gave us a royal tour of Video Services. They are responsible for the filming of the videos. The details that go in to a single scene are impressive. For example, they wanted to film from the Empire State Building's Observation Deck but the cost was prohibitive. And in addition to the deck, they charge for elevator access, loading dock access, and personnel use. They could have used some other public area for this specific shot. However, in the end, the fee was waived and they got exclusive access to the deck for the couple of hours they needed for the shooting.

Kerry also showed us a segment from Family Night he filmed and presented with puppets.

The original paintings, framed and hung throughout the complex, are captivating. The detail, in spite of the fact that these are "production illustrations", they are arresting. The detail is outstanding. I find myself staring at them for extended periods, my eye drawn in my the expressions in the faces, the details of the time periods represented, and the research required to paint them. (In one painting the researcher investigated the star constellations that would have appeared at that time and in that area of the world.)

Bob and Kathy has us in for lunch and we got a chance to see many that we knew over 20 years ago. They look as good now as they did then. (They lied and said the same about us.)

The laundry does 3,550 shirts a week for the family here. It's impressive how much work gets done.

We went to the local Hall for the meeting and got home by 10:30. We were the last to leave.

Tired, feet hurting, minds spinning from all the absolutely amazing things we experienced today, we feel asleep as soon as our heads touched the pillow.



...dave
Never bring only one pair of shoes on a trip. - Dave Terry