I really enjoyed a visit from Traveller, a bear who started his trip from the 2nd-grade classroom of my grandson Ryan, back in California. Traveller is making a tour of the U.S. -- and Bellport was one of his stops! I showed him the whole village, and more of Long Island as well. Here he is enjoying the sunshine outside shop of our Historical Society.

The local cafe, one of my favorite spots in Bellport, was a place Traveller liked too. After watching some boys play chess a while, he found a bear-sized seat on the ledge near our window-side table. While I finished my latte, he watched the passing parade -- and imagined he was one of the early sea-captains who founded this village.

When we went to speak with Adelphi University's class in children's literature, professor Anita DeFelice arranged luxurious transportation for us! Traveller buckled up; he knows that even in a stretch limo it's important to stay safe. We had a wonderful time talking with the students, and Traveller gave top marks to the refreshments (I'm talking about the juice and baked goodies at the class meeting -- Traveller and I didn't touch the refreshments available in the limo!).

Traveller had his own personal tour of Brookhaven National Laboratory, where my husband Larry works. He was SOOoo impressed by the equipment at the site of the S.T.A.R. experiment! If you'd like to know what this equipment does, you can see and learn a lot about it at Stop 5 of the "Virtual Tour" offered on the lab's website.

When we returned from the lab, we found the mailman had brought us one of the first copies of a brand-new book by my friend Jerri Garretson. Traveller really liked it. I let him look at it first, because he was a guest. When I finally got a chance to read it myself -- WOW! I found Jerri had given me warm thanks on the dedication page, for everyone to see! Jerri's friendship has often been an important support and help to me, and I'm proud she sees me as her "virtual sister." (We first met via e-mail.) You might enjoy learning more about "Imagicat" and other books this friend has written. I warmly recommend that you visit Jerri's website!

In addition to a thick notebook for his diary, Traveller arrived with a disposable camera, in case one of his hosts didn't have a camera handy. It's lucky I do -- I ended up taking three whole rolls of film! Bellport was just one stop; I think there were about ten. By the time Traveller gets home, both he and the students in Ryan's class will know a LOT more about the rest of the U.S. I bet most classrooms have students with relatives in other states. Maybe your class would like to do the same thing Ryan's did!