Ann Silverthorn

The seventh session of the Erie Ambassador program found us in a conference room the Erie Intermodal Transportation Center to learn about planned development for the bayfront and downtown areas. We heard from Brian Weber, of the Weber, Murphy, Fox architectural firm, Nick Scott, Jr. from Scott Enterprises, and John Buchna of the Erie Downtown Partnership. We learned about Scott…

After four full days at Mandalay Bay, one of the best-known Las Vegas luxury hotels, I’m happy to report that nothing occurred on our Las Vegas vacation that needed leaving behind. We didn’t lose a lot of money gambling ($20), didn’t attend any racy shows (no shows at all, actually), or even break any laws…

On our four-day stay in Vegas, my greatest wish was to visit Hoover Dam, a civil-engineering wonder, which is an easy 40-minute drive from Las Vegas. My current research subject, W.E. Dimorier, visited Boulder Dam, as it was first named, in the summer of 1935, just a month before it was dedicated by Franklin D. Roosevelt. During my…

(2026 Note: I deliberated whether I should add this post to my new website, but I guess, if any of these are still open after more than a decade, you know they must be good. Oh, and Jim and I fell off the plant-based wagon.) At home, my husband, Jim, and I usually follow a…

On the last full day of our four-day Vegas vacation, hoping to get a little closer to the majesty of the Spring Mountains, we decided to drive to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in our rental car. The area offers a 13-mile scenic tour that we thought would be fun. For an automobile, the charge to…

Yesterday, in Las Vegas, could be considered something akin to Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. It had to do with some bad decisions on my part and some inferior customer service from an Apple Store. But this post is less about an Apple complaint on my iPhone and more about how I handled…

For years, I have avoided Southwest Airlines, even after watching its reality show a while back. I thought of it as the Walmart of travel. Being a Virgo, the unassigned-seat approach seemed as if it would upset my sense of order and make an already-stressful experience more so. I have flown a lot in this lifetime, but…

Did you know that used restaurant cooking oil is a “hot” commodity? Did you know there are companies that make a business out of collecting used oil and selling it to biodiesel companies? If you knew those two facts, did you also know that the grease traps these companies provide to restaurants must be locked…

Sometimes, when I’m deep into my research on the life of W.E. Dimorier, I make discoveries that are compelling enough to have me take a slight detour. I reason that these are relevant to the project, because it’s become evident that Dimorier’s influence reached far away to China and far through the ages to situations like…

Did you know that the potatoes used to make McDonald’s fries receive such a high dose of aphid-killer that the farmers won’t step a foot on their land for five days after spraying? That’s bad enough, but did you know that the potatoes, themselves, must outgas for six weeks before being made into the iconic,…