Across the ocean to Berrien County, Michigan

The internet can close the gap between continents, but leave you not knowing your neighbors. I live just minutes from Berrien County, Michigan (and yes, I have research plans there!), but until this morning I didn't know that "Juliane's granddaughter" blogs from there at Two Sides of the Ocean -- largely about her ancestral researches (surnames Schulte, Feucht, Wellhausen, Schluessler, Kijak, Rubis, Kolberg, and Kramp, from Germany, Pomerania and Poland), and sometimes also about meeting up with fellow bloggers on research trips. (You can catch up with Apple's Michigan adventures at her blog too.)

First trip to the big library

Can you imagine discovering that a bunch of your own family papers had been donated to a research library halfway across the country? A thrill, yes, but kind of scary too. Anyway it makes a great blog post at Apple's Tree, which is just that sort of blog, with lots of stories and details. This time she gets advice from commenters on how to prepare for a big high-stakes research trip to a place you've never been before, in this case the Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Add your two cents if you have any.