Damp-end

We are back from our foreign travels - pale, damp and wrinkled. We only saw the sun on three brief occasions since last Sunday. None of those days happened during our three day stay at Old Orchard Beach. It would have been a wash-out but we enjoyed being with kids and grand kids on the beach in the fog when it was not raining hard.

Wednesday, the sun broke out as we approached the Montpelier, VT environs. It stayed that way all the way to the Canadian-NY border. We took an enjoyable ferry ride across Lake Champlain to Plattsburg in full sunlight. In Canada, driving west on 202, we ran into a monster storm that looked like one of those Tornado Hunter videos, with low angry clouds and lots of lightning and thunder. Somehow, we arrived without any disasters.

The second time the sun came out was on Thursday morning. We had a nice walk around Hamilton Island in Ontario, right on the St Lawrence Seaway. Our excellent hosts sheltered and fed us for two days. Margaritas help raise the spirits when it is raining.
We returned via Syracuse, where we met friends (whom we originally met on our UK trip in 2006) for lunch. It was a brief but enjoyable reunion. It was sunny outside. Most of the ride back on I-90 was intermittent clouds and rain.

There was a lot of driving, but since we had expert routing information and only got lost a few times. OOB was the same as I remember it from my youth. Nice long beach with good waves and clean water. Typical of "vintage" vacation communities in New England - down to earth, affordable, not too pretentious (except the claim on the sign for Debby's Diner: "Best coffee East of the Mississippi river!"). And, where else would you find a hair salon named "Curl up and Dye" ?


We didn't watch the news or read any newspapers, but from the brief images I saw on the TV in one of the rest areas, I gather that Michael Jackson has faked his death so he could run off with the Governor of Alaska. Details to follow.