Re: What was the highlight of 2007 for you?
Mine was two road trips that, due to scheduling conflicts, turned into one giant one. This summer was the first time I had a car that I considered dependable enough to go long distances with.
I picked up an old girl friend of mine in Malta, NY swung through Saratoga and headed west across the New York/Vermont line. From there we headed upstate, keeping west of Lake Champlain, to the Shelburne Museum (some place she, being familar with the area, had always wanted to go.) We spent a few hours checking everything out there, then drove southeast on a highway. I had to use the facilities, so we stopped in Montpelier. After I did my business I got some great shots of the state house. From there I hopped back on the road and continueed southeast to Quechee Gorge.
We stopped at the gorge, took some pictures, then grabbed a site at the nearby state campground. Just as we finished setting up the tent, it started to rain. I'd only brought one tarp, and that was in use keeping the floor of the tent dry, so we decided to pack it up and take off. We headed across the Vermont/New Hampshire border and grabbed dinner at a wannabe-upscale Italian place called the Three Tomatoes. From there we caught "The Invasion" at a six-screen strip mall multiplex just west of town. When we got back into Vermont, it was after midnight. I had her open the gate to the campground while I drove the car through, then we closed it behind us. Got back to the site around 12:30 and went right to bed. The next morning, I made coffee and scrambled eggs on my propane stove and then we got everything cleaned and packed to check out right at 11 am.
She had to work that evening, so we had to make it back by mid-afternoon, but rather than take the same highways back, I'd charted a more direct route using small local streets and villages that cut across Vermont. It was a perfect drive, because we were there just as the leaves were starting to change.
I got her home on time, got back to Albany slept in my own bed a night to recuperate, then was back on the road by 10 am the next morning. This time I picked up my Boston roommate who was staying with his parents at the time and we headed up the Northway to visit our friend who'd recently decided to go for his Bachelor's and had just moved into a new apartment in Plattsburgh. I did that drive in just over two hours. After getting the tour from him, we walked through town and hit up a Quizno's and later saw a late showing of "Superbad" at the local mall.
Bright and early the next morning, my roommate and I decided to head out. We'd kept a couple days free with nothing definite planned. He had his passport and I had my license and birth certificate. We decided on a whim to head up to Montréal, so that's what we did.
We knew we were in trouble as soon as we got through Customs. Whereas everything on the New York side was bilingual, Montréal made NO attempt at catering to English speakers. Everything was en français, which meant that with the exceptions of place and road names and number I had no idea what the hell was going on. Once we figured out Nord, Sud, Est and Ouest we were better off. I still drove around that god forsaken city in circles for about three hours. Whether an intersection would have any sort of traffic control was extraordinarily hit or miss. Finally, we pulled into a Couche Tard (which, despite the hilarious name, basically seemed to be a 7-Eleven) got out $20 Canadian and bought a map. I plotted out a route through the one way streets to one of the main bridges and it took us only about half an hour to get off the island. Somehow we ended up on the island where the '67 Expo was and had paid $10 each for parking before we knew what'd hit us. Having done that we decided we might as well hit up what was now a Six Flags. The lines were riddiculous, and we managed only three or four rides a person. The ticket price averaged out to $14 a ride, including the tram. We did have the priviledge of hearing a French Canadian country band perform "Sweet Home Alabama" in French. Some very good looking women in that park, although everyone smokes seemingly everywhere. In lines. In bathrooms. Everywhere.
Around dinner time we decided to head back to the United States to catch a bite in USD, but we never found the turn for I-90 S. (I did see a sign as we were leaving the city noting that "Virages à droite au feu rouge sont interdits sur l'île de Montréal." Of course, I had been taking rights on red the whole time, sometimes in front of police cars.) I ended up tracing the the border on 401 W all the way to Ontario, where the billingual signage was a refreshhing change of pace. Finally a waitress at a truck stop gave us directions to a border crossing at Cornwall.
A car cut us off just as we were pulling into the customs line. To this day I wonder if he cost us an hour of our lives by pushing us back into a random inspection slot. When we got up to the customs guy, he was very pleasant but directed us off to the side. We were induvidually and collectively interviewed by Homeland Security people for a half hour while my car was searched top to bottom. Fortunately I hadn't lied about what we were bringing into the country.
We made it to a McDonalds in Massena, NY about forty minutes past midnight. After a quick bite to eat, we headed south on Route 56 because there was a motel i was thinking of just outside Potsdam. What'd we'd failed to realize was that it was move-in day at ALL the SUNYs, not just Plattsburgh. There were two SUNYs in the area and every place was booked solid. I was exhausted but we finally found an Econo Lodge my roommate could afford too back up in Massena. I'd driven between 15 and 20 hours that day. I collapsed.
The next morning I called my elderly grandmother in Potsdam, and we all went out to a diner. After chatting her up for a bit back at her house, we set off.
If I thought Vermont was colorful, the Adirondacks were REALLY colorful. We drove through all of the little towns, stopping frequently so I could take pictures. When we reached Pottersville, with the Northway close by at last, I asked him if he was ready to head back. He wasn't ready either, so I turned toward Schroon Lake and we took a swim in the lake. It was a perfect day, capping one of the best trips of my life.
After that, I'm coming over to play XBox 360^3.
