The New England States - a Mini Road Trip

After getting home on the Monday following the London, Paris & Rome road trip, I was on the road again Tuesday for a mini trip to the New England States - more or less. The first day was uneventful as we had just managed to cross the border before having to find a place to stay - Watertown USA!

Day 2 (Wednesday)
We drove through the southern edge of the Adirondacks through to Vermont where we putzed along the 'scenic' routes of Vermont's Green Mountains finally ending up in Berlin, Vermont just outside of Montpelier.

Day 3 (Thursday)
Started off with the longest covered bridge in New Hampshire followed by an exhilarating trip up Mount Washington (the highest mountain this side of the Mississippi) on the Cog Railroad. The average incline up the mountain is 25% and to get to the top (6300 Ft from a base of 2000 Ft) takes about an hour. The quantities of black smoke pouring from the little engine that could makes this one of the least environmentally friendly ways to reach the summit.































In the following picture you can see a train at the half way point and off to the right you can just make out the towers that mark the top of the mountain.












From here it was a off to Maine where we stayed at Kennebunkport. It was on this stage of the journey that I found the only Tim Horton's - finally a good cup of coffee! Later that night in Kennebunkport - lobster and clams for dinner - could life get any better?

Day 4 (Friday)












Up early to walk the beaches at Kennebunkport and also search the tidal pools for aquatic life. Then it was off to New Hampshire along the coast - a scenic drive through some small harbours, finally arriving at Rye Beach New Hampshire.













This is a picture of the house in Rye Beach that Farah Fawcett stayed in when she was a 'ten' oh so many years ago.










Day 5 (Saturday)
A long driving day from Rye Beach, New Hampshire to Lake Champlain in New York. The plan had been to spend the night in a motel along the lake but alas, Vermont did not offer up any suitable accommodations and we had to cross over to Rouses Point, New York. A scary town at best - there were only two motels and this is a picture of the nice one by the lake.


Day 6 (Sunday) - The Boring Drive Home - well except to stop in and say hi to Megan. Apparently it took Megan 3 days to fully recover from her one night of drinking with Bob the week before. Kids today!

London, Paris & Rome

Well, the Canadian equivalent - Ottawa, Montreal and Kingston. On Friday, July 21st I drove to Ottawa to visit a friend. After a quick dinner at Sandra's parent's place, we decided it was time to head out to - in her words - "drink our faces off". After several bars and more than several drinks, the mission was accomplished and I made it back to my motel where I crashed at 4:30 am. I was up a 8 am to try and find my truck and after another wee nap back at the motel, off to Montreal to visit Caite.

Caite and I started slow with a tour of the Mount Royal cemetery and later that night went out to dinner followed by a Hookah bar. Ahhhh - the things a student can teach her teacher. Later we went to the Just For Laughs festival - the best line of the night was from a comedian who stated that he had purchased a pet fish but was worried that his fish suffered from epilepsy. "The fish is fine when he is in the tank but when I take him out he immediately goes into seizures". Too funny - I still laugh at that one.

The next morning it was off to Kingston for a quick visit to another student who is now doing her masters. One thing led to another and there we were bar hopping all over again - trying to stay ahead of closing time. It was a great night as it has been awhile since - in her own words - "Bad Megan" has made an appearance. We finally got back to her place at 4 am and I would have had another drink but Megan managed to drop the freshly prepared margaritas on the floor - well apparently she dropped mine but managed to save her own. A quick dinner of KD at 4:30am was followed by Bob crashing hard thereby ending the London, Paris & Rome trip - except for the drive home the next day.

It felt good to be a kid again but my liver just can't take it anymore.

Weekly Cartel Update - July 18

Just a quick Cartel note. Dr. DC and I met at Wild Wings on Tuesday for a quick bite before heading off to the Superman movie. We should have stayed at Wild Wing and drank all night. Who would guess that Superman would be nothing more than an expensive, special effects 'chick flick'. Most of the movie was devoted to Superman wanting to get back with Lois who was already living with another man and had a young child. Is Superman the dad? Hmmmm. What intrigue!

Anyway, the lovely Ali (looking rather seductive I might add) was kind enough to keep us refreshed with beer and was the proud recipient of an Elephant Salt & Pepper Set.

Haliburton 2005

For one week in October the entire senior school community goes to Haliburton where skills in trust building and leadership are emphasized through a variety of activities. If you have 30 minutes to kill, this is a video of our time there last year.

Click to view video: Haliburton 2005.

The Getaway

After the ballooning experience of the day before, it was time to load up the old boat and head out onto the lake for a few days. The moon was only two days past full - still worthy of a howl or two.















The reason why I find it therapeutic to be on the boat ... a picture is worth a thousand words.


















Day #2 was spent fishing and drinking a few beers. Although I managed to catch only one small fish, I did manage to drink more than the one beer.
























The reason why you shouldn't drink while driving a boat. Luckily I was anchored and they were just checking to see if I needed more ice.














Day#3 - as the sun sets it is time to turn the boat to the South and head back to reality.











I should have left earlier. As it was, I was half way down the river, in the middle of a turn and in the dark when my steering cable broke. I had to MacGyver a new steering cable using electrical wire in order to limp back to the marina. As you can see the boat had drifted to the shore and the bugs were eating me during the 30 minutes to come up with my patch.

















Though a tad fuzzy - this picture illustrates the sheer beauty of being on the lake.

Up, Up and Away

Wednesday was a weird day. It started under a gloomy, rainy sky at a funeral and ended up with sunny skies in a hot air balloon. Soaring several thousand feet above the earth with the sun setting in the distance is an incredible experience.

The basket in which I would place my life.

















A view of Lake Simcoe - a different perspective from what I am used to from the houseboat.

















Highway 400 looking North.

























Serenity

Boston Legal

I just finished watching the entire first season of Boston Legal. Love that show, especially DENNY CRANE.

CPR Training Video

This one is for you Mr. B. - please feel free to use it as you see fit. Don't worry - rated G.

Brought to you by FrenchMaidTV.com

Click Here For Instructional CPR Video

Weekly Cartel Update - July 7

I am ashamed - for two reasons. First that it has taken so long to get the Cartel Update posted and second, I forgot to get the name of the new girl at Wild Wing, shown here on the right next to Jenny and Ali. D brought this week's Salt & Pepper set - hard to see but it is a couch potato Salt Shaker with a TV Pepper Shaker. Nice!

Friday the Cartel met early in anticipation of a long lineup for the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean. Since we had not met for almost a month a lot of business had to be attended to - the most interesting being why women of age 40+ find it difficult if not impossible to live alone. The conversation went something like;


HBB: "I don't understand why men who live alone are generally happy with the arrangement yet women between the ages of 40 and 60 are not happy living by themselves and in fact seem almost desperate to find someone to live with."

D: "Because we (females) are the nurturer, we are kind, caring, considerate, we like to take care of someone, like to cook for them, like to see them happy."

Dr. DC: "Yet you never thank us for allowing you to do that."

Best line of the night! Well done Dr. DC.

As I mentioned previously, we were then off to see Pirates of the Caribbean. What can I say - obviously the best movie of the summer season.

Big Brother All-Stars - Janelle is back!!!

Ahhh - can life be sweeter? Janelle, my favourite from season 6, was the first Big Brother All-Star to get voted back into the house. Did I mention that I have named my favourite (ok - my only) chair after Janelle.

JANELLE MY CHAIR







Last Christmas I also bought a Light Saber just like Howie's on BB6. Here you see a typical Jedi training exercise with Howie teaching Janelle.

MY LIGHT SABER


What can I say, I'm a real geek when it comes to Big Brother. Tonight I even signed up for the live feed. It fits my lifestyle perfectly. When I get up at noon the house guests are just getting up themselves at 9 am California time.

World Cup Fever

In North America it is difficult to get excited about the World Cup. If, and I do mean if, you have a high speed connection this site should help rejuvenate that soccer fever. Not only do you get to cast your vote for the best looking lady, you get to cast a glass of water on her - nothin' says World Cup Fever like a WET T-SHIRT competition.





If you don't have high speed then you will have to be satisfied with the following pictures. Why do the goalies always wear a different uniform?

Priceless

Ran across this the other day - pretty funny!


Watch Video Clip

Choices

There are many choices we have to make in life. My choice would be to continue drinking and having the occasional smoke. The alternative is not as nice as you might think.

Well I think it is funny

Ran across both of these today - struck me as funny. Maybe it's just the male chauvinist in me.

Q. Have you heard about the new super-sensitive condoms?
A. They hang around after the man leaves and talks to the woman.