Oklahoma

It has been a few days since I have written in the Blog. Since then we have travelled uneventfully to Chicago. One interesting experience we had in South Bend Indiana was when we went to a Chinese restaurant next to our motel. As usual the rain that had been threatening all day settled in just as we were heading out to eat. We took a look up and down the street and decided that our most comfortable option was likely to be this nearby restaurant. Since we consider we have very good Asian food in Australia and all the ads for Asian restaurants that we had seen had only mentioned buffets we  were a bit sceptical. However we found the restarant was very tastefully furnished, it was all  alacarte and had an interesting wine list. I had one of the cocktails on special, my first I  hasten to say. It was very delicious pear and ginger with lime. The menu was influenced by the central Chinese province of Hunan so was different to any we had seen before. Bob couldn't resist having Singapore Noodles which were on the menu as an "old favourite". I chose a spicy prawn dish  which was very good.
The next morning we drove into Chicago. It was a bit "hairy" getting around all the motorway junctions to arrive in Downtown but Bob handled it well and we checked into  the International Hostel and returned the car without incident.
That afternoon we walked down to Millennium Park which is close by the Downtown area and then for quite a distance along the Lakeside walk path. Chicago Downtown is a very attractive city which I think I have said previously.
The next morning we flew to Dallas with only a slight delay due to thunderstorms and collected our hire car at the airport. Lou, Mike,, Brandy, Todd and the boys were there for dinner and we had a fresh fish dinner which was delicious. Since we had left Maine we had learned not to order fish in the restaurants so we were fish starved. On Friday morning we drove up to Oklahoma City for a bit of shopping at a Mall Lou Ann had recommended and then headed to Janet and Terry's. It was great to have a quiet evening with them and catch up on the family news. Saturday they planned a full day agenda. We headed to Choctaw to meet up with Kaleb and his lady, Jocelyn. Then we all went to a German Beer Fest which has been held in the town for 25 years. The beer was imported from Germany and just as good as we remembered. I am sure that the Brats were locally made but they were good too. We then visited the Olkahoma Bomb Memorial in Oklahoma City which has been developed into a beautiful site since we were there last. The museum was new and had very impressive audio visual details so it took us a while to work our way around. John joined us here and we then went to the top of OC's newest tower building to have a drink and look at the view which was spectacular particularly because the sky was clear. From there we headed to the  Downtown Bricktown Canal area. This had also been intensively developed since our last visit. The Canal area has been beautifully landscaped and we walked around before meeting John again. He had gone ahead to stake out a restaurant and claim a table. The restaurant is owned by a  professional basketball player. It is fairly new and was absolutely rocking when we arrived. After a bit of a wait we were give a table out on the patio overlooking the canal. This was highly desirable because the noise inside was deafening. There was a very loud rock  band across the canal but the food was good, the breeze was pleasant and we could talk in between the music.
Yeaterday was family lunch at Janet and Terry's. Kelsey made it home from College to complete the gathering. Once again we had fresh fish. Thank goodness we are related to keen fishermen. This was a very relaxed day with Kaleb asking us lots of questions about Australia and Janet and John joining in with reminiscences about their visit to Australia with Betty and Dale when they were young adults. Late in the day when everyone was heading home Janet and I made a lightening visit to the Outlets. Dinner was no problem. We ate well on left overs then slept the sleep of the just.
Tomorrow we head south again and fly out on Wed to arrive in Sydney on Friday for an overnight stay. Back to Perth on Saturday so this will probably be my last entry. It has been a great trip with beautiful scenery intergrated with catching up with family and friends. The  fact that our friends feel like family and we know our family over here well enough for them to be friends too has made the hospitality fantastic.

South Western Vermont

When we left Plattsburgh we drove onto the ferry and back to Burlington. We went straight to the Lakeside of Lake Champlain. This is the lake which is second only to the Great Lakes being 24 miles wide and 120 miles long. Burlington has a very attractive lakeside development and we enjoyed strolling along it. A free clipper then took us up to the market area in the central retail area where there was a Saturday farmers market. There wasn't much that we could buy but I did get some fresh fruit to eat on our way. From there we drove South crossing the border into Massachusetts to a small community in the Berkshire Mountains. It was beautiful countryside and our motel looked across the valley  to the forested hillside. Our host recommended the Old Forge restaurant just up the road for dinner and we rocked up at about 7pm to discover it was seething with starving people. It was the only decent restaurant in the neighbourhood and we just squeezed in the door to join the queue. As we didn't want to drive further to find an alternative we waited with the other fairly good humoured customers for the 15-20 minutes we were told to expect before we could have a table. As we got to the head of the queue and I could actually see the seating options I realised that there were very few tables for two. Most of them were for four or more. As the couple behind us seemed pleasant sorts I suggested that it they agreed  we should opt to share a table in the interests of being sooner rather than later. They quickly agreed and as the service was slow due to the crowd we passed the time very pleasantly. They were both motor cyclists though of course he rode a Harley but that provided plenty of conversarion options.
The next morning we set off quite early to explore the area starting with nearby Mount Greylock. The road was quiet and it was a long sloping approach to the top as it is the highest mountain in Massachusetts.  Just before we reached the summit we were flagged down to make sure we didn't skittle a runner. He was a very fit young man and we had just parked the car when he appeared at the finish line. There was a big reception for him and all the successive runners of a very large field. They had come from the opposite aide of the mountain which was over 3,000 feet high and run 8 miles virtually staight up. The front runners were very fit but some of the others who were obviously doing it more as a fun run looked very tired as they finally made it to the finish. On our way down the road they had come up we pased many of them still slogging it out and we were impressed at how they had managed a very steep climb. From there we drove to some of the small towns dotted through the area. We ended up at Bennington Mall where we resisted shopping but both of us did get a much needed hair cut.
When we arrived back at the motel we discovered that we didn't have any water to the room. When I phoned the manager he was very very apologetic but explained that the motel obtained their water from two springs that fill a well. It has not only been hot in that area but they have had a drought. Consequently one of the springs had dried up. They had spent the whole day cleaning the resultant muddy water out of the well and connecting it to the second supply. It took another couple of hours for the well to have sufficient water in it to supply the rooms. As he told us that this water would be highly chlorinated to ensure it was safe we deferred our showers to the morning.
That night we had pizza and salad in our motel room that we had purchased earlier at the Mall.
We didn't fancy tackling the Old Forge again.
Today we set off early because it is the Labor Day holiday and we figured the roads would get busy. It did get busy as the day went on and as it has been the whole time the temperature was up to 90F and very humid.  We drove 420 miles and then called it a day in Erie.

Now the Lake Placid photos

I hope that these will  publish this time,

Mt Washington and North Conway.

Our drive from Arcadia to Mt Washington went very smoothly. Once again along forested roads that were quiet because it was a local highway not a motorway. The trees are just starting to show patches of red leaves. We arrived early enough that we decided to drive to the top of Mount Washington that afternoon. As this is a State Park we had not realised that the road to the top has been privately owned since the area was developed and as such we had to pay $38 to drive on it. It was quite a hairy drive as although it was sealed it was only just wide enough for two cars with a steep drop off right beside the road. If the oncoming driver was chary about going close to the edge it was  tight squeeze. The views from the top and the historic accounts of the early development were worth the drive. We couldn't see New York as they had promised because of the haze but the view was stunning anyway.
Next morning we decided on a drive through the Park to visit a couple of waterfalls. Our research told us that there were waterfalls quite close to the road and it seemed that we were in for a relaxing day. What wasn't said was that the walks were  1/2 a mile and 1.4 miles STRAIGHT UP. We did make it because fortunately we had done the short walk first and then wouldn't give up on the longer walk. They were both beautiful falls when we did arrive but I had to wet my hat to cool down as it was 80 F degrees and very humid. It took us and hour and a quarter to walk up the longer trek and only half an hour returning because this was all down hill. The return was also assisted by chatting to a couple from Colarado as we walked which helped to pass the time.
When we returned and had had a rest we went forth to tackle the Outlet stores that were right beside our motel. When we had finally worked out the layout we headed to the Rockport store. Coincidentally they were having a fantastic sale because they have changed ownership and were disposing of all the stock of the previous owners. All womens shoes were $25 and all the mens were $40. We left after about half an hour with 2 pair for Bob and 1 pair for me. Unfortunately they did not have any sandals for me but I am still hoping that I will find some when we go back down south.
Today we have driven along the Kamcamagus Highway through the State Park that surrounds it. Once again we have stopped at overlooks and walked up to a waterfall but this really was an easy walk to probably the most spectacular fall of all. From there we drove over the border into Vermont almost sraight across the state and are staying in motel near Burlington.
More exploration tomorrow.