On The Road

This was the day we started towards Canada. Goal of the day was the small town of Corning, about half way up there. Vicky and Linda picked me up at the hotel about 8.30. I thought they were coming 8 so I had one more cup of coffee in the lobby waiting for them, trying to wake up just a little bit more. It didn't really work, sitting down waiting made me sleepy again so I went outside to wait instead, it was a nice and refreshing morning and when my friends arrived in the van, a light blue Ford Windstar, I was finally  awake.

First stop was the rental shop. I know, we already had the van, why go there again? Well, Linda and I had to be on the contract as codrivers to be able to drive the thing. Vicky chatted with the staff while they checked out our licenses, she used to work there. A Swedish driver's license is rare but they accepted it without asking too many questions.

We didn't even make it off Long Island before we had to make our first stop. I soon became painfully aware that I needed a restroom and there were none to be found for miles. Miles of very slowly moving morning traffic. "Hmm, I think there's a McDonalds up ahead, can you wait?" Well I had to, didn't I. After what seemed like ages we turned off highway and I immediately spotted a diner. Vicky saw it too and I was almost out of the door before she could stop the van. And ofcourse it was occupied and I had to WAIT, oh pain...

Tolls, we don' t have them in Sweden. In the US and especially in NY they seemed common. Every bridge or change of highway we stumbled into one. In one of them we almost got in trouble, it was automatic and we had to have quarters to throw in a bucket, the first one's we threw in didn' t work and we only had one more left. Whew, it was close but it let us through.

Following the interstate Vicky soon needed a break and we stopped for coffee and a donut. Yum, I really like vanilla donuts :o) and strong black coffee. Linda took over the wheel and we continued with Vicky sleeping in the back seat for a few hours. Linda and I chatted along as usual in the front seat.

Getting to know eachother we chatted about alot of things. They ofcourse wanted to know what Sweden's like, and I told them it was pretty much alike the landscape we passed. Even the cows looked alike here. I told them that my friends and I like to do wordgames about cows when we're on the road. They don't translate very well but I managed to come up with a few in English too. One person asks "A sad cow is?"  and then the others are supposed to come up with an answer that's got either cow or cowrelated word in it. In this case the answer could be "Mooourning." I think they got it. I made up another  after some thought, (I'm not really good at this game)"Chicken cow's?" ..."Coward".   Linda told me that they had an easier game, they looked for out of state licence plates. 

Next switch of drivers should have been me, but I could sense they were a bit worried about me driving, I had never driven an automatic before. Vicky volunteered to continue now that she'd got some sleep.

Vicky also used the stop to try out her video camera on us. I had a try too, but ended up giggling too much I think.

Both Linda and I had our cameras out for this well groomed park, with a dog walk and everything. If not for the humid heat it would have been a nice stop. We soon wanted to get back into our nice,  airconditioned van.

The rain started just as we approached Corning. It poured. Scouting the streets for our hotel, the Days Inn, we drove all the way through it and had to turn back again. Ironically we passed the right way once and discarded it. "Don't know where the h*** we'll end up if we get over that bridge!" Linda and me jumped out at a gas station to ask directions and found out we indeed had to cross that bridge, and it would be right there.

Tired we made ourselves comfortable in the two full size beds. Linda immediately jumped for the computer.

A little while later we went out to find a place to eat. A chinese restaurant a few blocks away attracted out attention.

This night at 11 I wasn't quite out cold, but almost. It was a bit uncomfortable to share bed with someone else, we kept tugging at the covers all night. When I turned she woke up and when she turned I woke up. Lucky we're calm sleepers and not like Peter.

Corning

We slept late, must have been at least eleven before we got down for some breakfast. I eagerly looked at the menu. Blueberry pancakes, that souned yummy. I love blueberries. Linda's the serial addict and Vicky's the no breakfast at all type. It took a while before we got our orders, and when my pancakes came I was really surprised. Pancakes were not as I expected one bit. I realized what I had in mind when I read pancakes are what americans call crepes. Oh well, they might have looked weird to me, but they tasted good.

After breakfast we consulted a map from the hotel and found the glassfactory and the museum only a few hundred meters away from the hotel, we decided to walk over there in the nice sunshine that had replaced the rain this morning.

After paying 6 dollars in entry fee we were directed to the glass workshop before they went on lunch. It was neat, they had set up a show. While telling us what they did, step by step, they made a glass pitcher. It was interesting. I've seen glass been blown before (in Sweden), but that wasn't as informative as this. 

The museum was fabulous. We got to see glass from all ages. Starting with the oldest possible till today's glass art. They had glass from all over the world in all kinds of shapes. This glass window was one of the things that really blew me off this day. And ofcouse I found something to laugh about too, I have a dirty mind.

We stopped outside the museum for a cooling bottle of water and a little bit of rest before we headed over the river to see the city center of Corning.

A maze painted on the bridge made the walk a bit crooked, but we soon made it over to the other side to find a clock tower and a nice fountain. I for one would have liked to cool off in it. The weather was beginning to get a bit too hot for nordic me.

Corning's a pretty little town. Looks very american to a foreigner like me.  We had a brief cool off in the shade and then window shopped for a while until we felt the need for some food. We found a nice restaurant located in the shade of the trees. I like outdoor cafés and restaurants, listening to the birds and watching people pass by. The Cajun chicken I had was fantastic and the simple gesture of serving us  some icewater when we sat down made us cool off and relax.

After lunch it was already close to 4 in the afternoon and Vicky decided to head back to the hotel for a nap. Linda and me continued to look around, shopping for a friend of mine and getting ice cream at Hersheys. I love icecream and as always I try to get something I never had before. This time cookie dough, weird but yummy, I've always liked eating the dough when I make cookies.

Just in time to catch Fu on TNT we strolled back over the bridge and along the river bank.

With a bag full of potato chips and a litre of Diet Coke we ooogled over CP in Bardo, Vicky's favorite episode.

Just before bedtime, when Linda had her usual evening shower, I was kinda trying out the couch (anything to get away from Linda, hehe) and by pure chance discovered that it was a sofabed. Vicky and me giggled big time and made the sofabed for Linda. She must have thought we were cooking up somthing really bad. The look on her face when she came out and saw that huge sofabed was priceless (wish I had my camera ready then.)

I might have brought the computer, but so far its Linda that's been using it most. Its almost hard to get her off when its time for bed. Deb, where are you? You need to send Linda to bed for me.