Postcard from Maine- 2

22-25 June 2012

Bath, ME for dinner

Beale Street BBQ, named after a street
in Memphis

Dinner out with everyone becomes a logistical nightmare, so the best option was for us to meet Brad, Stephanie and the girls. In this case we went to Beale Street BBQ in Bath. And in case you aren't aware, Bath is home to Bath Iron Works which drives the economy here. During WWII they built destroyers for the Navy. And I recall that more recently they've supplied guided missile frigates for the Navy. If you get to the water front on the Kennebec R, yo can't miss the cranes.

Looking thru the goodies at the Sweet Shoppe

We had to wait a tiny bit so we tool a walk around the old downtown area that I hadn't seen in almost 40 years. It's been revitalized and looks like it might be around for another 100 years.

The Bath Sweet Shoppe... check it out!

We stopped at the Bath Sweet Shoppe where the girls picked a goody... a rare treat. I looked around to see that the Admiral thought this was about the coolest shop(pe) she'd seen in awhile. Just lots of neat 'stuff'.

By the time we were back we could sit down and order. Ingrid really got serious about her coloring and tolerated no interruptions!

Caution: artist at work!

 I'd eaten here before and knew they had great BBQ, but this time I thought I'd try jjust a plain old hamburger. We shared an appetizer of calamari, but I'm afraid I'm never going to be a fan of chewing rubbery rings. Everyone else seemed to be liking them, so I guess it's just me. I keep trying, but...

And of course dinner isn't really dinner unless you stop somewhere for ice cream, right? The kids loved it. And I heard Brad say to them "you realize it's back to vegetables again next week, right?" Hmmm... that's going to be quite a transition! :)

An after-dinner walk took us to the ice cream shop.

We took a short walk alomg the riverfront after we got out ice cream cones. Along the way we stopped by the shed where they're building a replica of the first commercial boat built in Bath. It's 40' with a sprits'l rig. We were there too late to look around inside except to peer through the dirty windows, but I could just make out the model at the far end.

"I want to see a lighthouse"

Picnic area as seen from the old gun emplacement

It's seldom the Admiral makes a specific request, so when she does we try to pay attention. Like lobster rolls, seeing a Maine lighthouse was on the short list. So Brad arranged to meet us on Saturday and go to Two Lights Park and then to nearby Portland Head Light at Fort Williams Park.

The old WWII observation tower

There aren't any lights at Two Lights Park... the park lies between the 2 lights. We hiked around a bit and got to old WWII observation tower which later served as an antenna tower for recently invented RADAR, or simply radar today.

The park offers great views of the coast line as it lies (lays? sorry Sister Stanislaus I still get it confused!) South of Portland Head. It was clear while we were there, so we could watch the recreational boat traffic as folks worked hard to use their time well. Makes me appreciate even more  being retired as I watch them try to cram as many things into the available time. Did I do that too? Probably. Yikes!

Looking S from 2 Lights Park

Elin checking out the boats and islands

I was pleasantly surprised at how much Brad enjoyed Annie

Fort Williams Park

The main attraction at Fort Williams Park is what is arguably 'the most photographed lighthouse in the US': Portland Head Light. i.e. the lighthouse at Portland Head, not the corrupted pronunciation we often hear which sounds like Portland headlight.

And certainly it's a gorgeous setting for this recently restored lighthouse. We were here in 2008 and couldn't get near it as they did restoration of the old tower and keeper's house. The park and the structures are now under the care of the state of Maine and that's how the restoration came to be done. The USCG still maintains the light inside the tower (it's locked so you can't get inside to see anything), but the structures and land are now maintained by someone else. It's all about budget.

Portland Head Light & keeper's house. That's a fog
hornto the bottom-right of the tower, and another light
off  shore on the horizon.

Entry to the 91 acre park is free, so there's no direct revenue stream from visitor's. One way they get around the expense of maintaining the visitor wear & tear that is to sell seasonal licenses to food vendors who are scattered around the park. I was told the license costs $4,000 per season and the park provides nothing but parking space. I got this info from a guy named Frank who sold me my hot dog. He also happens to be a school teacher. Frank spends his summers selling hot dogs and ice cream and meeting people from all over the world. He said it was the best gig he'd ever had.


Frank was interviewed on the news the next day: a plane crashed just off the head and he ran over, jumped the fence and tried to get to the pilot who was swimming toward shore. It looked like the pilot was going to make it, but then the retired doctor from Cape Elizabeth disappeared below the waves and died.Glad we were there Saturday instead of Sunday!

Making tracks North

We're off to Bar Harbor next, about 140 miles North and East. We had thought we might head for the Oregon coast, but Stephanie convinced us we had a lot more to see here. Oregon and points North will have to wait for next year.

Postcard from Maine- 1

16-19 June 2012

Durham, ME

Getting acquainted with Annie

It's taken a few weeks since we left Benson, AZ, but we have finally made our way to Durham, ME... over 3,800 miles when you include the running around to see things and to shop, eat- whatever.

'So who do you know in Durham?' Not a soul! But my son and his family live about 10 miles away in Yarmouth, and a cruising-days friend lives in North Yarmouth. So this will be home base for a week or so as we do some visiting.

We arrived and got set up on Saturday after a short day of driving. And a good thing that it was short as these hills, which are not high at all compared to the Rockies or the Sierras, have very substantial grades to get over them. We've been getting terrible mileage (it was less than 9 mpg this time) since we hit Upstate New York.

Our grand-daughters Elin & Ingrid and their mom Stephanie arrived Saturday afternoon for a short visit and got to meet our dogs Annie and Kelly. It went well which was a relief as we were concerned about how big the dogs are and how small the girls are. Even Kelly, the smaller of our two berners, weighs about 50# more than our youngest grand-daughter Ingrid. But Kelly sat surprisingly still as she tried to figure out what these strange miniature people with squeaky voices were all about!

The next day was Sunday, Fathers Day. Off we went to lunch at Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster Co., a lobster shack in  So.Freeport that's on a pier. So. Freeport is a small seaport south of Freeport, the touristy home of LL Bean, and Freeport adjoins the very rural town to Durham where we're staying. The Admiral has been talking about having lobster since the last time we were in Maine in 2008, so this was a big deal. And Harraseeket didn't disappoint. Brad, my-son-the-lobster-snob, said he gave them negative-points for having anything green in the roll, but we 2 lobster-deprived ex-New Mexicans kind of liked the tiny pieces of Romaine or whatever it was. When he ignored the greens, he admitted these were pretty darn good lobster rolls.

Fwiw, a whole lobster costs less than a lobster roll cuz the latter contains meat from more than just the claws and the tail; someone has to spend time picking thru the rest of the body getting the little tasty bits and pieces, so it's labor-intensive. Nothing has been wasted when you have a lobster roll except the shell, the gills, and the tomally/tamale/tumally (pick your spelling; it is used for certain things).

Winslow Beach Campground

The 'army' marching into the woods with the
Admiral guarding the rear. You'd almost think
she used to do this for a living!

Annie letting Elin believe she has control!

Ingrid 'walking' Kelly...
with only a little help from Brad!

Anchorage off the point

Wild buttercup in the park

Small schooner reaching toward the anchorage

The crowds were overwhelming at Harraseeket's and we were glad to be on our way to Winslow Beach Campground to go for a walk around the point and to let the kids play in the playground. We had a great walk with minimal crowds... I think they were all at Haraseeket Lunch & Lobster Co.! And Elin & Ingrid had a great time 'walking' them. That means there was an adult hanging onto the end of the leash cuz I didn't want to think what would happen to these light weights if something attracted the dog's attention!

When we got to the playground, Elin said more than once that Annie was getting slimy goop on her. I figured it was the usual wet nose stuff since berners don't drool like Newfies or St. Bernards. Should have checked quicker cuz it turned out that Annie was drooling excessively and acting a little weird. Then the diarrhea started.

Dog trouble. Again.

It wasn't a premonition, but for some strange reason I'd entered the number for an emergency vet in Scarborough, ME which is open 24/7. I called them and told them we were coming. Thankfully their address was in the latest Garmin directory (you do keep your GPS updated, right?!) so we got there without too much traffic-drama. While we were checking in and later in the examining room, Annie was leaving puddles of saliva. And by this time her gums were very red. The vet, Dr. Kevin Cowan, went thru the usual questions 'did she eat this, that or the other'. Bottom line was, he thought it was mushroom toxin. That's when Celia said she had seen a lot of mushes in the undergrowth. And Annie is a  grazer that snags anything she can find. So that's the consensus. Plus Elin said she had seen a mushroom, then it disappeared. Brad was skeptical (she makes up stories like her grandpa Bowman), but it was certainly prophetic.

The vet recommended keeping her overnight, giving her activated charcoal to coalesce the toxins, do blood work, then kept an eye on her. We agreed, approved the estimate, gave them a deposit, and drove back to the RV to worry all night. We got a call at 5 AM to say that somewhere around 3 or 4 AM she had thrown up, but by 5 AM her blood work was looking pretty good. They asked for some of her special diet as they were going to try food later. We delivered that by 9:30 AM (30+ miles in commute traffic takes awhile), then returned to the RV. About 1:30 PM they said we could come get her. She was one happy camper when she laid eyes on us! We got her home where she drank an inordinate amount of water, ate dinner, then went to sleep for hours.

Annie's doing great now, though I was very startled when she passed a stool that was black. Then I recalled they gave her activated charcoal. She's getting meds to guard against any secondary infection and to keep her tummy settled, but all-in-all I think we've dodged a very large caliber bullet!

Bottom line: if you're in the Portland area and need emergency help for your pet, we feel we had excellent care from Maine Veterinary Referral Center in Scarborough, ME, 207-885-1290. They're located very near Scarborough Downs off US-1.

Spaghetti Dinner

Big feed in the back yard

Elin, Ingrid and Stephanie

Brad got home early (he usually works awful hours!) and made a spaghetti dinner from the sauce Stephanie made earlier. We had a great feed of spaghetti, spinach & kale with onions and shepherd's bread. Then later we had strawberry shortcake that Steph and the girls picked earlier... strawberries are just coming into season here. Seemed to us they were having a late spring, but they told us this is about normal since we're at 44 deg N latitude.

Stephanie and the girls will come over to the park on Wednesday. It's supposed to be 91 deg F (yuck!) , so the swimming pool sounded like a good option!

Postcard from New Hampshire- 1

14-15 June 2012

Milton, NH

Are you old enough to remember the 1949 movie "Mighty Joe Young"? Probably not, but I do. That's the ghosted reference for this park: Mi-Te-Jo Campground. There's even a 5' chainsaw-carved statue of the big guy himself, dressed in camping gear, right outside the office. I would like to think this Mi-Te-Jo (Young) is not commemorating the 1998 remake which was even worse than the original!

This is a family campground which carries with it the usual baggage of kids running around everywhere and having a good time. And there's a lot for everyone to do with a softball diamond, hoops, beaches, swimming in the lake, basketball court, tennis court, trails everywhere, pavilions for entertainment when it rains, eating areas. But the main thing is you need to keep an eagle eye when moving the rig or driving your truck/towed cuz kids (mostly unsupervised) seem to pop up out of nowhere.

The park is gorgeous with maple, beech and conifers seemingly mixed randomly... I'd never have expected them to be bed partners but they all seem to thrive here side by side. The surrounding forests seem to be a similar mix.

There's no pavement anywhere. Camp sites parking surfaces are often a coarse sand (probably has the usual coarse gravel below the surface) which drains pretty well. They'd had rain the day before but the surface was no problem to walk on, though I did see a noticeable track from our rig's tires.

We're in a huge, double-wide site (#95) which is a little low in the center, so we're not level. If we were to be here more than these 2 nites I'd have to disconnect, run in the slides and get a board under one side.The park isn't as much a bargain as we've had, but now we're in the tourist area where families come to get away from their city life. It was $43/nite. Plus, if you use your A/C, add another $3/nite. The latter is on the honor system. They have an 8-year waiting list just to get a seasonal renting site. From the look of it, families have had the same site for decades. There are no permanent residents as the park closes in the winter so the owners can head for warmer weather in Florida!

The town of Milton is a small and pretty community arranged along the river which connects lakes above and below. The park is on the lake formed north and above the low weir (a low dam with constant flow over the top) that's situated in the middle of town... just across from the pizza place (you knew this was coming, right?!).

There's not a lot of choice for eating in this town. And, other than a convenience store, there seems to be no grocery store. So it's slim pickin's if you come here without the larder packed. We were told you can get a good breakfast at the CITGO station; there's the 3 Ponds Tavern if you want to find a watering hole; and there's ice cream at the marina store... parking area is outside the entrance, then cross the bridge on foot. We'd just had pizza in Brattleboro, VT, but thought what the hell. Then we spotted calzone on the menu and I was encouraged. Unfortunately my spinach & feta calzone was over done and needed a decent knife to cut the bottom crust. But the owner, a cranky old toot like me, apparently thinks it's silly to provide anything but the wimpy 4" plastic picnic-ware that is too flexible to cut thru anything tougher than coconut cream pie filling. What a disappointment, The flavor was good, so it was a shame to ruin it by being too cheap to provide non-takeout guests decent flatware. So if you come here, bring your own knife and fork! (Why didn't I just pick it up? It was too hot to hold in my hand!).

Way too much whining about food. We'll do some site seeing tomorrow, then we'll be off on our last leg to Durham, ME where we'll connect with kids and grand kids. Yee haw! It's been 3 years since we last saw them.

Another day

The bridge to ice cream!

There are 7 of these lakes in the area

We were told we could walk to the nearby marina where they offer ice cream. Have to cross a bridge to get there. The bridge turned out to be a steel & wood structure that has been closed to cars but is still used by pedestrians. We took the dogs too, which gave them more exercise than they've had in a long time (us too!).

The girls with their new best friend

Postcard from Vermont- 1

13 June 2012

Brattleboro, VT

Unlike our Le Roy-to-Richfield Springs jaunt, the routing to Brattleboro took us an extra 60 miles to keep us on major roads. It was a surprisingly easy drive for anyone able to ignore the Type-A's flying around the rig. Most were really friendly giving us their best single-finger wave as they cut in front of us. The drive took us to Albany, NY, then thru a corner of Massachusetts before turning north and heading into Vermont. So we were in some high-traffic areas and I'm sure they were glad to see the last of us. Thankfully we were through the area well ahead of commute time.

Brattleboro North KOA

In Brattleboro it was yet another KOA... the other local parks we could find didn't have one thing or another on our list: pull-thru, 50A, water, sewer or (most important!) space available. This park is very old and was celebrating their 70th year, though they've been a KOA park for just the last 5 (I think!). The sites are arranged in arcs of greater and greater radius, so it was very easy to get in and out.

Our cable reception was not so good, so I mentioned it to the person at the desk who got someone over to look at it (too young to be a Dead Head, but he is and had a great Jerry Garcia T-shirt). In the conversation which followed we learned they had just built a large dog run, so we headed over and turned the girls loose. Kelly went nuts! She just loved running on the grass and took at least a dozen laps. Didn't hear another peep from Kelly the rest of the nite!

And to keep the girls company they also have a miniature horse they keep at the park, stabled next to the dig run. This is a scaled down version of a full sized horse, not like the big-bellied, ill-tempered Shetland ponies I'm used to seeing. When we approached the park, we saw the owner's son had the mini-horse (about 4' at the shoulders maybe) out for a run in the same fenced area. He was having a great time running. Very tame and friendly. Unfortunately I've given up trying to carry the camera when we have the dogs out for a walk, so I don't have any photos.

The awards outnumber the menu items!

We went out for pizza and stopped at the Brattleboro Village Pizza. Great pizza with (to our taste) slightly different seasoning. The owners are Greek (bet they're glad to not be back in the homeland!) and perhaps that influences the seasoning. Whatever, it was good and we'd go back in a heart beat!

Not sure if there's a special event for bikers, but we saw a lot of motorcycles the closer we got to Vermont. We've been seeing more and more the further we get to the northeast. Great riding country for riding a motorcycle with lots of direction and grade changes to make it interesting.

Postcard from New York- 3

12 June 2012

Richfield Springs, NY

Interesting stop:
- If you want a stop with beautiful surroundings with rolling hills and farm land that's within reach of Cooperstown, NY (Baseball Hall of Fame), you may find the KOA in thus small town worth considering.
- On the other hand, if you like wide roads with a center line, you'd better be careful about letting your GPS route you on it's own!
- If you enjoy having yours be the only vehicle in sight in any direction, this is definitely for you.

First off, it rained all night before we pulled out of Le Roy, NY. And it rained as I hooked up at Genesee Country Campground. Then it rained all day as we drove here. And it rained while we set up camp. It did stop raining right after I'd finished setting up, thank you very much! Desert rats are not used to this sort of thing. Go ahead... call me a wimp!

The toll roads were a breeze getting here to within 30 miles of the KOA, but once we pulled off the Interstate and headed for the park we were routed onto Cullen Rd... and no one else went our way. Hmm. Is this a sign? or is our black tank over-full and leaving an unpleasant trail? Neither: no one in their right mind takes this route. Sane people sstay on NY-26 and go all the way to US-20. But we persevered. Especially since there was no hope of turning around on this one lane road! For a moment I feared we were in a time warp and had been sent back to the 1880s with all the horse poop along the road, but then I saw the warning signs for horse drawn buggies, so I knew we were back in Amish country again.

On the exceptionally-good-luck side of the story, the Admiral found a pecan pie in the campground store. $7. Cool! Turned out the campground owner had his eye on it, but hey... yuh snooze, yuh lose! They told us Amish ladies come around on Fridays and sell baked goods. That alone is enough reason to visit here!!

Postcard from New York- 2

10-11 June 2012

Rochester

We plugged in the address for Steven & Gordon in Rochester and 45 minutes we were parked in front of what was once a marshmallow factory. Like many of the old buildings in the downtown area, this one has been converted to apartments. There are 3 buildings interconnected by an enclosed walkway so you can get from your apartment to the parking garage without braving the nasty Rochester winter weather that normally sees 110"-120" of snow each year. Yikes!

The Kodak building

Their apartment has a great view of the Genesee River. Unfortunately the river is pretty industrial... which means it's green enough to need mowing! But it's a great view that most urbanites will never have access to.

Rochester was for many decades the Kodak town. If you watch the evening news you know that Kodak is going underwater and has filed for bankruptcy. Kodak corporate headquarters is visible to the whole of Rochester.

Genesee River

The Admiral's place in San Francisco was in the Sunset District which is quite a distance from downtown. So this is a different style of living than we're used to. Very classy apartment, and there's an Italian restaurant on the ground floor.

Wonder if we'll any of them at the next Summer Olymoics

Lake Ontario

Gordon got us rounded up and headed for Lake Ontario. There was a volley ball competition going on complete with announcer and boats anchored along the shore to watch. Which apparently has recently become not so legal as they try to keep the beach safer.

The weather had been pretty warm (90 F the day before), but it was very comfortable by the beach. Lots of bare skin that hadn't seen the sun for 6 months and was just begging for a sunburn! 

The park we were in had an old carousel... vintage 1880. I mentioned it had been decades since I'd been up close and personal with a carousel and the next thing I knew we had tickets and were riding. Look like the Admiral is having a pretty good time riding that wild bronco.

Ans the pair of rabbits caught our eye as it pictures the name of our other web site: rabbit-rabbit.org.

Check rabbit-rabbit.org

The Admiral's got a little out of control I guess.

Lunch at an old fire house

After a brief stop at the beach we were off to lunch at Hose 22. And before your imagination gets to carried away, this restaurant is named after the fire fighting company stationed here... Hose (Company) 22.

And this is where we had our first fried pickles. Hose 22 uses dill chips (some places deep fry dill spears) that are battered then deep fried and served with a dipping sauce that is incredible.

We loved the lunch, then had to head for the trailer to rescue the doggies before they claimed too be abandoned. The clouds were just trying to come in when we left Rochester, but it was completely socked in by the time get back. By 10:30 it was raining and didn't stop by the time we pulled out of the park the next morning.

Le Roy, NY was a great stop for us... thanks guys. We're spoiled rotten!

Postcard from New York- 1

Lost the first version of this... went to the great bit bucket in the sky. So here's a second try...

9 June 2012

Le Roy, NY

The huge transient area. At the far end is an opening
in the trees that leads to a small golf course.

We're stopped in Le Roy cuz it's about as close as we could get to Rochester. And from the number of folks we see here (Rochester locals) it would seem the locals agree.

Parked in the corner of Genesee Country CG

We're in a bull pen of sorts. I'd wanted a pull-thru with full hook-up and the closest I could get was Genesee Country Campground. He told me the area was huge and I'd have plenty of room to get straightened out and then have a straight shot into the space. Ooooh-kay. I had my doubts.

I was happily surprised to see that what we got was exactly what he said. Sort of. Turns out there's full hook-up and then there's full hook-up. What you have to ask is something I'd not had to ask about before: is the sewer connection a septic sewer connection? In this case it is not... it's a grey water sewer connection only. First time we've run into that.

And just to keep the campers honest, the connection must be made thru a garden hose and an adapter ($3.25). The concept is self policing- if you try to dump the black tank thru this adapter, the garden hose will get blocked and you'll have a mess to deal with. Hmmm... maybe this is where the Brown Knee Society was created!

So we bought the adapter and sacrificed a couple hoses and Presto!... we can do laundry and dishes and showers. Looks like it's going to work OK as we can usually make it a week on the black tank.

Dinner out

The subject of BBQ had come up and I guess I had that in mind when it came time to find somewhere to eat. I found Center Street Smoke House 15 miles away in Batavia, NY, so off we went. Turned out to be a very appealing place with great atmosphere and way more ribs in the half order than I wanted. 2 half-orders of ribs and 2 diet Cokes was $38 + the tip... welcome to NY!

Day off

I had planned to go to Niagra Falls on Saturday, but that went up in smoke when I woke at 4 AM with a belly ache. It couldn't possibly be the ribs, could it?! Rhetorical question: if you don't have your gall bladder, you really shouldn't expect to get away with eating a lot of fat. Not sure how many times I'll have to learn this lesson, but so far 10 years hasn't been enough!

Side trip tomorrow

We'll make a run over to Rochester tomorrow to see friends Steven & Gordon. They have a new apartment overlooking the Genesee River so we want to see how the high-end folks live! :)

Postcard from Pennsylvania- 1

6-7 June 2012

Erie, PA

High-end pool if you like that sort of thing

After 2 nites with limited facilities, we were ready for a change. And that's what we got after the drive to Erie, PA. I'd made reservations at the KOA which has been our least favorite chain of campgrounds. Well, now I have to eat my words cuz Erie KOA is a wonderful park.

Pavilion for special events

Admittedly we had a very classy (and $$$) site with patio, lawn furniture, Weber BBQ (the same Spirit model I bought in Santa Fe). But the rest of the campground (or kampground as KOA likes to say) is really amazing. We took the dogs for a walk after we arrived and wandered around thru the dense trees at the back of the park. Even found a small dog run (20'x30'?) which Kelly loved. She pretended it was an open field and ran about 3-4 long strides in each direction till she'd burned off some of the stored up energy!

Catch & release in the lake

Apparently they have a lot of call for their cabins as they've built a lot of them. And there's a very large swimming pool with a pavilion beside, plus a catch & release fishing lake. And they have the usual toys to rent to kids (pedal trikes, etc.).

And there's no freeway noise... it's miles away from the Interstate. The park is right on a state highway, but that was very quiet after about 9 PM so there was no broken sleep. Of course you have to keep in mind that we both sleep like the dead, so your mileage may vary!

 

 

Side trip

Celia read thru a booklet prepared by the Pennsylvania state department of saomething or other which I'd picked up somewhere in Indiana. She spotted a mention of Daffin's Chocolate Kingdom in Erie County. Well, if it has anything to do with chocolate, we're there!

Order two, not one

So off we went to Sharon, PA, about 50+ miles south. We found our way to the Sharon town center, walked the dogs, and then the Admiral spotted the Sharon Hot Dog Shop across the street. Life is good.

Daffin's Chocolate Kingdom

Fortified with a couple chile-cheese dogs, I was ready for whatever. Celia asked our waitress if she knew of any large candy stores in the area and she immediately told is about Daffin's just up the street a few blocks.

So off we went to a huge candy store which was in fact the place we had come to see. In the back of Daffin's enormous showroom was a display of huge chocolate figures plus a chocolate village all crafted from the elixir of life. Out in the sales area they had a display of various kinds of chocolate so large it puts See's (big in California) to shame. We of course wanted to help the local economy and bought way more than we should have (gotta have gifts for the kids, right?!), then headed back to the RV park 60 miles away.

So we had a good outing and saw incredible countryside that is resisting the change to urbanization... there are still farms with large open fields bounded with dense tree growth. Looked like a lot of corn, but we're city-folk and our ID is suspect for plants just emerging.

Our stop in PA was too short and we both thought we'd like to come back. If you like driving low traffic, small country roads thru lush farm land as we do, you will have lots to explore here.

Next we're off to New York. Later...