The Great Road Trip North
October 16-20, 2008
Waking early on the first day of your vacation never seems like a good idea. I must have hit the snooze button on my cell phone at least half a dozen times before crawling out of bed to the coffee maker. Having been in the United States for over a year, I am well accustomed to the bitter taste of American coffee, whereby quality of coffee is often always substituted for quantity.
Milly and I managed to pack our bags and were out the door within an hour. We walked to the 68th street subway station and headed to Grand Central Station. The subway station was of course packed with commuters, but we managed to navigate our way and our bags around fellow passengers and their briefcases and backpacks. I bought us both round trip tickets at Grand Central. If you are in a rush, there is the option to purchase the tickets on the train, but it is a lot more expensive. But for once we were organized! After collecting our tickets we headed to Platform 108 where the MetroNorth train would take us to White Plains, NY. As we walked down the declining ramp to the underground train station, we were greeted with a spectacular image of the male ticket collectors for each carriage of two trains. There must have been about 50 ticket collectors, looking very smart in their cerulean uniforms and top hats. Milly was very entertained by the image and couldn't stop laughing. I on the other hand, was more concerned about whether we would miss the train, and so smiled politely as I walked past the ticket collectors, confirmed the direction of the train with one of them and boarded the train. We found four seats – arranged so that there were two seats for both Milly and I and we were able to face one another and had a large window for us to share. After waiting for about 25 minutes we were off!!
We arrived in White Plains shortly after 10am. White Plains is located 28 miles north-west of New York City. I thought it would be cheaper and safer for us to start the road trip from White Plains versus somewhere in the NYC – the thought of driving through city traffic was not something I was keen on doing. We caught a cab from the train station to Westchester Airport where the car rental place was. Cabs in White Plains don't operate under typical taxi rules – there are no meters, so you pretty much pay the amount they tell you, which we presumed to include tip! After signing some rental agreement forms, I was handed the keys of a Pontiac Torrent, a 5 seater silver SUV. Milly and I were a little disappointed as we thought we were going to be driving a Chevy, but after discovering that getting an "upgrade" to a Chevy would require a lot more money, we thought that the Pontiac would do just fine.
I had to really concentrate driving – everything of course is in reverse – what side of the road you drive on, traffic circles (round-abouts) etc. Milly had the maps and we had done a very preliminary draft of where we were headed over the next four days. We were to head to Central Valley, more specifically, the home of outlet shopping. This place is THE outlet shopping place for New Yorker apparently. It gets rave reviews and we thought we should visit there to see what everyone was talking about. After all Chanel, Valentino and Prada all had outlet stores there, it must surely be worth going to! It was the perfect time for the fall foliage – it must have been a couple of days outside its peak colors and it was really beautiful seeing the different colors of the leaves – the harvest golds, the sanguine reds, the orange and the yellows – it was cornucopia of autumn colors. Milly mastered the art of taking photographs from the passenger's seat as I concentrated on heading in the right direction and staying on the right side of the road in the right lane. That's right, right?
Central Valley: it was like many typical, characterless American towns that we would stumble across on our trip. BIG strip malls – Walmart, Sears, Price Chopper, Rite Aid and then of course there was the infamous outlet store Woodbury Commons – a fancy name for lots of pokey designer stores strung together by a boring brick walkway and some forlorn looking plants that seemed desperate to leave. The only good thing was that the place was quiet. While we were on the road, it had begun to drizzle a little, soft drops of rain would fall, but it wasn't enough to warrant an umbrella (not that we had one anyway). Milly and I were starving. We found the map and located the food court. We walked past sad Halloween decorations and past empty stores until we found our destination. The food options were simply awful – pizza, Mexican, ribs, Chinese food, pretzels, hotdogs or subway. It wasn't much of a choice at all so Milly and I opted for a sandwich at Subway. It was less than average, but it dampened the howls of our empty stomachs. We ate in less than ten minutes, keen to get away from the sad sights of the food courts – overweight Americans and tourists shoveling donuts and greasy limp pizza into their mouths or watching people wheel around empty suitcases hoping that by the end of the day they would have bought enough bargains to fill their bags and empty their wallets.
Milly and I aimlessly walked around the shops for a couple of hours and then decided that we were being unproductive. And so we left. We headed to Central Valley's Walmart! And not just any Walmart, but it was a Walmart Super Center: what does that mean? Well, it is a Walmart plus a supermarket. These stores are ridiculously big, and you could easily waste an entire day in them if you weren't careful. Milly and I were good, we had a clear objective: toiletries and some little snacks for the car trip. We rambled around the store, finding cheap singlet's and knickers. I left Milly in the food section while I went to find some toiletries. After about ten minutes we found each other again, Milly smiling and looking very proud that she found some muesli bars – well actually, they weren't just any old muesli bars – they were FIBER 1 PLUS granola bars with added fiber. Yuk! Not only did Milly have these fiber bars, but she also had a big bag of prunes. I didn't think Milly thought anything of it, but I on the other hand, thought that she looked like someone who was in desperate need of a good enema!
After briefly deciding what we were going to do for the rest of the afternoon, we flipped through a couple of maps and decided that we were going to head to a small town located outside of Albany, whose name I have long forgotten. We drove for ages, both getting tired and weary and finally located a Holiday Inn. Milly ran inside and asked for the price of the cheapest room - $140/night! Forget that! I spoke to my friend and he said that if we could get to Albany he has found a hotel room for us and around half the price! Saweet! So off we went again – heading North along Interstate 87 to Albany, the capital of New York.
In typical fashion, we took the wrong turn-off – one turnoff too soon and so Milly and I found ourselves lost on the outskirts of Albany. We must have stopped at three different service stations to ask for directions and each time we managed to get lost. Finally Milly wrote down the instructions and we found ourselves back on the interstate where we went through the toll-booths for the 3rd time, locating our hotel from the interstate. At last! We checked in to a rather lovely hotel room with crisp white sheets and a hot shower. Milly and I both checked our emails while we watched a home-buying program. We watched a woman advertise a long pearl necklace for $99.99 that she said "it is not just ok, but it's….outstandingly spectacular." Whatever does outstandingly spectacular even mean? Who knows, but she sold 500 of those damn necklaces in just 10 minutes. Not bad…not bad at all!
October 17, 2008 (Friday)
We woke up the next morning, having had a very good sleep and decided to have breakfast in the hotel's restaurant. There must have been 2 other people in the restaurant, which was great for us. I knew what I wanted: a big breakfast – scrambled eggs, crisp bacon, toast, home-fries (herb-seasoned potato) and coffee. Milly on the other-hand was a tricky customer. She wanted granola (muesli) and she wanted fruit, no milk no yoghurt. Just crunchy, dry bits of granola with the occasional strawberry…Interesting request, but the waitress was lovely and handled Milly's odd request beautifully. She brought Milly a couple of boxes of granola, a bowl and some sliced strawberries on the side. Milly of course didn't imagine her breakfast quite like that – she wanted the fruit ON the granola, not on the side. So as I ate my yummy scrambled eggs, Milly crunched, crunched, crunched her way through her breakfast.
After the quick breakfast, we wanted to get on the road again. We wanted to see a few antique stores/thrift stores around Albany before we left so Milly looked up some directions and we were off again. Although Albany (pop. 101, 000) has been a central force in New York State since 1614, it has retained some of its commercial dominance within the transportation and manufacturing centers, but government is now the predominant form of activity in the city. It's a very sad town, morbid even. It has no character and there is a lot of poverty. Although located in a beautiful area – close to the Adirondacks and the Hudson River, it seems like it has been forgotten, dwarfed by the much grander New York City. Milly and I were disappointed with what we saw and the lack of life in Albany and rather than stop, we decided to drive directly to Cooperstown, 65 miles away. 
We opted to take the scenic way to Cooperstown so that we could see more of the beautiful country side. The roads weaved and turned through a kaleidoscope of rich autumn colors. We occasionally stopped at small quiet antique stores beside the road. The first shop we went to was a complete mess – stuff was absolutely everywhere and completely disorganized but it was cheap. I found a belt and Milly found some lovely old jewelry. Grand total: $8. The people in these small towns are lovely – they love having visitors and were often shocked to learn that there were Australian's were in their shop, "Ohhhh Australia is my favorite place in the whole wide world". Another shop we stopped in, the lady had arranged her antiques very carefully – each room having a theme: the kitchen, the living room, the dining room etc. It was sweet and a little expensive, but I found a beautiful green silk Japanese kimono with intricate flower embroidery on the back. The lady seemed lonely and wanted to chat with us, so we ended up spending about an hour in her shop, looking at things and talking with her. Milly bought some lovely old books and I bought the kimono. Realizing the time, we left and kept going until we hit scenic Cooperstown. Cooperstown is a little village (pop. 2, 200) located on Otsego Lake (with water so clear it is the towns source of drinking water) and is the commonly known as the legendary birthplace and home of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Milly and I parked the car and found a local bakery and ordered a bagel with cream cheese and a Halloween cupcake each. The grand total: $5! Five bucks! We couldn't believe how cheap – then again everywhere is cheap compared to NYC. We walked up Main Street (inventive name huh?!) and found our way to a park located on Otsego Lake. It was indeed picturesque (minus the enormous whale of a woman sitting on the park bench). We found a spot in the sun and on a bench and quickly ate our lunch. By now it was 3pm and the sun was going down, and we could feel its cold breath. Be found our way to the shops where we wandered in and out of little boutiques selling mainly baseball –themed tourist gifts. Our next destination within Cooperstown was the infamous Fly Creek Cider Mill, which had been recommended to me by a guy I work with.
After missing the turn-off, we eventually found our way to Fly Creek, and we both immediately laughed when we approached the Mill, noticing that this must be a very popular tourist attraction with all old ladies. They were everywhere! The Fly Creed Cider Mill was built in 1856 by Hosea Williams and as been operating ever since. Each year, more than 100,000 people visit the Cider Mill. Despite the geriatric-overload it was a quaint little place. As we walked from the car to the Cider Mill I approached a couple and asked for a photo of Milly and I. They kindly obliged, squinting to peek through the eye-hole of the digital camera (I guess they didn't realize that digital camera's now have screens?) and then commented on Milly's boots, saying that "those boots are made for walking". My interpretation was that they were laughing at her ridiculous heels, but Mills just laughed it off!
So we headed into the Cider Mill, maneuvering our way around the little old ladies with large baskets filled with lots of different apple-infused condiments and other yummy treats. There wasn't a tour of the facility as such, so you had to navigate yourself around the tiny cider gallery exhibit. Milly and I watched the video about how cider was made. Mid-way through the video, the narrator said that the method used for pressing apples was called "vagina pressing". Milly and I looked at each other, the corners of our mouths turning upwards and said at the same time, "what did he just say?!!"…we had to listen to the whole video again to ensure what we heard was indeed the name…listening more carefully this time, we heard "Johnny pressing" and NOT "vagina pressing"…we laughed and left the little room with the cider press before we could embarrass ourselves any more…
We spent the next half and hour sampling different condiments –chutneys, cheeses, ciders, wines, dips, and of course cider and apples. My friend at work had told me that if you go into the room that holds the apples, there is a hilarious song that plays on repeat; it goes something like this: "Apples and cider, apples and cider, apples and cider at the Fly Creek Cider Mill"…I suppose you have to hear it to really appreciate its annoying-ness. Milly recorded the song on my cell phone and I replayed it back to my friend when I returned to NYC – it was most certainly appreciated!
After touring the facility, and buying some delicious apples, Milly and I decided to use our 10% discount coupon at the bakery on site. We both ordered hot apple cider and a hot cinnamon donut each. We took our treats and sat alongside Fly Creek, watching the ducks and chickens.
It was lovely and peaceful sitting out on the veranda. Well, lovely until a rather confident Rhode Island Red decided to investigate what crumbs she could gather from us. She pecked a little here and there and I decided to see just how far she was willing to go to get some crumbs. So I used a scrunched up paper bag as bait.
The Rhodey stode over in my direction, took the paper from my hand and ran away! The chase was on. Alice vs chook. She did well at first, weaving in and out of the picnic benches, but I eventually cornered her, where she dropped the piece of paper! Milly of course snapped the entire sequence of events!
We spent the next hour or so exploring the rest of the Fly Creek Cider Mill gardens which comprised mostly of a chicken coop and some more cut-outs. Of course, Mills and I took lots of pictures!
It was around 4:30 pm now, and the weather was becoming very chilly. We knew we had a lot of road to cover to get to Burlington, so we left Fly Creek bound for Burlington, Vermont (216 miles away). The plan was to head East on Route 20 to Albany and then take Interstate 87 to Burlington. It would be about a 4-5 hour drive tops. Or so we thought…
Oh how we got lost! Again, we stopped at a lot of service stations seeking directions, but we found ourselves lost amongst the ebony night. We were west of Lake Champlain, a beautiful 180km long, 19km wide natural freshwater lake which separates New York State and Vermont. Burlington is East of the lake, the largest city in Vermont. The challenge: to cross the lake. There were ferries, but they run between dawn and dusk…so Milly directed us to head North, where we would skip across some islands at the very North end of Lake Champlain (just 2 miles from the Canadian border) and then head south on Interstate 89 to Burlington. But we had a deadline: the motel we had booked that morning. We weren't sure what time the office would close and we were worried that we would have to spend a night in the car in freezing conditions! We also had intermittent reception on our cell phones, so as soon as a single bar was detected as reception on the cell phones Milly called "Rode Way Inn". A man answered in a thick Asian accent: "Hurro…Rode Way Inn"… Eventually, Milly found out that we had until midnight. What a relief – we still had 90 minutes! We eventually made our way to Burlington in the dead of the night, with Milly repeating "Hurro, Rode Way Inn" the ENTIRE way! I nearly swerved off the road a couple of times I was laughing so hard.
October 18, 2008 (Saturday)
Rode Way Inn was a dump, but it was the cheapest motel we could find. We had itchy blankets and a broken mirror in the bathroom, but it had a hot shower and it was good to be out of the car. We planned to wake up early, take advantage of the free breakfast and then check out Burlington. We really should have skipped the breakfast, but again it was free so one can't complain!
It was chilly – in the 40s probably, so we rugged up. We headed to Lake Champlain first, to see the Lake which had created so much trouble for us the previous night. There was little wind, so the Lake looked pristine. Rumor has it that Lake Champlain is home to a lake monster called, "Champ". Numerous sightings have reported a creature with a "long sinuous neck" and a body with one or more humps, 15 to 25 feet long and dark in color. The photographic evidence is tantalizing but of course inconclusive…
We then headed into downtown Burlington, population: 39,000, a town formed mostly from sustaining the students of the University of Vermont. The town has a very organic, earthy feel to it – there is an emphasis of producing, wearing and eating everything organic. We walked through a farmers market where hippies were selling the season's fruits and vegetables and heavily tattooed kids were playing drums. The townsfolk were very polite and despite their phenotypic differences, all seemed to relish in this liberal lifestyle. We walked the main street for a few hours, explored some op-shops and other shops and enjoyed a bagel at Bruegger's Bagel Bakery before calling Maggie Donin to establish a time to meet up. We met her a few hours later for coffee. She seemed very happy and fit very well into the organic community of Burlington. She brought her friend, Derek along and we all enjoyed a hot drink (Milly had some maple-infused chai tea suggested by Maggie and later told me that she didn't like it but drank it anyway). After about an hour and half, we decided that we needed to hit the road – destination Hanover New Hampshire to see Bob and Mary Donin (Maggie's parents).
With only 96 miles of road to cover, Milly and I knew that we were in for a fairly easy drive and that we could make it to Hanover before sunset. We had parked the car in the Church car park (naughty but it was free!) and just as I turned on the car's engine, sirens sounded everywhere. Before we could say "what the?", we were surrounded by fire engines and 4WD's, about 6 vehicles in total. For a split second we both thought the City of Burlington was going to great lengths to ensure that no-one parked illegally on Church property, but we realized that they were just responding to a call on the Church's property. As soon as we spotted a break, we drove away from the Church and onto Interstate 89.
Milly is an interesting passenger to have – she doesn't read maps particularly well and she eats A LOT. She does! She must have gone through at least a 700g of beef jerky, the Walmart prunes and "FIBRE PLUS" granola bars, amongst other treats in a matter of days. She maintains that she has nothing else to do but eat…
The Interstate was a little busy; especially considering we were in Vermont, but it was a pleasant and interesting drive. The road cut through the hilly Vermont land, exposing geological formations and the exquisite colors of the temperate deciduous trees - maple, oak, elm, aspen and birch.
To her credit this time, Milly provided perfect directions to Hanover and I admit was nostalgic as we drove through Hanover, since it had been four years since I was there last. After accidently driving past the Donin's house, we finally pulled into the driveway!
Milly and I let ourselves in, and were first greeted by Fenway Donin, the charming 9 year-old resident Bassett hound. He howled for about 3 seconds and then fell on the floor when I started rubbing his tummy! Oh how I miss dogs! Mary and Bob soon appeared and after a series of hugs we gathered our bags from the car and brought them indoors and to Pete's room where there were two very comfortable, very beautifully-made beds.
Bob had prepared a fire and we all sat around the fire place with a drink and some appetizers. Mills and I both tried an alcoholic cider wine which Bob had picked up at the local market. It was really good and a must for anyone living or visiting the New England area! We quickly drank two glasses each before sitting before a delicious dinner prepared by Mary: marinated pork, carrots and peas and rice. We were all chatting so much and telling stories of the past few months and years. Fenway sat underneath the table at Bob's feet, hoping to collect some scraps. Mid conversation, I attempted to puncture a carrot from the plate with my fork. The action backfired and the carrot flew off my plate onto the ground beneath me. I didn't even flinch, I picked up the carrot and popped the carrot into my mouth, hoping that no-one would realize. Perhaps if there were more people at the dinner table it would have gone un-noticed, but this time I wasn't so lucky. I looked left and I looked right and chewed that carrot as fast as I could. It was pretty funny – perhaps next time I will leave the carrot for Fenway to enjoy…
Milly learnt the rules of baseball with Bob after dinner as I flipped through the Donin's photo album from their trip to Australia in 2005/2006. We had a yummy home-made apple crumble and ice-cream for dessert before Mary retired to bed, then Milly. I tried to stay up to watch the baseball game with Bob, but even he was fading. His head would fall back, and then nod forward and then fall back again. It was pretty entertaining watching him attempt to stay awake. I scurried off to bed at around 10pm and after a hot shower, fell asleep….
October 19, 2008 (Sunday)
We had brought the Donin's apples from Fly Creek, a dozen Bruegger's bagels and cream cheese as a thank-you gift. We all enjoyed a bagel and some coffee and juice that morning. Mary had to interview someone that morning, and I thought it would be lovely to go for a walk with Mills around town. We hadn't prepared for the chilly weather, so Bob dressed Milly and I up in some clothes, drew us a little map and sent us on our way! Later Mary would say that she cannot believe Bob let us out in public like that, but Mills and I thought it was hilarious!
We walked around a couple of buildings of Dartmouth College, past the Hanover Country Club and around Occum Pond. We then headed into township of Hanover. We were hoping to get a coffee, but the coffee shop lines were too long, so we just browsed the shops. We must have looked pretty silly, dressed in all this garb…the photos (below left) is of Milly and I at Occum Pond forming a VT (for Vermont – it was Milly's idea, don't think she realized we were in New Hampshire)…
It was now past midday, so we headed back to the Donin's, feeling much better having had a walk. Mary was doing some gardening when we got back, Fenway was enjoying some scent in a bush close-by and Bob was off running some errands. Prior to our walk Milly and I had already packed our bags and loaded the car, so all we needed to do now was strip the beds of the sheets. We did that quickly, placing them in the laundry, said our goodbye's to Mary and headed to Ludlow, Vermont where I had promised to meet some old friends.
I first wanted to take Mills to Dan and Whit's, a great old-fashioned general store in Norwich VT (5 minute drive from Hanover) who stand by their motto: "if we don't have it, you don't need it". Don't be deceived by the size of the place, it is indeed small, but it is packed from floor to ceiling with things – camouflage gear for the keen hunter, powdered milk for the baby, shovels, Halloween costumes…you name it they have everything!
Milly and I bought a few trinkets, and some lollies for the 44 miles of road we had to drive.
I had done this drive many times before and it was refreshing driving on roads and through townships that were familiar. Several years ago I had worked at Okemo Mountain Resort (Mary also worked here) for several winter seasons while I was on summer holidays from undergraduate studies at Sydney University. During my time there, I met some really wonderful people and have fortunately managed to stay in contact with a handful of them over the years.
Okemo is located in Ludlow, which has an annual population of only 2500 residents. Come winter however, the place is a hive of activity, with several thousand people skiing on the mountain at any one time. This was the first time I had seen the town without a blanket of snow. I drove Milly and I to ski resort and then decided to go to my friend's house. My cell phone has no reception in Vermont and so I decided to see whether I could remember the way to his house. I hadn't been to his house in over four years and the back roads of Ludlow can be confusing, but Milly and I were willing to give it a go.
Fortunately, I remembered and I found us knocking on my friend's door. When no-one answered, I decided to open the door (in Vermont everyone leaves their doors unlocked) and see if anyone was home, "hello….? hello…? anyone at hoooooome?". My friend appeared and then another friend! One of them wasn't expecting to see me, and so it was a huge surprise!
We decided to get some lunch at the local café, Java Baba's. Notice how I say 'the'? There is only one true café in this town, and thank goodness it wasn't a Starbucks. We must have chatted for a good 2 hours, before I realized that Mills and I were supposed to meet another couple of friends of mine, Hallee and John Humler, a retired couple who were both once teachers and who occasionally work at Okemo during the winter so that they get free skiing passes! We were to meet Hallee and John at The Loft, a local hangout and a place I often visited for a beer and dinner after work. The servings here are absolutely huge, but the prices are affordable, which is what keeps bringing the locals back. John and Hallee hadn't changed a bit! After dinner, a beer and some chatting we headed back to their house in Springfield Vermont, about a 20 minute drive away.
It was freeeeeezing outside – below zero. I must have forgotten how cold it gets around here! John and Hallee live in a beautiful little 2 bedroom home on 9 acres of woodlands. Before retiring to bed, we all sat around, enjoying some Vermont-made maple dessert liquor which was yummy. Hallee and John are naturally funny people and at one point Hallee had Milly laughing hard as she was sitting across the chair, legs in the air and was suggesting possible things we could do that evening (it was about 9.30pm). We all decided that bed was the best bet and after a nice hot shower (not together of course), we all headed to bed. There was a skylight above our bed, so we could see the Northern stars above us.
October 21, 2008 (Monday)
I woke a little less than 12 hours later, feeling refreshed. Milly had not stirred, so I woke her. We both got dressed and headed downstairs to find John and Hallee making homemade pancakes with Vermont maple syrup, crispy bacon and coffee. Yum!!! We really enjoyed breakfast and watching the wildlife outdoors, particularly the chipmunks! Hallee and Mills chatted a lot about art and things to see and do in Italy, and about college. John and Hallee are very well travelled and educated, both having a Masters and are both fluent in German. Each year they travel to Austria to go skiing with friends and were incredibly jealous of Milly's impending trip to Europe.
By 11am, Mills and I were back on the road. We planned to take a couple of scenic roads south to North Adams, Massachusetts where Milly wanted to visit Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MOCA). We meandered through old towns, quickly forgotten since the Interstate was laid down. We went through Weston, VT a quaint little town, home to just 630 people. Weston is famous for The Vermont Country Store, a great general store which stocks quality products and produce from Vermont and around the world (they even had Australian wool blankets!). Tourists come in bus-loads here, and the senior citizens just love this place! Milly bought a nice warm, Vermont-made lumberjack jacket, a fur hat and some lollies. I bought some old-fashioned licorice and some gnarly teeth.
We headed south for 60 miles or so. I previously mentioned that I purchased some gnarly teeth; plastic dentures that I thought would be fun to wear, especially in a rural area. So while driving Milly and I played around with the different "styles" of dentures. This was possibly the funniest time during the entire road-trip as you can see…
North Adams, Massachusetts: home to the largest contemporary visual art and performing art museum in the United States, Mass MOCA. We had arrived at 4:15pm, and we were concerned that we had missed the opportunity to see the place, since it closed at 5pm. Milly managed to get us some free passes to a select number of exhibits and we toured the museum as best we could in a short period of time. We even had the opportunity to take some silly photos.
So we left, having 146 miles left of windy roads to cover in a few short hours. By now, Milly's directions and map reading skills had improved substantially so it wasn't long until we were on the Taconic State Parkway, a freeway restricted to passenger cars only! We saw sunset over the mountains and saw deer standing beside the road. What hadn't improved during this entire road trip were Milly's time estimations. She predicted it would take us about 30 minutes (it was more like 3 hours!).
We arrived in White Plains at around 8.30pm, refueled the car and did a quick stop at Wal-Mart to buy some bargain knickers. We got hopelessly lost on our way to the car rental place at the airport and I started becoming stressed, as big fees are imposed if the car is returned late. And since we were lost, we were using the fuel from the new tank. Double stress. We made it by the skin of our teeth – with about 5 minutes to spare. We hadn't even packed our things up in the car, and by this stage it had five days of mess in it. I threw everything I had into a couple of bags and ran to return the keys, leaving Milly to pack up her things in the dark!
We eventually managed to hail a cab to the train station, where we took the 11pm train back to Manhattan. Since it was an express train, it only took 35 minutes to get to Grand Central Terminal in New York. Milly and I had a lot of stuff, so we waited for all the other passengers to exit the train before disembarking. I grabbed my things, thinking Milly was right behind me and she was for about 1 minute. Once on the platform, she placed her bags down so to attempt to pick them up in a better arrangement. I hadn't realized this, so I kept walking. I turned around briefly to witness a nice gentleman helping Milly pick up her bags. Milly started to laugh uncontrollably and I realized why – the bag that Milly was having trouble picking up had all of our 6-pack bargain knickers in them and one pack had fell out onto the platform! By then, the nice passenger had left, probably embarrassed and Milly was beside herself with laugher. As she explained the story to me, I already realized what the dilemma was….of all the bags he had to pick up, it had
to be the one with the underpants!!! At the point Milly and I fell down laughing incredibly hard, and perhaps I laughed a little too hard…
Embarrassed and still laughing at the moments beforehand, Milly and I clambered into a taxi to our apartment on East 67th Street. The taxi driver noticed we had lots of bags and asked if we had fun on our trip. Milly replied, "Yes, we had a weely, weeeeeelly good time, didn't we Al?". Thanks Mills!
Finally home after midnight, we had showers and tucked ourselves into bed (Milly into an air mattress), knowing that we had to get up some five hours later for the Martha Stewart Show!
by the big and only alice fox.
