Garnet's Life Adventures

North America trip update part 2

After an uneventful flight from Vancouver to Montreal on Wednesday morning, where the donut made it all the way through security but not onto the plane :) I only had to wait around for my luggage for an hour and then picked up dad's car in the parking lot. Everything was going fine till I couldn't figure out how to use the satellite navigation system. After driving around the parking lot thinking I needed to "orient" it I finally caved & called mum to find out if she knew anything . . . 3 minutes later it was all sorted, not thanks to our brains so much as me just pressing every button I could find & it finally working. I followed Betty's directions and after a rather long (45 mins) stop at the border, where they searched the car & told me "anyone can get a work permit, so do you have a business card?" to which I literally bit my tongue to explain anyone can get a business card made up but getting a work permit was much more difficult. I then continued down to Pottersville in the thick fog with mix of rain & snow.

Thursday I drove to Albany to meet up with my mate Tom who I'd studied biology with at Norwich,but who I'd not seen since graduation in May 2001. We had a great catch up at PF Changs before I continued my drive to Connecticut through rather heavy winds & snow (in the Berkshires, not the Pocono mtns). I arrived safely at Matt's house around half 6. We went and got Chili's take away for dinner, watched part of The Dark Knight and went to bed.

Friday I woke up around 9am, showered, watched the rest of The Dark Knight, had lunch with Matt and then we spent the afternoon reading in his living room. It was really nice to be so relaxed after a rather hectic week in meetings. That night we met up with Anne & John for a lovely dinner and catch up with them. When we got home we watched Rudy, one of Matt & my favourite movies until we both fell asleep.

Saturday we got up, had breakfast, showered & then went our separate ways, him to the gym and me to Vernon, CT for another great catch up convo with my adopted Dad, Rog & his wife Patty. After an hour or so I then headed east to Plainfield, CT (on the RI border almost) for lunch with Karen & Ben, who I studied biology with at Norwich and again like Tom had not seen since our graduation in 2001! I was with them for about 3.5 hours, reminiscing about old times & gossipping about who we've seen since leaving the wick 8 years ago. Once home at Matt's we made plans not to go out since it was Valentine's Day and probably expensive & crowded everywhere, so instead we had chicken & biscuits followed by chocolate chip cookies. I also got to meet the neighbours (his tenants) who were super nice and then we watched Braveheart, again until falling asleep on the couch. Thank goodness Matt doesn't mind watching movies "alone" after I've conched out!

Sunday was Matt's 33rd birthday & we were going to go out for breakfast, but we both slept in too long, so instead I showered, packed, said goodbye & drove to Kev & Sylwia's house to visit with the family (Owen 6, Maya 4, Grace 19 months). We read some stories, eat chicken & broccoli pizza, took some photos and then I got back on the road headed to New York for my next visit.

Around 4.45pm I met Dave, Brenda & Freddy at Dunkin Donuts for about an hour. I just love visiting friends with children cause kids say the funniest thing. For example, no matter what you letters you say, when you ask "what does that spell?" Freddy replies his name. Another great story is Freddy's culinary expertise . . . apparently Catalina dressing, maple syrup & pancakes makes for a good combo - who knew???

Arriving back at mum's house just in time for breaded chicken dinner with veggies. And probably to nobodies surprise if you've been following my schedule, I then fell asleep watching a movie.

Monday, mum & I left for Montreal, which was easy minus the 45min queue at the border crossing. We had a great lunch with dad at a french place just round the corner from his new condo. Then we checked into our room and spent the afternoon going down memory lane, trying to sort our which years we lived placed or went places or did things, which might not seem so hard for "normal" people, but our family travels & moves houses A LOT. We then went on a walk around the city, before going to dinner at Ella's Greek Restaurant, which had FABULOUS food and excellent service. After dinner we went over to dad's condo for the full tour. It's not only a great location, but a neat layout with wonderful views! Then to bed.

Tuesday we were up early and took a city tour of Montreal getting to see all the highlights of the city, which is nice in winter so I imagine even nicer in summer when it's warmer & more green than grey. Lunch at Eggceptional on St Catherine's Street opposite a museum of modern art (I think) and then we made our way to the airport.

Flight back to the UK was uneventful & lots of spare seats so I was able to get a row of 3 to myself & even take a nap. Arrived at Heathrow on time & luggage came out quickly, so I was able to get home, showered & take a nap quickly.

Labels: best friends, canada, mates, travel

posted by Sara @ 1:03 am