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Published: September 24th 2011
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Sailor did not turn white from fright
No, Sailor didn’t change to white – we were able to get somewhat of a “cat fix” from Sweetie and Lady Blue at Sue’s and Jamie’s house. Now we have white hair instead of black hair on our clothes to bring back – hopefully it won’t drive Sailor crazy when we return to Trinidad. Back in the USA-being gone for just over a year doesn't seem that long, but it feels like a long time. I'm not sure why, it may be that our new life (sailing the Caribbean) is so radically different from life back in the USA. From the moment we landed in Newark, New Jersey it was as if someone had changed the speed on the record player from 331/3 to 78 (my apologies to those of you who don't remember record players). Just walking through the airport you can immediately see how everyone else is driven and moving at this incredibly fast pace and we're being sucked right along with them. Janice was the one who noticed it first and suggested that we stop, sit down and get a cup of coffee. This gave both of us a chance to take a deep breath and let the thundering herds passed by. Of course once we got into the rental car and got out onto the freeway it all started again. No offense to the people of New Jersey but what is the hurry? The way these people are driving you think they're all competing to be charioteers in the Roman Coliseum.
Watching a Softball Game
What is more American than watching a softball game? Guess it could be baseball, but we definitely enjoyed watching Jamie playing first base. I'm in the first lane of traffic doing 10 miles an hour over the speed limit and people are passing us like we are Ma and Pa in the 32 Ford pickup. Luckily it was only about 45 minutes from the airport to Cousin Mike's house.
We received a great welcome home from Bob’s cousins. We were able to help celebrate a birthday with Christopher, wish Uncle Bob an early 80th birthday, enjoyed fresh strawberries and melon (what a great treat), bagels, and even got a chance to take a ride on the river in Mike’s new boat. Hopefully we didn’t bore them too much with our stories of our first year of cruising. Thanks again to the NJ gang for making us feel welcome back in the US!
We next made our way north to the Saratoga area of NY. Janice’s sister and brother-in-law, Sue and Jamie opened up their house to us to use it as a home base for our time back in the States. We have taken time to do things that we haven’t done in a very long time – we took in a softball game, got to the Adirondacks a couple of
Funny signs here too!
Guess the Caribbean doesn't have a corner on the market of creative signage times to see family at Oxbow Lake and Great Sacandaga Lake. We traveled to visit close friends (and fellow cruisers) near Montreal where we were introduced to maple pie, had a chance to do a wine tasting and had an excellent relaxing four hour dinner with great food and of course fabulous wine. The French really do know how to eat well. Thanks Denise & Jean-Pierre for a great time. We were able to drive through scenic Vermont with views of both the Green & Adirondack Mountains thanks to our trip to visit Bob’s sister Eugenia and her husband Rick. We were treated to a great day out on Lake Champlain on their boat, great food and a relaxing time catching up with them. Thanks again for the great time. We spent a day at the Norman Rockwell Museum, enjoyed the Schaghticoke Fair complete with truck pulls, 4-H exhibits, fair food, and barns full of animals (thanks Charlie and Lynn).
With the flooding that occurred in the area we were made aware of the impact on the farmer. It is not only the lost of animals, lost of food to feed the animals, but also the lost of the
Where else could we have eaten?
Bob figured we just had to stop at Bob’s Country Kitchen – not sure if he got any pointers to bring back to our galley on Tsamaya. ability to replant in the flooded fields after they dry due to the contaminates that show up caused by the numerous toxins from the contents of all of those garden sheds everyone has at their homes that were destroyed by the flood waters. We mentioned that we were surprised that many of the farmers showed up to exhibit at the fair due to the amount of cleanup work many have to do. I was told that the fair is the most important event for many of them as it gives them a time to socialize with other farmers and to educate others about the effort that must be put into producing the food that we eat. We were impressed by the people we talked to and reminded that there are a lot of fine hard-working people in America. A day at the county fair reminds you that to a lot of Americans tweet is still the sound birds make in the morning.
We traveled to northern NY to visit our close friends, Peg & Dave in Clayton, then on to see our financial adviser (looks like we are good for another year) and then on to Ovid to stay
Wine tasting with friends
Wine tasting in Canada with our dear friends and fellow cruisers, Denise and Jean Pierre. with Mary and Henry. Bob had a chance to visit the high school where he used to work to see how the construction project finished up. The school turned out beautifully. Unfortunately this is hard times for the education system in New York with declining populations and limited resources. We had a chance to catch up on happenings at school with Kim, Margaret and Sue as well – thanks for the updates and making Bob realize that he really does not miss the headaches anymore! In Trumansburg we caught up with our friends and neighbors. It was great to see many of our sailing friends from the TYC (Taughannock Yacht Club), our South and Whig Street neighbors, as well as those good people that we worked with both at South Seneca and Cornell. Bob put together a slide show to try to capture the full year in photos for a Rotary Club presentation. It was quite an undertaking to take a full year and reduce it down to 100 photos, but mission was accomplished. We really enjoyed catching up with everyone after being away for a year, but as Bob said he didn’t realize how tiring socializing can be. We
Saratoga during racing season
Saratoga is known for the horses which are highlighted in the statutes seen throughout the town. want to thank our friends (Mary, Henry, Peg, Dave, Don & Mary) for providing us lodging during our travels as well – we really appreciate your generosity (and putting up with all of our stories).
This trip also included catching up with some of our “newer” cruising friends Madeline & Skip who we haven’t seen since the Bahamas. It is always interesting talking to other cruisers as they truly understand the lifestyle and the feeling of being away from home when away from the boat. It was nice that we were able to get out on the water 3 times this visit – thanks again to Mike, Rick, Eugenia and Dan. We find we can never get enough of being on the water.
We both realize that what we missed most in the US is not the place but the people. We have tried to capture as many of our family and friends in photos, but know we have not included everyone here – our apologizes to you, but we definitely have our photos and best of all memories. Hopefully some of you will be able to make the trip down to see us in the Caribbean.
Hurricane Irene
Hurricane Irene had quite an impact on the east coast while we were home. Fortunately we were only out of power for a day. The candles and coolers sure came in handy. We were much luckier than those north and south of us. The flooding continues to be a major problem for the southern tier of NY. The area will take a long time to recover. We have always heard and seen the destruction from tropical storms and hurricanes, but to see the affects this close to home has been quite an eye opener. As ones that now lives on a sailboat and are very aware of the weather we know how quickly things can change and cause immense damage. We have been fortunate that over a year’s time we have not felt any negative impacts from the weather. We are crossing our fingers that during the coming year we will be as fortunate.
In thinking back over the 2 months and looking at the spare room we also realize that we did lots of shopping. We had brought back quite a long list of items that we wanted to get to take back to the boat - we just double checked our list today and it looks like mission accomplished on this one!
It is hard to believe that we have been home for almost 2 months and will be heading back to Trinidad in a few days. We have
Taughannock Falls
The beauty of the Finger Lakes is still amazing. enjoyed our visit which has gone by so quickly. We are looking forward to getting back home to Tsamaya and Sailor and our next year of cruising, but will also be happy to see everyone again next year around this same time. Thanks to everyone for making our visit back to the US so enjoyable.
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Bev Johnson
non-member comment
Sorry I missed you
Sorry I didn't get to say Hi when you were in the "burg". Will look forward to next year! Sounds like you're doing well and enjoying every day. Yeah!