I'm back! Actually, we got back last Thursday, but it was late at night, and then I had to work all weekend (my usual 12-hour shifts) and so then on Monday I died and had no energy for entry writing. I worked a detail this morning, and now I finally have time and energy to remind y'all that I'm still here and alive.

The trip was pretty cool--literally! I didn't break a sweat all week, which was marvelous after being in the Hell That Is Louisiana In Summer. In fact I was actually cold most mornings, even to the point of wearing a sweatshirt. Ahhhh! Anyway, I don't have the vacation pics scanned yet, since my computer/scanner setup is dead, and I'll have to find time to go over to Mom's and scan everything. So I'll just give the basic rundown of the trip and give more detail in later entries.

Mom and I flew out of New Orleans at about 8am Friday morning and eventually ended up in Boston after changing planes in Washington DC and also after Mom decided to take a rather ungainly header down the ramp to the plane in DC, resulting in a somewhat twisted ankle and the accompanying loss of dignity. I told her to walk it off and stop being weak.

The rental car place was jam-packed and we realized that flying in to a major city on a Friday afternoon may not have the most tactical solution available, but we eventually got our vehicle (and I use the word vehicle loosely, since we ended up with a Hyundai Accent. I call it a lawnmower with a trunk.) So, we headed out of Boston and towards Maine and I discovered that Hell of Rotary Islands that Massachusetts insists on putting everywhere just to make life Interesting. I find it hard to believe that they don't have 15 accidents a day at those stupid things. We made it to Maine before too long, to a town called Kittery, where there are approximately 7,345,942 outlet stores. We also discovered that finding a hotel room was not going to be as easy as we'd originally thought. (Our itinerary was very flexible, and thus we had made no reservations anywhere.) We eventually (after a couple of hours of hard searching) found a room at the Rex Motel--a little ole 10-room motor inn that ended up being spotlessly clean with a manager who was an absolute kick. The funniest moment of that day was when the manager asked the woman ahead of us in line, "Do you require a non-smoking room?" The woman replied yes, and the manager came back with, "Well, we don't have any!" just as blunt as you please. Mom and I expressed no preference for smoking or non-smoking when it came to our turn (since it was better than sleeping in the car) and actually, once we got into the room and opened the windows up, the musty smell cleared out pretty quickly.

Next day we drove through Maine (note: we took back roads and state highways through the majority of the trip. You can't see anything from interstate and we weren't in any hurry to get anywhere.) and up to Canada and Quebec City. It was a bit easier to find a hotel there--major city and all--and thankfully, there are enough people there who do speak English that we managed fairly well. On the way back to the US the next day though, when it came time to stop and eat, we went to a McDonalds since we were in a rather small town and couldn't be sure anyone there would speak English, and at least at a Mickey-D you can point at the menu.

So we drove through a bit of Vermont, and then into New Hampshire and then stopped at this marvelous little Inn in Littleton, New Hampshire. It had about 20 units, but it was really pretty and clean, with all wood paneling on the walls, nice comfy beds, and terrific diner across the street. Next day we drove down through New Hampshire and ended up driving around a bit looking for a lake that my mom used to summer at with her family about 50 years ago. She only had a vague idea of where it was, but we ended up not only finding the lake, but also the house that her family had rented! It was definitely a Way Cool moment in the vacation.

We continued on down through Massachusetts, into Connecticut, through Hartford (which is Nasty) and on into Rhode Island. Actually, I think we, stopped somewhere in there and spent the night again, probably in Conn. Then we went back into Mass., and found a hotel room early, and then went and visited Cape Cod--where again we found a place from my mom's childhood, this time a beach where she used to go to summer camp. Drove all over Cape Cod, and on down to Wood's Hole, which I wanted to see since it was the setting for a couple of Madeline L'Engle books that I used to read and love. Next day we went to Plymouth and did the obligatory touristy cruise around the bay, then had our obligatory lobster dinner. I found lobster to be rather disappointing--very bland, very expensive, not very filling, and not much more than an overgrown crawfish. They need to boil them in Zatarran's and serve them by the pound, like they do crawfish.

Then, finally, we headed home. I drove approximately 1400 miles, but got to see all of the New England states. During the trip we discovered that there is a Dunkin Donuts on every friggin corner and I decided that Dunkin Donuts actually owns the Northeast. There were even Dunkin Donuts in Quebec! We also decided that the restaurant chain "Friendlys" needs to be renamed "Surlys" after our experience with a waitress there.

Next time we do this though, I'm going to give myself a day to recover before I have to go back to work. We didn't get back home until almost 10pm, and I had roll call at 5am the next morning. Worked all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and by the end of the weekend, I was dead. Not to mention the fact that I ate like a friggin pig during the trip, and so I'm forcing myself back onto the diet/exercise thang. I refuse to go up to the next size in uniform pants!

So anyway, I'll try and get the vacation pics scanned in the next few days. In my spare time. Really.