“Champagne” on Champlain

Happy first anniversary to us!

We chose to spend our anniversary in Burlington, Vermont, which I keep calling Cumberland for some reason. What’s the difference?

We took train 69 (tee hee) out of New York and got off (tee hee) at Port Kent, New York. From there we took a ferry across Lake Champlain to “Cumberland.”

Mid-lake, I decided we needed refreshments. I intended to get a couple Diet Cokes, but when I saw they were serving up low quality beer, I opted for the Labatt’s.

“Labatt’s” – That’s Canadian for champagne.

We drank our beer and my wife produced two fortune cookies from her purse. Yes, on your first anniversary you are supposed to open fortune cookies on a boat. With beer.

I opened my cookie and saw my “Learn Chinese” word. It was “BEER!”

That has to be a good fortune without even reading the fortune, right? What are the chances of getting “beer” while you’re drinking beer?? And on a BOAT!

Lest you think I made up this whole story, here are pictures to prove it.

Cheers!

I’m Not One for Snot Rockets

No Snot Rockets

I’m not one for snot rockets. For one thing, it grosses me the heck out. But I think I worry about snot rocket malfunctions more than anything. I fear blowing snot out of my nose with insufficient force and having it land in my beard or my thigh or the top of my shoe. I fear inhaling the snot into my mouth as I’m huffing and puffing.

So, I run with a pocket full of paper towels. Tissues don’t cut it. They just get sweaty and turn to mush. I use paper towels, basically one for each mile. I have persistent sinus problems in spite of taking allergy medicine every day. For a guy with such a condition, mastering the technique of the snot rocket would save a lot of hassle. But I opt for the paper towels instead. Snot rockets just aren’t my style.

The Characters One Can Find in Google Street View

While planning a little getaway with the little lady, a.k.a. – my wife, I checked out Google Street View for a particular town we had our sights set on. I wanted to get a feel for what the town was like. In the process, I got a glimpse of some of the local characters.

It was the guy brown-bagging a bottle of booze in broad daylight that inspired me to share screen snags of some of these locals. Or was it the guy walking around in pajamas? Or the dog that is…

Well, see for yourself. Here are characters from an American town, immortalized in that alternate universe of Google Street View.