Friday, July 1

Train finally arrived in Schenectady after hour delay for freight train and an hour for rail workers. Small train station next to Katie O'Byrne's Irish Pub. Bags reclaimed Hertz driver arrives, car signed for and off we head to Sudbury. Jay thought 3 hrs. Halfway in an hr, so we stopped at Fitzgerald's for dinner at 6. Not the best choice. Chicken walnut Mandarin salad - chicken seriously undercooked, Mike's fish and chips mostly breading. Arrived at Sudbury; Jay anxious - thought we got lost. Thurs. Alex, Mike and I return to Schenectady to pick up rifle. Best chocolate ice cream at Stewart's Shops (convenience store) and fantastic food at Katie's while we waited for 2 hr. late train. Thry really should change schedule to reality Thick fish, extra crispy fries (sweet and Irish). Picked up baggage and returned to Sudbury. Today, Burlington to see Jay's new shop and CNC machine. Lunch @ Otter Creek Bakery in Middlebury, shopping groceries again and back home for evening. Lovely rain storm. Asparagus spinach ravioli (ok but not what I was craving). Tomorrow plan is to pick strawberries and BBQ burgers and hot dogs. Sunday Weston Priory and then Pico ski area. Tired. 5 days maybe too long. Is what it is. Delightful spending two days w/ Alex. He has matured a lot. Deep voice, taller than both guys. Very insightful and sharp on the uptake :) Deals better w/ meals and food stuff too. Not buried in screens. As Jay says, he's worth it. Carol would be/is pleased.

Need a map or geography

Hard to figure location sometimes.

Train ride

Happy whistle blower (annoying to sleep) and very bumpy track/lurches. Saw lake for 45 seconds this am. Fields of vineyards while eating mediocre breakfast. Different crops in fields. Phragmites/wetlands along track. Ugly  industrial and train track views. And tree tunnels. Cloudy and cool I think.

Monday to MN

Usual drive to cities. Zellas in Hutch closed even though door posts said open M-W 11-2. Disappointed. Detours off hwy 7  to Lake Harriet and parking difficulty @ rose garden frustrating. On to kids' house. Good to be together. Phone messages from Amtrak. Service interruption. Train delayed 9hrs. Bus to Chicago best option. No room available next day. Some folks found out next day.

Wed am

So...train from Seattle to St. Paul delayed 9 hrs. Would not make Chicago connection. Really? 8 hours on a bus... really turned out well in the end. Bus driver good, w/ sense of humor. "Thank you for flying Amtrak. Couple serious road construction bottlenecks in WI put us into rush hour almost gridlock. Arrive 1.5 hrs later than scheduled. First class lounge brand new. Espresso, wireless, fresh cookies. Last train to leave. Room on train accommodating but tight quarters. Wouldn't want 3 people that's for sure. Every hour train stopped I had to sit up &see what station. Breakfast included pretty mediocre. No espresso on train:( In NY state now. About 5 hrs. to Schenectady. French train far superior.

Off to VT on Amtrak

Monday (June 27) we head to Bloomington to spend an evening @ Christopher's. Then Tues "All aboard" Amtrak Train #8 to Chicago. Layover of about 5 hours (we'll do some exploring for sure) then Lakeshore Limited # 48 overnight (first class room :), upper level to Schenectady, NY.  Rental car to Sudbury, VT, to visit with nephew Jay & son Alex. Gonna' be cool, I think.

Watertown, SD Home again...

Spent a day and a half with Christopher and his parents on our return trip. Lovely way to spend the time. I got to hold his cuddly form while he slept and Mike and Jill worked outside in the garden on Thursday morning. Then in the afternoon, Mike and I had an excursion to St. Paul, for Cafe Latté and the cooks on Crocus shop, along with the Mississippi market. Lovely treats for dinner - German chocolate 4 layer cake, dark choc. truffles, and a raspberry cream torte, along with Canada bread (wild rice and onion) and a very soft, spreadable sheep cheese. Nothing like the one in Ireland. Very hard to leave Bloomington yesterday, but here is where we live and do our thing, and there is where they are. We'll just have to go visit.

The drive home included lunch in Hutchinson at Zellas -- marvelous place on the main street. Lamb burger (as good as Ireland's- probably lamb from the Lamb Shoppe west of there) and Mike a Texas brisket with sweet potato fries. Fun and very busy place -- good timing. We got there before the lunch hour rush.

Feels good to be home. Most of the stuff in suitcases and backpacks cleaned out yesterday evening. Hot here - had to open windows in the house. Probably 75. Most of the time in Ireland it was around 50, with a couple cooler nights. Today it's already 80 here. Today is sorting through charge tickets and balancing finances. Never a fun thing to do, but it is done. I don't know if the Irish coffee helped or hindered the process, but made it more enjoyable. Mike's bottled Guinness kinda' flat after the tap stuff. Life is like that. We certainly enjoyed it while we had it! I found I even drank some (half a pint :) Before I found it too bitter. Either they've changed the formula (not likely) or I've developed a taste. Still prefer Irish whiskey, or hard cider, or Irish coffee :)

The music, the faces, the people, the food, the gardens, the roads and bridges and coastlines, the variety of B&Bs - priceless. Completely different experience than the first time, mostly because of the different encounters and events. Wonderful! Better believe I bought CDs - 8, actually. Never going to say I wish I had...

Grocery shopping done, now to sort pile of dirty clothes. Except that they are comfortable clothes, I would give some thought to tossing them out and starting over as we travel. That doesn't seem very practical to me, though. thanks for traveling with us!