Size Does Matter

...if you are the Mississippi River,.

It seems no one can agree on its length, somewhere about  2,300 miles.  We sailed on it today in a dinky little paddle wheel boat for a couple of miles.

This Indian is called Hiawatha (seriously, he is).  Mississippi is
an Indian word meaning Big River. 













































We explored the Mississippi on the Wisconsin side, then the Minnesota side, then again Wisconsin and back to Minnesota.  We pretend this was deliberate and not Karen's navigating.








Buffalo Bill Cody once lived on an island where we ate our picnic lunch.  He probably didn't eat banana sandwiches with a cinnamon sweet roll liberated from the hotel breakfast buffet as we did.

Turtles sunning on a branch in the Mississippi.

Albertville Outlet Mall in Minnesota is not an Indian word and is not on the Mississippi.  We explored it anyway.  Forgot to buy groceries so it looks like it will be liberated breakfast buffet again!



The Mall says we can"t bring this in:





What we learned today: the Mississippi is the 4th longest river in the world
- the Albertville Outlet Mall is not.

Don't Mess with the Mitten!

Is a sign we see in Michigan.

Yes, there is a town called Kalamazoo and it is the prettiest place on the planet

 

42 rears ago, Karen lived here for a year as an exchange student and had a very good time.  

As the wine flowed at dinner last night we reminisced that in that year Karen:

• kissed the cutest wrestler on the team
• got sent to the Principal's Office once
• TP'd  houses on Halloween (sorry)
• practiced Chinese Fire Drills in downtown Kalamazoo
• met an amazing group of girls who showed me how to do all of the above!

It has been 42 years since we last met at age 18 - soooo, that makes us all 40 right?

Its been a while since Karen sang loudly in the car. This , today, all day.....

I was born in Michigan,
and I wish and wish again
that I was back in the town where I was born.
There's a farm in Michigan,
and I'd like to fish again,
in the river that flows beside the field of waving corn.... (Repeat many times )

What we learned today in Kalamazoo:

We can buy interesting things

And we found a police car with flashing lights!

What Karen learned today - friendships made in Kalamazoo 42 years will withstand distance, nations and time.  Thank you Linda, Nina and Vikki!

What Wendy learned today - Judy Garland sang the Michigan song soooo much better!

United we Stand - while Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls - water, lots of it.  Tourists -  lots of them.  Spectaular - all of it!

We are not sure who Saint Lawrence is, or what he was beatified for, but he has a huge seaway named after him. We have driven beside it, over it and today cruised on it.  There are 1000 islands in the seaway.  US and Canada share these.  Nicely it seems. USA has more, while Canada's are bigger.

We saw just a few of them from this boat.


















Back to the Falls, the a Rainbow Bridge crosses from Canada to US.  We stood with a foot in each, then got beeped to get off the road.


It has been some time since Karen sang.  Problem lies in no known songs containing the words Quebec, Niagara or St Lawrence seaway.  So we need to improvise.

Tulips are everywhere in Canada- beautiful tulips.



So, I tiptoed through them and. sang.....

 Tiptoe Through The Tulips.......
















Conversation (stern)with US immigration guard on walking across the bridge into the US.
Guard:  how long do you intend to be in US
Me:  um, 20 minutes- just to look at the Falls from your side
Guard:  Are you carrying meat products, arms or ammunition.
Me: no,
Guard: when do you intend to depart the US
Me: um, in about 20 mins
Guard: (after 10 mins of v stern questioning): You may enter the US.


20 mins later - conversation with Canadian immigration officer (on crossing the bridge back into Canada.
Guard:  where in Australia do you live?
Me:  Adelaide
Guard:  Did the Crows win last week and when is Tex Walker coming back?

What- a Canadian border guard who is a Crows fan!!!  Seriously, he has relatives in Adelaide and follows our football- amazing.

Wendy: Port Power are better.
Karen:  (to guard). Don't let her in!

Road kill count today:  Raccoons 3. Mooses 0.  

Road rules broken today:  Crossing double Yellow Lines 2.   Stopping at a 4 way stop sign for 20 minutes, trying to decide when it was our turn to go - 1,

We looooove driving in this country! 

A Moose called Prudence

Driving through Canada, we obey the road signs.  We give way to Moose on our left.

This moose is called Prudence.  We did not see her.

Not exactly sure what is finger-licking good here.

Today we visited Old Quebec City, tres French.  Originally settled by the French, the English came in and took over for a while, then they had a war, then .......(sorry, we got distracted by a lolly shop..

 So good, so tres, tres, good!

Quebec has a castle and a boardwalk

A painted wall.

Mounties and bears- Sometimes dreams come true!

 

What we learned today:  Nous pardons Francais bien  enough to buy chocolate.. 

Today's Road Kill count- Porcupines 4.     Mooses 0

My name is Karen and I am an .......

...Anne of Green Gables fan.  (so is Wendy)


In Anne's day, there was a ferry to Prince Edward Island, however, we drove on the very loooong Confederation Bridge (without once crossing double yellow lines).  Well done us!

Anne had Green Gables, we have Cavendish Bosom Buddies Cottage- which is an amazing coincidence because we both have bo....(never mind).

So, being Anne of Green Gables we skipped along to the Haunted Woods which is a tad difficult - skipping at our age that is- and also because they were not haunted, just very pretty!

Tick, another item off the bucket list.

Oh Canada......... (Karen singing their beautiful national anthem)- no post without singing.

What we learned today:  if Canada can have their own flag which reflects their nation and which does not have a silly Pommie Union Jack on it, then why can't we?

We loooooove this country.

If it's Monday it must by New York, Connecticut, Massachussets, New Hampshire and Maine

5 States in one day.  

 Not a long distance but the states of USA New England region are small enough to enable breakfast in New York State, morning tea in  Connecticut, lunch in Massachussets, a beer in New Hampshire and lobster dins in Maine.
And we did it in high heels and in pouring rain (in Maine).  Karen sings "The rain in Maine stays mainly......."

"Y'All walking across the bridge wit yo' pocketbooks?  Y'all gonna be real tired before y'all half way!" said one lady to us this morning as we started our walk across the mightly Hudson River  on an old railway track in Poughkeepsie, NY.


Pocketbook - do we have pocketbooks? said Wendy, and what is a pocketbook anyway? 


We never did find out because halfway across, our handbags seemed really heavy because the bridge was really long, and it was really hot (no rain in NY);  we were too puffed and pooped to find out why pocketbooks would have made it harder.

Great view from the bridge. 

Thelma and Louise met Brad.   We met a hairy bear.  He wasn't interested in joining us on the trip.

   

We have completed the first leg of from sea to shining sea and to celebrate, dipped our toes in the Atlantic ocean, in Brunswick, Maine.

Bad move, ocean was freezing, toes are now cold, blue and will probably fall off tomorrow.

What we learned today:  Lobster Pie from Captain Mikes is melt in the mouth to die for.

Trucks with big balls- we looooooove this country!

Don't Block the Box

Is a sign we saw on our day trip to New York City yesterday.





Um, exactly what does it mean?  We could possibly be doing just that without even knowing it!   We would hate to get arrested by NYC police for Blocking the Box, but can we plead the 5th cos we have no idea?

 Or perhaps it is just another of the myriad of road rules we continue to break (inadvertently) like double yellow lanes, ignoring centre turn lanes, driving on the right  yada yada yada







































NYC was hectic.  It was "Love our Parks Day".  15 squillion New Yorkers and an equal number of tourists out on the streets (the parks were full) in the beautiful sunshine.

Pretzels in the Park

This was Wendy's favourite building.  It is in Adelaide Crows' colours.











Ouch, Ow, Oooh (sound of Wendy hitting Karen).




































































































































Give me your poor, your tired, your huddled masses.......and that giraffe in the distance can also come in..

There is a Bull near Wall St.  People rub it in odd places.  The Bull seems to like it.

New Yorkers have a great sense of humour.




                                    This is the UN Building.

This is the shop next door.








We loooove this place. 








What we learned today:  New York has the best cheesecake and cawwwwwfie in the world.




What we will remember - In a city of millions of rushed people, one young African American man waited a while on his way out of the drugstore to hold the door open for 2 weary girl travellers - kindness abounds.