I tried to get out of the thing at the last minutes citing our collective cold and the temperature difference of 52 F in the caves compard to 75 F up top but I was over-ruled and lucky for having been over-ruled. At 40 bucks USD for an hour and a half with a gift shop mine field to run at the …

I'm sure I am not the first to notice this restaurant sign in Cooperstown, NY.

Surprised to find ourselves facing 22° C, we headed to Scarborough Beach south of Portland. This is what happy feet look like in the big ocean: [2.5 MB mpg]. Never had ice cream head ache below the ankles before. Happy kids nonetheless: [2.9 MB mpg].

I could yap it up like a Saranac Lake Chamber of Commerce membership nominee. Suffice it to say it is a beautiful town to which we will return.  •  The view to the south from the fifth floor of the Hotel Saranac.  •  The view to the west from the same fifth floor of the Hotel Saranac.

Next Monday we wake in Holyoke, MA and hit the hay in Cobleskill, NY. What to do with the day?

My folks are from the Clyde in the west of Scotland and we figure this painting at Owen Sound is a view from a beach across the Clyde to Arran.  •  I don't know the artist's name but suspect it is a scene from the 30s when my parents would have the ages of these kids. I recall being dragged when I …

Somewhere in those ducks there was a small pack of common mergansers. What's a gaggle of mergansers called? They used to be called sheldrakes. I guess they got all uppity for some reason. They still seem to hang out with mallards so I guess that's all in the past.

Houses hiding from the 407 north of the Big Smoke  •  The road. Kingston to Kitchener to Owen Sound to Kingston.  •  On the way home, we went into Belleville and went to a Ponderosa Steak House. Unbelievably, it was found to be exactly the same as the last one I went into in 1983 in Truro. Home of …