Well it’s Friday morning, and I didn’t get to write last night. We ended up driving late again and by the time we got back from dinner it was time to watch a little tube and crash. First thing I wanted to relate was a great story Vickie told me yesterday. It was about when we were checking into the Country Inn and Suites day before. It took quite a while to check in, but I never asked cause I was sitting on the porch in a rocking chair, contented. Seems as though when Vickie went in to check in, there was an alarm going off, and the girl was on the phone trying to handle it. She told Vickie she was the only one there so she would have to wait. During the lengthy process, a woman happened to walk down the stairs from the second floor (of three). The girl turned to the lady and nonchalantly said, "There’s not a fire up there is there?" The woman replied she hadn’t seen one, and the girl turned to Vickie and said, "Good that saves me from having to check." Safety first of course but then what about the 3rd floor? If I’m the one trapped in my room on the 3rd floor while this girl asks any old passer buy the status of the fire, I hope the passer buy has at least been on the top floor. (Unlikely since the stairs came from the middle of the 2nd floor and most folks from the 3rd use the elevator or the stairs on the end of the building.) Oh well you get the picture, I was feeling very safe knowing this girl was on the job. Vickie said later when she went to get some change, she could hardly tear the slug away from the TV long enough to accommodate. Back to the trip.
Yesterday morning we utilized the great pool and hot tub at the Inn, and partook of their advertised "Hot Breakfast". Turned out to be quite a spread. We went from Best Western the day before with nothing, to $25 less with indoor pool and breakfast at the Inn. The breakfast was the standard "Continental" fare, but added the ubiquitous make it your self waffles plus some scrambled eggs and sausage patties in a steam pan. The eggs were a little rubbery and the sausage had a curious texture. However, both tasted pretty good, and if you are a big breakfast eater sort of rounded out the all carb fare that the normal "Continental" presents. We departed uneventfully, and traveled across Rt. 209 toward Stroudsburg PA and the Delaware Water Gap. Along the way we stopped in Jim Thorpe PA. This is an interesting little town that changed it’s name from Maul Chunk to Jim Thorpe after collecting nickels weekly from the residents to build a shrine to entomb the remains of the great athlete. Turns out Old Jim never even visited Maul Chunk alive. Very enterprising of the civic leaders to buy a dead athlete and rename the city after him. Leaving Jim Thorpe, we drove over the mountain (literally) and came down into Packerton PA. I saw a sign that said Flagstaff view which looked interesting, so I turned UP. We went straight up for about 3 miles and ended up back on top of the mountain overlooking Jim Thorpe we had just left. As we explored, a very nice lady said "Do you want to see the ballroom and deck?" She led us inside, and began explaining this mountain top, all wood ballroom was built in 1914 and that Jimmie Dorsey and His Orchestra were the house band for many years. She said Frank Sinatra and Teresa Brewer had performed there. The Flagstaff Ballroom was a beautiful old relic with an incredible view of the Lehigh Valley. What a find, glad I turned at the Flagstaff view sign. Later we stopped at a palatial PA visitor’s center near where I-80 and Rt. 209 cross in Strou dsburg. We got the lowdown on all that was to do in the area and headed out. We drove down to see the famous bridge that connects PA to NJ across the Deleware river. We then strolled across the pedestrian bridge to view the river. It was beautiful and the fish were frolicking everywhere. We rode a lot with the roof down, and headed up through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. We stopped for a short hike to see Dunwoddie Falls which turned out to be worth the walk. After the park, we looked at our time and decided we could push on a little further, so we set our sights on New Paltz NY. The GPS listed several motels there and it seemed like a reasonable distance. Vickie said something about four colleges being there, but I didn’t think much about that. (1st mistake) Turned out when we got to New Paltz, it was bumper to bumper traffic, and a lot of congestion. I decided the place was too congested for our liking so we pushed on to Poughkeepsie, which listed n umerous motels. Unbeknownst to us (but probably knownst to many), when coming into Poughkeepsie across the FDR Hudson Bridge, you have to take the first right as soon as you cross the bridge cause that’s where every motel in the city is. I’m sure you can see what’s coming---it was the middle of rush hour—a million cars---we didn’t turn---found ourselves on the far side of Poughkeepsie with no motel. Rather than go back through the city, we broke out the laptop, and searched for the next possibility. It looked pretty bleak, but New Milford CT. listed some motels and was on route 7 the route we came to drive. So even though it would put us late, we headed out to there. The drive was very interesting and as we came into town we passed a couple of old motels. We rode on looking for the motel district—well it never came. New Milford has all the normal stuff, Wally Mart, Home Depot, McDonalds, Auto Zone, etc. etc. but surprisingly no motels. I finally stopped and asked a nice Pakistani s hopkeeper if there were any motels anywhere. We sort of did charades and I ascertained there were some back 3 miles past the powerhouse and big flag. Turns out these were the old ones we passed coming into town. We stopped at the first one the Red River Inn and Vickie inquired for a room. She said they had 2 for 2 different prices and she was going to look at them. One was in the "old building" and one was in the "new building". She ended up taking the one in the new building and we proceeded to unload. We are not motel snobs, and have stayed in many a little old strip motels, especially out West. Turns out the reason she took the new building was cause it was the most amazing motel room you’ve ever seen. It made up for all the travails we had been through during the day. It was brand new, and a sort of mini suite with a huge bathroom, main room, and little office with desk for yours truly. It was decorated in sort of "Pakistani Modern" which has to bee seen to be believed. We took a lot of pictures. But what was amazing was the amenities. On the wall was a 45" plasma TV, and there was a stainless ice bucket and a stainless tray with real glass glasses and coasters. We had a refrigerator, microwave, and huge closet. In the bathroom were a selection of herbal soaps and ointments and the bed king size and comfortable beyond belief. We relaxed a while in our suite at the Pakistani Ritz, then headed out for dinner. We ended up at The Cook House that was recommended to me by the owners son. The menu offered up all manner of stuff, but the specialty appeared to be barbecue. In fact according to them it was voted the best barbecue in Connecticut by the NY Times. Somehow when I think barbecue, Connecticut and the NY Times don’t jump readily to mind. Vickie decided to try though, and ordered up ½ a rack of baby backs. I went for the meatloaf which looked interesting. While we were waiting on dinner I had a PERFECT Bloody Mary. I say this because I have sampled house Bloody Marys all over the US and many other places, often to be very disappointed. (especially Applebee’s which I consider to be the all time worst) Also while waiting on dinner we sampled their "Sauces" They had Mild, Hot, Scary, and North Carolina Style. They all tasted pretty good, but I’ve had hotter than their "Scary", labeled Mild in our part of the country. Dinner came, and the food was good—not great, but good. The ribs were nothing to write home about---Pigs Are Us in Martinsville could run them out of business in a month. The meatloaf was interesting---they brought me a piece about the size of a Volkswagen topped with a large wad of horseradish mashed potatoes, with some brown gravy drooled around. The vegetable of the day was a corn-red pepper-onion sauté that was excellent. The service was poor and I left the dolt a $2 tip. (big enough so he would know I didn’t forget, but also small enough to let him know I wasn’t impressed) We went back to the room and plasma screened ourselves to sleep. More Later.
Wes
