Vacation!

Chris

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Oct 21, 2002
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We're planning a little vacation and will be going to the big PX (US) - northern and southern parts east. Like Ken, when he went last year sometime I think, I have not been to the US in a number of years.

Here is what I'm looking forward to:

La Luz (no generators, no inverters)
Pizza without corn on it
Bookstores with ten thousands of books (with coffee and in English!)
A fresh olive bar in the supermercado
Berries and apple cider
Smooth good roads and cruising
My granddaughter's face at Disney
Barless windows
Seeing my very old father-in-law and getting up to date with real politics
Spending time with 'enlightened' friends
Making a fire in the fireplace in the evening and having marshmellows in hot chocolate
Handing over good rum and specially wrapped loofahs as presents and gifts
Clearing out a storage space after many years and finding all my good books and a few guitars and some priceless photos and shipping it down.
Getting back to home in the DR

Here is what I'm not looking forward to:
The stress around international travel .. airports, clearing immigration etc.
Cold climate ... Just spoke to the folks up in Maine and they're laughing - bring warm clothes they say - Ha! I'll have to stop at the nearest mega store and buy a jacket. My old sailing jacket won't do it in the smart places!
Cleaning the kitchen in the evening instead of lazily leaving all for the cleaner in the morning
Unfriendly people too scared to move outside of their own cube of comfort.
 

perlanegra

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Feb 4, 2005
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Hello Chris!

Well, before you even get here, I will like to welcome you back to the Estates and really will like to hear that you did get to do/enjoy all the things you are looking forward too, when you go back to the DR!

As for the ones you aren't looking forward; just keep it in the back of your mind; because as things go back home; these indeed will be wating for ya!

But, please enjoy the good ones!!

Best regards.-

Perlanegra
 

Chris

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Oct 21, 2002
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I'm forgetting all the states from North to South. Let's get to proper planning when our feet are dry on the other side. The Carolinas may just be in the way. Stops are planned for New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine and then down I95 to South Carolina and eventually Florida. You may just be right on the road Keith ... We have a little time to play with. I'll write you with more detail.
 

jackieboo

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Mar 18, 2006
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Carolinas

Stop in Charleston, South Carolina and have a plate of shrimp and grits for me please! Maybe you'll see a few boiled peanuts on the side of the road as well.
Jack
 

nebraskamom

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May 4, 2005
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you weren't talking about us were you?

should we take your desire to talk with "enlightened friends" personally? I mean I know the rum does go to our heads occassionally down here but you may just find we are far more enlightened than most yankees!;)
 

Chris

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Oct 21, 2002
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Stop in Charleston, South Carolina and have a plate of shrimp and grits for me please! Maybe you'll see a few boiled peanuts on the side of the road as well.
Jack

Now you make me think of this one place that makes the best oyster po'boy I've ever had .. But shrimp and grits, I don't know so much!
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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FESS UP! WHEN IS YOUR DOL? Date of Leaving

You, like all good Dominicans are obliged to inform your " real " friends just when and where you are going....so that we may tell you what to bring us....on your return trip!! Have you started the paperwork on getting little Hanley out of the country??

HB>>>>we can have a fire and marshmellows at Punta Rucia..

HB
 

MaineGirl

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Jun 23, 2002
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ooh chriiisssss

My neck of the woods! I am forty minutes from Bah Hahbah! If you are flying into Bangor that makes life even simpler, I could pick you up at the airport, would love to ferry you to the coast!

So, pm me when you are in town, we could have a lobstah togethah!

I might send back some syrup for HB toooooo! (HB I dreamt last night you sent me coffeeeeeee) fair trade?
 

Chris

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Oct 21, 2002
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Good morning from a chilly Maine. Yesterday the first fire of the winter was started in our honor mostly because everyone took pity on us still shivering in the middle of the day. Man, it is cold up here. The 'extended family fund' arrived with some sweaters and jackets for little Hannelie, so she has stopped shouting frio frio frio! The child has thin blood for sure.

We stacked a whole pile of wood for winter, I believe 2 cords. I'm sure when we leave that pile will have a good dent in it the way I'm keeping the woodstove going.

MG, I'll pm you and Hillbilly as well. ;)

It is true what they say. Travel broadens the mind. In a few hours, I saw a wealth of organic foods and the greatest vegetables. We've seen small farms that grow veggies unlike I've ever seen. Blue carrots, purple peppers, spotted beans; simply a colorful business. We're told that the seeds are heirlooms, having being passed down in a family for generations. Nice to see.
 

MaineGirl

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Jun 23, 2002
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perfect timing

As it happens I have business in Ellsworth today (Monday) and Thursday.

Can we do a Thursday lunch, perhaps at Cleonice? I hate driving onto the island because it scares me in the tourist season. But now won't be so bad if you or your son have a suggestion to meet there.

Did you go to the College of the Atlantic yet? Go! Go!
 

Celt202

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May 22, 2004
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Good morning from a chilly Maine. ............ Man, it is cold up here.

I always thought you cahnt get theah from heah....aayuh.

There was a city slicker down from Boston came to a fohk in the road. There was a fahmah theah so he asked him "Does it matter which road I take to get to Bangor?"

The fahmah thought a minute then said "Not to me".
 

Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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Reminds me of the time a friend came to visit me in Oxford, couldn't find his way and asked a passer-by, who just happened to be the ultimate pedant, whether he knew the way to the Cowley Road.

The answer?

"Yes".

And to save this post from being a total shameless hijack, may I wish you all a happy visit, and request that you add me on the list for some of those yummy Maine goodies. :)
 

AnnaC

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Jan 2, 2002
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Christa I guess coming further north is out of the question eh? ;)

It's sunny here today and is suppose to reach 24 Celsius but only for today. ;)
 

Celt202

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May 22, 2004
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Maple Syrup

The perfect Maine gift for your friends.

Bring back a few leaves in all their brilliant colors.
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Christa is too fast for us locals!! Skipped outta here without a peep! No "encargos" for her, no sirree Bob!

Wise move methinks...

have a wonderful time....MG knows what to send me!!

HB
 

Chris

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Oct 21, 2002
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Fast? We were supposed to be out of there on the 2nd of September. Made it eventually around 22nd September and this morning turned into chaos. Some of the customers seem to feel 'lonely' if we're not around. That by itself would be fine, but one of them insisted on breaking their network over the weekend. Chaos, I tell you! ;)

Anyway, it is sunny today and I'm even walking around with only a t-shirt and a long-sleeved shirt and socks and a jacket not very far away ... not for long I imagine then the sweater goes over the other two. One needs a stack of clothes here in the Northern Climes. The woodstove is cleaned and fire is set up for later. Now I'm out to go and see some real stores and walk around the town and play tourist for a little. My son made me promise not to go into Walmart. The folks here really try to live a responsible life and they don't support stores that 'oppress' third world nations in their manufacturing policies.

No AnnaC, thank-you kindly but further north is not for me. We're shivering as it is already ;) South I go! Down the I95. At least at Keith's place its warm enough to drink a beer. Here, the only thing fitting to drink is gluwine or moonshine to stay warm.

The leaves are just starting to turn, so before we're out of here, we'll probably see some colors. We're staying in a little wooden cottage at the edge of a lake surrounded by great forests with a few other cottages scattered about. Altogether Hansel and Gretel type stuff and true community type living. When the time is right I'll get out there with a camera.
 

Chris_NJ

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Dec 17, 2003
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You can't get there from here...

I was in Maine a few weeks ago for the first time since childhood and had a blast all the way from Mount Desert Island and up way into Aroostook county. I just kept eating and eating - blueberry pie, grape nut pudding lobster, moose, fiddlehead ferns, brook trout, sea food chowder, mackerel, etc. We even crossed into New Brunswick for a few hours after being detained by suspicious Canadian border guards for 1/2 hour because we looked like a couple of vagrants coming out of the woods with no exact destination to visit in Canada.

I kept my eyes open but did not see any Dominicans anywhere in the state. The only Latinos I saw were Mexican migrants crossing through a Walmart parking lot in Presque Isle. We did pull off the highway on the way home in Worcester, Mass and had a Dominican meal in a gritty neighborhood.