Adirondack Wanderings

Now that The Doubleus have decided they are not emigrating to Canada AND have seen Niagara, there was just one item left on their Canadian "bucket list": canoeing in the Algonquins.

Well, after the stress of selling the Highlander and the anxiety of waiting for the "check" to clear after we'd driven all the way to Pennsylvania to deposit it, we weren't going to drive back 4 hours north of Toronto.

Instead, we headed to upstate New York, to the wilds of The Adirondacks. Same canoeing, different lakes, difficulty with the pronunciation and perhaps less chance of being eaten by a bear. We set out from Floodwood Pond after a 5 minute talk from St Regis Canoe Outfitters: what could possibly go wrong?


A very mellow day followed with paddling across ponds, lakes and down creeks. We watched ducks swimming and a heron fishing. Even the 1/3 mile portage, where I had to wear a 2 man canoe as a hat, wasn't too bad.

All was going well and we arrived back at base on schedule (ie before dark). My arms were aching after a full day's paddling - but guess what: Mrs Doubleu's weren't! She's either super-fit or (and I suspect this is the most likely explanation) she was only pretending to paddle. Just one more lift up the bankside when: crack! I think I popped that rib again!

Niagara needs Viagra

Or something like that. Mrs Doubleu was a little underwhelmed by Niagara. Apparently Victoria Falls are taller and wider. Me, I was blown away the falls are just a little more impressive than High Force in the Durham Dales.

The Maid of the Mist trip was a little tacky but worthy of the hype. It is the only way to really appreciate the power of these falls. And as a bonus The Doubleus are now proud owners of matching blue bin bags with arms and hoods, result!




The town of Niagara Falls, though was worthy of all the scorn Mrs Doubleu heaped upon it. Imagine Blackpool minus the sticks of rock, fish & chips, and the donkeys; plus a glut of generic chain "restaurants" and the super-obese some of whom were too lazy to get out of their cars and merely drive by with video cameras pointed out of moving car windows!

Some tackiness though can be a force for good.

Buffalo, NY

Well, this is what greeted us outside the motel lobby as we walked to breakfast this morning. Turns out it's the opening game of the NFL season today. It's all gone a bit wild west buffalo bill round here. At least that explains the raucous tailgate party in the parking lot last night, but it would have taken a fair bit more to keep us awake. Even the bed bugs didn't manage that! Nope, not the classiest hotel The Doubleus have ever stayed in.

All this didn't put us off our game though. Reloading US mobile: check. Registering on Craigslist: check. Cataloguing all the gear: check. We even made $700 by 2pm... By selling $2000 worth of gear. Darn it! Feels very similar to Mrs Doubleu's Amazon "business".

To be fair though, she's been ruthless sorting her clothes. Maybe a quarter of the clothes she's never worn since I've known her have now made their way to charity shops. And even if the legion of DVDs I've made my way to Starbeck post office to send have only recouped an average of 20% what they were bought for (minus postage), there are benefits. I'm fitter from walking there so often, and there's more shelf space for all the books I haven't read yet.

Notes to self: 1/ you do not need to buy any more books for 2-3 years; 2/ Mrs Doubleu is not the only hoarder in our household.

Mrs Doubleu in worldwide culinary first.

Never usually one to be too adventurous with her food, Mrs Doubleu appeared to be at the cutting edge of a new culinary trend this week.

As she baked her already world famous (at least in our house) cupcakes this week, Mrs Doubleu reached for the butter in the familiar silver and blue Lurpak livery. She was puzzled by the savoury smells coming from the kitchen and subconsciously blamed me for making a mess in the oven. Later I was frankly stunned by the garlic stench in the mixing bowl. Yes you got it, she'd only gone and used my garlic butter in her cupcakes.

Resisting the impulse to go the whole savoury hog and "ice" them with cream cheese and chives, they were served plain. They were unusual but not entirely unpleasant- basically cupcakes that gave you garlic breath.

They did pass both the Jeff and the Harv tests with flying colours gaining snorts of approval from both. Sadly neither of these gastronomes are known for their discrimination: just this week Jeff was caught eating another dog's poop and Harv, well Harv, shame-facedly admitted eating KFC.

Southwest Scotland

The Doubleus recently had a long weekend in D&G. Well it was long weekend length but midweek. This lack of a Saturday and Sunday in the trip would explain why there was wall to wall sunshine with not one cloud spotted.

J-diggle was most excited to be back in the garden at Crannog, he had a superlative walk in Laurieston Woods (and happily failed to catch a red squirrel), but he has told me his personal highlights were: 1/ the end of an icecream cone at the Cream O Galloway; and 2/ a small piece of haggis-stuffed chicken wrapped with bacon in a whiskey sauce followed by a walk on the beach at Kippford.

In a vain attempt to get Mrs Doubleu back on her £4figure mountain bike, I had booked us a mixed level skills class. After our initial assessment, Ruth from bottle-green biking purred that I was "very smooth" but that Mrs Doubleu was in a "class of her own."

So whilst Mrs Doubleu was put through her paces, I trackstood (?) for literally seconds at a time. Mrs Doubleu was tired by this point and had to have "a rest" (read: fudge) whilst I was talked through "railing berms." Then things reached another level for me as I was taught the "manual" - I was so good at this I manualled off the back of my bike whilst clipped in, cracking a rib. Skill.

Smooth? I'm still not entirely sure if she was on about my shaven face or my chat but it would appear not to be my biking skills.

Amsterdam again

Well, here we are in the executive lounge at Schipol again. Last time for a while I reckon. A fairly daunting trip ahead of us but triffling compared with what we've been through recently.

It's simply a matter of flying to Buffalo (on the anniversary of 9/11 for crying out loud!); cataloguing an entire flat's contents that are in storage in a lock-up; photographing then listing them on craigslist; collecting a 4x4 from Toronto and bringing it back to US to sell; closing Canadian bank accounts; seeing Niagara; driving to Pennsylvania to close US bank accounts; spotting some Amish folk; and possibly visiting the Adirondacks. After that it's simply a matter of packing what we can then selling everything else or having an effing huge illegal bonfire!

Just another regular relaxing Doubleu-style vacation then.