Joyeux Noel and Happy New Year!!

Another Australian family we'd befriended in Georgia, the Lewis's, were heading to Canada for Christmas and invited us to join them - pourquoi pas?! We'd not really experienced a "real" white Christmas before and where better to spend our first one than in a ski resort in Quebec?

Pere Noel and his "grelots" roamed the village and posed for pics.

Tim, Katie and their four kids, ranging from 4 1/2 to 14, had just finished a posting to the US and the family was heading home, via Canada and Europe, so we thought it would be fun to spend a few days together - kids entertaining kids, and adults having uninterrupted conversations!! It was a great idea, and we all had a great time - in fact, it was one of the best family holidays we'd had, simply because we all got to spend healthy time together, as well as apart.

Mont Tremblant is under 2 hours from Montreal, so we planned a little road trip to meet the Lewis's in time for Christmas. Isabella finished school on Friday, 19th December, and we left that night, taking four nights and three and a half days to drive there - spending a night each in Augusta, Georgia; Harrisonburg, Virginia; Syracuse, New York; and Montreal, Quebec. The two longest hops were 6 1/2 hrs a day and "poor Dave" drove it all. Unfortunately, I get the noddies on highway driving but I am a good navigator and general distraction for him - when I'm awake - so it seems to work.

We took this as a rhetorical question...pretty deep, for a bagel stop!

 

The kids were kept entertained by in-car DVD players strapped to the back of our headrests, and we all enjoyed fuss-free travel for most of our 20 hours on the road!

 

Our first three nights were mainly just in and out of motel chains, which was fine, but we did have a beautiful meal in Harrisonburg, Virginia, at a wood fire pizza place which reminded us of Yarraville! The town itself had a pretty square with lots of festive lights.

Our local wine was from the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia

 In Syracuse, New York, after a good night's sleep and dinner at a local sports bar, we needed to hit the shops to buy appropriate footwear for the colder, northern climes, so we hit Destiny USA, the largest mall in the state, and 5th largest in the country. We only dipped into it long enough to get snow boots and have a photo with Santa, but that was a 2 hour expedition!

Yes, we were listening to Billy Joel at the time!

Oh yes, and we did visit the local after-hours clinic for an emerging bout of croup!

  

Enjoying a spot of shopping at Destiny USA

Daniel had to be bribed into this - can you tell?!

We needed to hit the road, much as we could have lived our entire lives at Destiny USA...

That's a truck towing not one but 3 other trucks...lucky fuel's so cheap here!

We crossed the border and spent our final night on the road in Montreal, where we stayed in the heart of the city and walked to dinner, through a decent layer of snow, to a beautiful French restaurant in the Vieux Ville (Old Town). We enjoyed paella for mains and an unctuous orange cake for dessert. The kids that night were kept entertained by a toy box, brought to us by the waiter when Daniel started to get fidgety. 

It was a gorgeous meal, in a beautiful part of Montreal, and we walked back to the hotel via the Notre Dame Cathedral which had the most beautiful Christmas lights we'd ever seen - curtains of blue fairy lights suspended from each arch, with 3-dimensional white, trumpeting angels "flying" in front of each curtain. We were surrounded by beautiful architecture, Christmas decorations, in snowy streets, and it was really magical...bracing, but not freezing, at around 0 degrees. I was in my element - cold weather being my preferred environment!!  Give me snow and 0 degrees any day over 35 degrees and 75% humidity!!! 

A classic "God sky" to welcome us into Canada!

Every truck needs its own snow-plowing accessory!

The place, not the salad dressing

The road-side rest stops are so civilised in Canada - food, colouring activities for kids, and maps!

My stylish and oh-so-cosy snow boots!

 Et voila...the beautiful Montreal!!

Dinner was at a gorgeous, but rather empty restaurant, Pyrenees, in the historic district of Montreal...it was three days before Christmas, I suppose, so perhaps the locals had already headed out of town.

 

Catalonian Orange Cake with Warm Chocolate...need I say more?!!!

That filthy car is what ours looked like after a week in these elements!

 Notre Dame Cathedral was breathtaking...

Happy Hannukah - very inclusive, these Canadians!

 

The view from our hotel window at 6am...see the brave cyclist!

A fortifying breakfast for a day in the snow!

Platform snow boots - why didn't I think of that!

After our tiny taste of the lovely Montreal we drove to Mont Tremblant, arriving in time to meet the Lewis's for lunch at around 1.30 at a creperie. Our drive to Tremblant was pretty straightforward and despite some warnings from our Canadian friends that our "all weather tyres" wouldn't be adequate for the conditions, we were fine!

That's Katie, and my crepe with jambon, fromage and champignons!

Daniel and Cooper admiring the snowscape outside our Creperie

Mont Tremblant is a picturesque ski village, modelled on a European ski village, and as we chose to stay (and pay!!) for the privilege of being right there, we enjoyed being able to walk to the lifts and all the little shops and restaurants that lined the path from our hotel to the main lift. It was beautifully decorated for Christmas, and we all enjoyed the experience. The food, while closer in price to Australian prices was fantastic - we didn't have a bad meal, and the Canadian snacks of "poutine" - chips in gravy and melted cheese and "beaver tails" - long, oval flat pastries with cinnamon sugar, Nutella, or maple syrup, for example, were also delicious in that you-have-to-try-it-at-least-once kind of way!!

Katie had chosen Tremblant for its great kids' programmes. Basically, we dropped off the kids in the morning at around 9 am and didn't see them until after 3 pm. They had ski lessons, lunch and indoor play time, while we got to ski, have lunch (in peace!!), and enjoy a break for the day. It was fantastic, and we all enjoyed ourselves!!

On our first evening at Mt Tremblant, we tried out a little ice-skating...with mixed results!

Emily, Cooper and Isabella

"Beaver Tails" - a flat pastry smothered in sugar and spice, or whatever you like, had to be tried!!!

Interestingly, in all our almost fifteen years together, Dave and I had never been skiing, so although we both claimed to be able to ski, we'd never seen each other do so. We'd organised to spend two days skiing, and I joined the Lewis's for a group lesson on my first day, as I expected I'd be pretty rusty. I was with Katie, Tim and their eldest, Emily, for a two hour group lesson, with our French Canadian instructor, Norman - an affable, older but ruggedly handsome man, which I suppose comes from spending around 4 months a year skiing!! 

"The Little Happiness" perfectly described one of our child-free lunches on the summit!

A pretty ordinary day on the mountain on our 2nd day - most lifts were closed, 
but still good enough snow for a few die-hards!

The lesson was a good refresher and although I was able to get down a Blue run (intermediate) in more or less one piece, Norman taught us techniques which really helped improve my control, and possibly even my style - though I've never seen myself ski!!

Dave, on the other hand, felt confident enough to go solo from day one, tackling some of the mountain's Black runs (advanced) and we met around lunch time to ski together after that. 

I had forgotten how much I enjoy skiing, and in particular, après skiing!! For some reason, food tastes better and hot chocolates more chocolatey!! - and Chocolate Martinis(!!!) - seem more satisfying when you've been out in the snow!! On our second and final skiing day - Christmas Day - the adults and Emily, who'd been skiing with Tim and Katie, met at the "sommet" (summit) restaurant for crepes and hot chocolates. Although, it was more in the style of a cafeteria, with masses of long shared tables, the food was great. We watched our crepes being cooked to order, and my crepe with smoked salmon, creme fraiche, capers and bechamel sauce was delicious!! Dave and I were a little bit piggy and shared a banana and chocolate crepe for dessert!! Yum!! 

That's the village and the lake behind me. It was a magical setting!

Salmon and creme fraiche crepe with bechamel sauce - on the summit!

The weather had been unkind to the snow and lift operations that day, and we'd all had to be bussed to the summit to ski on the north side only that morning, but by the afternoon, we could all ski back down the south side to the village, where we met up with the littlies and checked out what they'd learnt.

Isabella was keen to show off her skiing, and after only two day we were impressed with her confidence and technique!! Daniel, who'd been having a little nap when we arrived to collect him, also wanted to show us his stuff, and we had to put his boots and skis on for a few little sorties down the beginners' slope. The kids had obviously had a ball, and Isabella made "friends" with two little Australian girls on her first day, and an American Isabella on her second. Daniel was with the Lewis's youngest, Cooper, and had had a great time too, by the look of it.

Both Isabella and Daniel had a ball, and seemed to have gained a few skills along the way.

For dinner on Christmas night, Katie had booked the 10 of us into a steakhouse, called "Bullseye". It was a beautiful meal in relaxed company - a lovely way to finish up our shared time together. I had a fillet mignon with pepper sauce and grilled vegetables and it was the best steak I'd eaten since leaving Melbourne - perfectly seasoned, tender inside and a slight crust outside!!! Yum!!

Christmas dinner...not lamb or turkey, but it was a beautifully cooked piece of meat!!

Daniel and Cooper spent most of the meal wrangling over Plane toys!!

For our final day on Tremblant, I had booked the four of us onto a dogsled ride. It was going to be the highlight of our trip, and I'd read reviews saying as much. We met our driver, Robert, at the Activity Centre and he drove us, a South African family of four, and a Turkish mother and daughter, to the dogsledding ranch, about 45 minutes away. The further we drove, the more snow on the ground we saw, much to our relief, as we were wondering how the ride would occur with the coverage we had in the village.

Once at the ranch, we caught sight of the doggies, who were already tethered to harnesses and their sleds, along with some fairly serious looking metal anchoring devices, to stop these eager little pups from taking off without their passengers and drivers!

Cathie, our guide, clearly identified by her Siberian Husky hat, ushered us into her yurt - a fixed tent-like structure, complete with wood fire in the centre, and hay bales to sit on, around the walls. There were pictures of huskies hanging from the walls and a table with the makings of hot chocolate and biccies to fortify us after our ride.

Cathie, with her unmistakable Siberian Husky hat!

After Cathie, in her quirky French-Canadian English, had given us a safety, driving, sitting and dog-intaction brief, we were assigned sleds and settled in. Cathie had given very emphatic instructions regarding the use of the sled brake, and that under no circumstances should the driver EVER take his/her foot off the brake when the sled is stationary, or the sled will "go bye-bye, wiz out you!!" 

Daniel was ever-so-helpful during the demonstration of how to be a passenger!

Someone was a little excited!

Dave wanted to be a driver, but as the kids were young, we had to put them with a professional driver, with one of them between the legs of a bigger passenger. So, I rode with Daniel, and Isabella rode with the 13 year old South African girl, Morgan, while Dave drove with Morgan's dad as a passenger.

Daniel and I were in the lead sled, with "ze owner of ze ranch - 'e iz very experienced!!" assured Cathie. Dave was 2nd, the Turkish ladies with the daughter driving in the 3rd sled, the South African mother and 6 year old daughter in the 4th sled, and Isabella and her new friend in the 5th sled. 

Each sled had about 6 or 7 dogs and as we were waiting to get sorted with blankets and waterproof covers, the dogs' excitement and growing desperation to get moving was building to a noisy crescendo!!! These guys weren't as big as I'd thought they would be but they looked lean and strong, some with piercing ice-blue eyes and perfect white teeth!! Cathie told us afterwards that her husband's a fisherman and her 70 or so dogs have a diet of salmon and other red meats, which accounted for their lustrous thick coats and good muscle tone - perhaps I should move in with Cathie and her husband for a little detox after our year in Georgia!!

Dave, aka Mountain Man, getting a feel for his sled...and his dogs!

My Mountain Man...waiting, waiting, waiting!

Wondering why he missed out this time!

And we're off!!

Our "Dogsledding Mountain Adventure" was indeed an adventure!! The track despite having a decent coverage of snow was quite rocky in parts, and for the uphill sections the drivers needed to dismount and run behind the sled, pushing as the dogs pulled. Dave, after a couple of ascents, looked a little puffed and did declare that it was a lot harder than skiing...I was beginning to appreciate being a snugly, tucked-in passenger!!!

After we crossed our first little bridge, we stopped to wait for the other teams, but a shortish wait became a longish wait, and from my seated position I could see Isabella was out of her sled, along with her friend and they were walking away from the group.

With howling dogs, it was impossible to communicate unless you were less than a foot away, but when our driver returned, I ascertained that the brake on their sled had snapped off and that they were taking a shortcut walk back to the yurt - their ride was over, even though it was only half way through.

We had a couple more stops and starts, and met up with. Isabella and the rest of the gang back at the yurt, where she was happily cuddling a 2-month old Siberian Husky puppy. Talk about a master stroke of damage control - she'd forgotten she'd missed half a ride that we'd driven nearly an hour to, had an10 minute briefing on, and paid a handsome sum for!!! The puppy was cute, and after some gentle enquiries, I was offered a refund for Isabella's ride.

Isabella and her new friend, Cameron, from South Africa, had certainly made the most of their puppy time!

It certainly had been an "adventure"!!!

Cathie insisted we say "Sank you!" to our dogs, for the ride they'd given us, and with that, we were off...

Such beautiful dogs!

Our last night in Tremblant saw us take in a Japanese-fusion meal which was pretty good, despite the fact that they didn't have any plain steamed rice - they served the kids sweetened sushi rice!? We chatted to a Canadian family with 3 boys, currently living in Beijing! Daniel had been the one to strike up the conversation with the mother, a thin, leggy blonde - like father like son - with his "what your name?" She was charmed and his dad was proud - a good night had by all.

We were all a little weary, post Dog Sledding Mountain Adventure!

After check-out the next morning, we drove towards Montreal, wanting to cross the border into Vermont, rather that New York State. The rural Quebec landscape was pretty rugged and we encountered more snow than we'd seen in the village over our previous 3 days.

On the map, I spied a town near the border called Venice-en-Quebec. It sounded interesting and looked to be on a lake, so we headed there. In reality, it appeared to be a slightly tired looking all-season holiday destination,with camping grounds and lakeside cabins for ice-fishing(?). There was one restaurant overlooking the frozen Lake Champlain, so we stopped there for lunch. It was a mainly seafood restaurant but they did a decent spag-Bol for the kids and slightly overlooked salmon dishes for us. From our cosy window side perch, we could see some young fellows playing chicken - lowering each other down to tippy toe onto the ice and throw rocks. I was half expecting to see one of them at least lose a foot through the ice, but they were lucky!!

Onwards, towards the border, where we had a humourless customs guy who asked a battery of questions before letting us back in. What a job - in an open air box, breathing in exhaust fumes and trying to be grumpy, all day!!

Vermont, the Green Mountain State, was rather white at this time of year, but very beautiful. We had decided to spend two nights in Vermont before heading to New York City, and our first night was in the town of Colchester, just north of Burlington, a bustling but quirky, arty, and gastronomic city by Lake Champlain. Our hotel was next door to a restaurant which handy for us, had a piano man, playing the Girl from Ipanema!!

Ribs, sweet potato with caramalised pecans (because it wasn't sweet enough!?), macaroni and cheese, and a microscopic salad...I think I left about 50% of this on the plate. Even for me, it was a little OTT!

"Living out of a suitcase" took on a literal meaning with this one!

The following day, we took time to drive through Burlington and walk the length of its pedestrian mall, Church Street. The variety of shops - some chain, some not, and bars and restaurants, reminded us of Yarraville, but a whole city like Yarraville -  it was a really cool place and the people were incredibly friendly in a sincere way (unlike in the South, where it can come across a little insincerely at times).Vermont is the home of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream, and we'd thought we might visit the factory in Waterbury, a short drive east of Burlington, but after one of us mentioned the word "ice cream", Daniel wasn't going to let us leave without sampling the goods first at their shop in the mall.

Lake Champlain, from the Burlington, Vermont side! 

Leunig's the Bistro, not the Melbourne cartoonist!
(Love the fact that they have an apostrophe there - so Vermont!!!)

Sorry Dave - not today!

Here's a shop for you, Luce!!

I'm too traumatized to relive the exact details of what ensued, other than to summarize that the flavor I thought Daniel wanted, was not what he wanted - or perhaps he changed his mind?!  - and we had a melt-down which lasted the length of the mall and required man-handling to get him back to the car, sans ice cream. Needless to say, our memories of Ben and Jerry's won't be "euphoric" as they claim in their marketing, and the factory visit was vetoed!!

Before it all turned to...chocolate icecream!!

Instead, we stopped at a little health food shop where we bought some local Vermont Brie, and a baguette of stone ground bread which we chomped in the car. We also made a stop at Champlain Chocolate Factory, where we left the kids in the car with their DVDs and took a 10 minute break. Their Christmas choccies were 50% off, so I took advantage of the opportunity to save "poor Dave" some cash and buy some!!

Vermont had a hippy, healthy vibe, without being too full of itself...we liked it a lot!

The presence of a chocolate factory was appreciated, also!

Another destination on our meanderings was the Morse Maple Farm, a delapidated collection of timber buildings in a snowy landscape - it was really quite picturesque!! When I enquired about the tour, we were directed to a crackly 30-year old video narrated by one of the 6 generations of Morse "sugar men" talking about the process of tapping the trees, and heating the syrup until the water evaporates enough to produce the amber syrup we love!! 

I think they were referring to "damn", but I can't be sure - the video was at least 30 years old!

We did learn that it takes about 40 gallons of natural sap, which looks like water before it enters the heating units, to produce a gallon of the maple syrup you could pour onto your pancakes! We all sampled a couple of drops of the four grades - starting with the lightest, "Fancy", right up to Dark Grade A. We bought a couple of bottles and went on our way.

The capital city of Vermont is a tiny town called Montpelier, so we headed there for a little look, on our way to our stop for the night, White River Junction. 

I'd become quite adept at using TrIp Advisor to suss out good food stops along the road, and one place that came up with positive reviews was a little Turkish/Middle Eastern restaurant, curiously called Tuckerbox, on a corner overlooking the railway crossing. 

Being a Sunday night and only 5.30 pm we assumed we'd stroll straight in and find a table - not the case. The place was already 2/3 full and the friendly maître d fussed a little while working out if he could fit us in before a sitting at 6.30pm!! We knew we'd be quick - Daniel pretty much guarantees a quick and dirty dining experience wherever we go, as was the case on this occasion.

The service was efficient without being rushed and the food delicious. Dave and I shared a mezze plate of dips and dolmades, stuffed eggplant, koftes, and lamb kebabs served with salad and rice, and the kids enjoyed chicken kebabs with rice. We slurped down a gritty but satisfying Turkish coffee with a mini cube of Turkish delight and cleared out, with minutes to spare!

Our final day in Vermont had us checking out the Quechee Gorge, "Vermont's Grand Canyon", from the vantage point of a snow and ice-covered bridge - a slightly hairy experience; enjoying lunch and a stroll through the classic New England town of Woodstock and over a covered bridge;  and drives through the scenic snowy Vermont countryside. 

In our entire time in Vermont, we hadn't seen a chain supermarket or restaurant - it felt very quaint and yet very healthy and wholesome! Even in the snow, we saw people jogging!! According to that reliable academic source, rhyming with encyclopaedia, Vermont has the least religious and healthiest population in the US, including the lowest rates of obesity and diabetes...which did make me wonder why Air Force bases can't be built in interesting places like this?!!

Woodstock, Vermont, was as cute as a button...

Real Christmas decorations - just gorgeous!

Mmm! My "Parisian" baguette was divine...if a little overladen with ham!

There's something irresistible about a covered bridge - especially when it's nestled into a town as cute as Woodstock.

Yes, you can even drive over (through?) some of them!

And here's another one!

Poor Dave would have loved to have lost himself here, but alas, onward and upward - or should I say, downward!?

The carpark near the gorge was like an ice rink...slippery to drive on and even more so to walk on!

The guy from the Visitors' Centre had recommended we view the gorge from the bridge...a slightly hairy experience, given the piles of icy snow where a footpath used to be, and the constant traffic!

Don't look down!!!

More borders...

 

More border-crossing, into Massachussetts, Connecticut and finally into New York, and a stressful deadline looming as our Airbnb key collection arrangement had a deadline of 7 pm at the local  dry cleaners!! Our trusty satnav had our estimated time of arrival at 18:28 - too close for my liking!!

Lovely sunset coming south towards NYC, but the bumper-to-bumper taillights weren't so pretty!

Tolls, tolls and yet more tolls!

We did make the key pickup but it was stressful and Tommy had locked up for the day, so the sight of closed grilles freaked me out somewhat. Luckily, he'd only gone to get his car and was on his way back to find me standing forlornly outside his closed shop. Anyway, despite the fact that Flatbush is a slightly seedy part of Brooklyn, the apartment itself was a beautiful and spacious city pad - a tranquil base from the madness of Manhattan - apart from the regular rattling of walls from the Q and B trains as they passed beside the building every few minutes.

Semi-abstract art made of paper ribbons was a point of discussion over many a breakfast!

By the time the kids were fed - microwave porridge is a great anytime meal - and settled, Dave and I ordered dinner from GrubHub, an online resource pooling local restaurants on one site. We selected a few tasty dishes from "Tony's Thai" and delivery took less than 30 minutes, which was great! Our "Brooklyn Fried Rice" was hardly authentic Thai, but with its nutty brown rice and lightly soy-seasoned grilled fresh salmon, it was delicious!!

View from the lounge room...and that damn train line!!

View from our bedroom

We'd primarily chosen to spend a few nights in Brooklyn to catch up with my dear friend from home, Anne, who was in NYC to catch up with her eldest daughter, Nadia, and her American boyfriend. Anne's two other adult children had joined them, along with their partners, so it was quite the family reunion. Anne's a very groovy and liberal minded mum, but even she was starting to feel like a 3rd wheel, so I think she appreciated the opportunity to catch up with her own friends for a couple of days.

For our first day together, we met Anne at "Mike's Cafe", a very old-school Brooklyn cafe, with fast talking servers, faster food, and squeezy booths. Poor Anne had been waiting for us for a bit, as became a pattern for our time together - partly due to our inability to communicate without wifi, and partly due to our inability to get ourselves out the door!! We all squeezed into the booth, shedding bulky coats, hats and gloves along the way. 

Poor Dave - sick and tired, but about to eat read meat for breakfast. It was most fortifying!!

Pancakes were the order of the table, and most of us enjoyed them in a variety of ways - with bacon, syrup, Nutella, etc. Dave lashed out and had some meaty dish, which ended up being a hit with Isabella, so he had to fight her for it!! A breakfast of champions!! Daniel spent most of the meal trying to pilfer everyone else's orange juices and got quite indignant when he realised that wasn't going to work in his favour. Ah, the joys of toddler tantrums...life's, so unfair when you're three!!

The rest of our first day in New York saw us subway it into Manhattan and a very fresh walk around Times Square and the Rockerfeller Center, where we chatted up a local NYPD officer, who, initially seemed a little wary - given recent events, who could blame him?! At the Rockerfeller Center, we found a cozy subterranean food court and recharged with a hot chocolate and baguette, while admiring the skaters on the ice rink outside. 

Wow, these New Yorkers say it as it is!

The very cool Rockefeller Center

Ice skating at the Rockefeller Center

First date?!

While waiting with the kids for Dave and Anne to return with our afternoon tea goodies, I "enjoyed" an authentic interaction with a NYC local who was like something straight out of Seinfeld. I asked him if he was using a chair that had a bag on it and he snapped "yes, someone's sitting on it!!" Funny, it looked like a bag to me!! His wife looked on indulgently, and I was gobsmacked, but reflected that perhaps this "gentleman" was in need of a break from this dog-eat-dog existence.

Aeroplanes and a man's crotch on the ceiling of the Rockefeller 1st floor entrance

Love those fonts!

   Heading out of Manhattan and back to Brooklyn...for New Year's Eve!

In the evening, Dave benevolently took charge of the kids and I met Anne for dinner at "Walter's", a groovy restaurant in the Clinton Hills area of Brooklyn. We had gin and blueberry cocktails at the bar - "Muddlers", I think they were called, and waited for that elusive table to appear. Finally seated, we didn't hold back, and enjoyed steamed duck sliders and lobster rolls, followed by a bread and butter pudding, of sorts - all very hip and delicious, served by lots of groovy young things, with multiple body piercings and bushranger beards.

My very drinkable cocktail...one wasn't quite enough!

And here's the 2nd one!

Steamed duck sliders

Lobster roll with fries and salad...the salad was low GI!!

Pudding...yum!

For our last day in The Big Apple, and New Years Eve, no less, we met Anne on the platform at Dekalb station, Brooklyn, and carried on to the Staten Island Ferry stop. It was a bitterly cold New York day, and we opted for the comfy confines of the enclosed part of the ferry! Though cold, it was beautifully clear and we had an incredible view of the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan skyline. If we could have stayed on the ferry for the return trip, we would have, but everyone had to disembark, and wait for the return ferry ride. 

And now for our impressions of crazy New Yorkers - according to a 7 year old!!

Once back in Manhattan, we stayed on the train until we got to 5th Avenue and Central Park - our main purpose being to visit The Plaza Hotel, home of that cheeky 6 year old, Eloise!! I had belatedly tried to book afternoon tea in the Palm Court  tearoom, on our way into New York, but they were booked out for a week - what was I thinking?! Anyway, we still managed to soak up a little of the rarified ambience of this beautiful, iconic hotel, taking in the sights and sounds of how "the other half live"!!

Isabella inherited my dog-eared and yellow-paged 40 year-old hard-backed copy of "Eloise" and loves its precocious lead character along with her pet pug and turtle...who wouldn't?!

The not-so-curiously named, Palm Court Restaurant was unfortunately booked out on New Years Eve...next time!

Mmm, what to choose? Another book, or yet another cute but useless soft toy?!

This didn't count as her choice...I couldn't resist it!

After a slightly overwhelming visit to the Eloise Shop, we parted ways with Anne, and dipped our rather cold toes into Central Park. Cold, miserable and not particularly conducive to a stroll, we took our leave and headed back to the subway, and home. By the time we staggered back to our pad, my flu had well and truly settled in, and I was starting to feel like the best place for me  to see in the new year would be bed, rather than the groovy Prospect Park restaurant Anne's kids had booked. 

The previous day, I'd been super organised and booked a local babysitter, through a reputable agency, and agreed to the highly inflated NYE rates of 3 hours minimum at $35 an hour plus $25 transport fee. However, come 5 pm on NYE, I was starting to calculate not only the personal and physical cost of the flu to me on our special NYC NYE, but the financial cost as well!! It was a shocking flu, and I decided that with a $100 cancellation fee, I might as well keep Magda, our babysitter, and she could feed and put the kids to bed, while I quietly died in the other bedroom. 

Dave partied on with Anne and the kids, enjoying a culinary and alcoholic feast at "Cooklyn" - keeping pace with the youngsters, shot for shot, shooter for shooter, etc, only really suffering for his sins at about 1 pm the following day, when we were driving out of town and he was getting the noddies partway across the border, into New Jersey!!!

So that was New York and New Years Eve...one we'll remember, for different reasons!!

For our meanderings home, across more state borders, we stopped in a couple of non-descript towns along the highway, primarily because they were just far enough along the road to be convenient, and they had a hotel chain that we'd grown comfortable using. In one town we even found a Korean restaurant - not the best Korean food we'd ever eaten, but tasty enough to provide a nice change from the usual offerings.

We managed to get the poor car cleaned - the salt and sludgy residue from our snowy Quebec and Vermont part of the trip had been good protection in Brooklyn - nobody's going to look twice at a filthy car in a seedy part of town, even if it does have a prestige badge hidden somewhere under the grime.

We agreed that two road trips to Canada in 12 months was probably more than enough, and that our next holiday would be a RELAXING one!! It had been an exhausting but memorable couple of weeks, and a great holiday for all!!

Another border, another blurry sign!

The 7-year old is NOT holding this!

We made a quick stop - 2 hour(!!) - and checked out  the South Carolina's State Museum

 

Dave's always loved telescopes...these antique ones were lovely

Cotton: one of the South's economic mainstays

We're never completely convinced by this sign!

One of the best things about getting home is realising that Father Christmas and Australia Post have visited in our absence!

It's been an incredible first year Stateside, so far, and looking forward to the next two!

Happy New Year, everyone!!!