Thursday, May 22nd
We just had to drive up to Portland today. We had found this travel company, you see, that promised to deliver us all the way to Albany, New York in just half a day(!) All we had to do was give them some money and show up at a certain place and they would do the rest. Specifically, they said they were going to hoist us up 30,000 feet into the air and then drop us down into Colorado, where we would just bounce back up again and eventually come down in Albany, only a little the worse for wear. It sounded ridiculous, but what if it was actually true? We couldn’t resist giving it a try.
Well, somehow or other, it worked. The only slightly disconcerting thing was that we arrived in Albany at the unlikely hour of 12:30 AM. So there we were, pulling our luggage through another airport, pleased to see that the car rental place was still open. We got a car and went to a nearby motel. We asked the desk clerk where we could get something to eat at that hour. Well, said he, just right down the road there’s a Golden Grain. So we drove for a block for so and sure enough, Golden Grain was open and active. It was a sort of fast food Italian place, so we ordered a couple of slices of pizza and sat down. We had asked if they had beer or wine and the young man behind the counter said that they didn’t. He was pretty young, probably too young to be allowed to serve alcohol even if they had it. The rest of the staff were around the same age.
The customers were young too. Nobody in the place looked more than twenty and only a few looked more than seventeen. (Except of course us.) Apparently it was a kind of teen hangout, a place you could go if you were too young to get into a bar. What were they all doing there at 1:00 AM on a school day? We don’t know. Guess it’s just how things are these days. We enjoyed the “young people” atmosphere as we ate our slices. E was interested in observing the hairstyles of our young companions. The girls had long straight hair, much the same as young women of yesteryear, but the boys were all sporting some sort of mushroom on top of their heads.
Friday, May 23nd
From Albany we started north, wandering leisurely through the area around Ballston Spa, where E grew up. From there we went to Glens Falls where we spent some quality time at Mrs H’s place with her and with S, who had come down from the north country for the occasion. Of course we had Hart’s pizza, followed on this occasion by Esther Foskett’s Birthday Cake.
Saturday, May 24th
We drove up to Huletts Landing, where J2‘s family has a small compound on the eastern side of Lake George. It’s beautiful this time of year, but coolish, so only some of the camps showed signs of occupancy on this Memorial Day weekend.
Sunday, May 25th
We rode with J1 and J2 over to Vermont to attend the graduation ceremony at Middlebury College. E has a degree from Middlebury, as does one of her nephews and also our Corvallis friend A. The class of 2025 included her grand nephew T, who earned his degree with a double major in History and Economics. By now, he has already headed off to Boston, where he will be working for Wayfair. Another grand nephew is set to graduate in 2027.
Monday, May 26th
A day at the lake. It was great to be able to spend some time with J2 and his family, plus his new friend D. We had a boat ride in the afternoon and in the evening earned our keep by producing a meal. E provided spinach lasagna and salad and M made fresh dinner rolls via Rhodes frozen dough.
Tuesday, May 27th
We took the rented BMW through Adinrondack Park, which M had never really seen. It was lovely but our plans to have a nice lunch in one of the small towns along the way were thwarted, as most of the good places were closed, including the intriguingly named Paradox Lake Brewing Company. What a disappointment. We ended up getting some deli sandwiches and then stopping at a seemingly nice place just off the road where we planned to have a picnic. However, the local flying things were so excited to see us that we hastily returned to the car and ate in there. Wow!
Thursday, May 29th
This was our day to return to Oregon, but since our plane didn’t leave until late afternoon, we went down to Malta, NY and took J1 out to lunch. We didn’t have a lot of time, so we thought we’d just go to Macdonald’s to get something quick. Boy, did that not work out! It was a nice new building in a pretty, almost parklike setting, but the new staff hadn’t quite figured things out…
Eventually we got back to the airport and caught our plane. We were flying on Southwest, which we have always liked. We appreciated their free checked bags and didn’t mind their unique boarding system or the way their planes had only one main cabin with no first or business class. It made them different, at least. As it turns out, all these things are changing. Over the last year, an investor group called Elliott Investment Management have acquired a significant portion of Southwest’s stock and have won six seats on the airline’s board of directors. For whatever reason, they mean to change the direction of the company. The free bag policy ended just days after we booked. The boarding system and cabin spaces will soon change to be in line with other airlines. Sigh. Perhaps it’s our imagination, but their usually comical staff seemed very subdued.
Is that why our flight to Portland was 45 minutes late? Who knows. It was a long day for us and 45 minutes didn’t make too much difference. We got to Corvallis at 1:00 AM Oregon time, 4:00 AM back in Albany.
Saturday, May 31st
Today was the annual Get Outdoors Day/Un Dia en el Bosque at the OSU Research Forest. E again served as a volunteer bilingual assistant.
