Status-Q

I’m staying with friends at a wonderful house in Piedmont, CA, at present. CD took this photo of me this morning:

And then I drove down to Cupertino to visit a friend at Apple. Very nice campus they have there.

This chap formed part of the welcoming committee at the motel in Old Forge, NY, where I spent last night.

He was quite interested in me, but was mostly interested in getting out of that door to go and play with the various other residents sitting outside in the front courtyard.

After I had got my key he was allowed out, and proceeded to tear round and round the garden in great excitement. On one lap he noticed that my door was open, shot in, grabbed a sock, and then tore round and round proudly holding it, to the amusement of both me and the other spectators, who made remarks to the effect that it was just as well it wasn’t my underwear…

Fun times in upstate New York. Here’s where I had lunch in Tupper Lake. Fabulous berry crumble…

New York is a big state. It’s taken me a long time to cross it. And it seems much bigger because I’m on roads which wiggle a lot and where you often don’t exceed 45mph. It’s a sin to rush past places like this with only time for a quick photo:

but I had to keep moving. I did take a pause to go to the top of the Olympic Ski-Jump slope at Lake Placid, though. (Click for more pictures)

Eventually I made it to the ferry across Lake Champlain, and I’m now in Burlington, Vermont, which is very pleasant except that even in the cafe of the downtown Borders where I’m writing this, I’m still being bitten by mosquitos…

[I realised later that they were probably waiting for the Harry Potter launch at midnight]

Now I must visit the leafy suburbs to make a connection and post this – a bit like going to the postbox – on the way back to my somewhat unusual but pretty-good-value motel.

The Cornell campus is lovely, because as well as bits like this:

it has bits like this:

and this:

and this:

A few more pictures here.

After this, just a few miles down the road, I drove through the heaviest rainstorm I can remember, with lightning exploding overhead.

I’m now in Old Forge, NY with a hope of seeing something of the Adirondacks tomorrow.

…I went to Taughannock Falls, not far from Ithaca. This is a magical place and my photos cannot possibly do it justice, but clicking on the pictures below will take you to some more of them on Flickr.

There wasn’t much water coming over the falls after the recent hot weather…

…but that just gave me more chance to walk along the riverbed and paddle in the pools, and to appreciate the beautiful rocks.

Well, I made it to Ithaca, but the Chamber of Commerce was closed when I got here. In the residential areas here the laptop was going ‘ping’ to indicate an open wireless connection about three times on every block, so, thanks to somebody, I was able to connect, get a map, and find the Inn on Columbia. Even better, they had a special on their rooms which meant I was able to afford to stay here.

I’m in the Gazebo:

Thanks to my borrowed net connections, I’ve also been able to download podcasts to listen to on the journey as I went along. Great fun…

I was in Detroit. I needed to go to Boston. And, unusually, I wasn’t in a hurry. So just for fun, I thought I would drive.

Yesterday I went from Detroit across the bridge into Ontario and drove to Niagara-on-the-Lake, which I knew and loved from a previous visit. Driving in North America, I’ve discovered, can be exceedingly dull unless you make a deliberate effort to get off the highway from time to time, at which point you can take some nice photographs:

When does a barn cease to be a barn and become part of the flora & fauna?

I was thinking I would have to stop and pay for wifi access at various places en route, but I discovered a better way. I have a car power adaptor for my laptop, so I just sat it on the passenger seat running MacStumbler and it went ‘ping’ whenever I passed an unencrypted network. If it was somewhere where I could pull over, I would do so.

Similarly, I have a window on Google maps, and whenever I need a bit more detail on where I am, I find a nice residential neighbourhood and drive around slowly until I find a connection. It’s a sort of Digital Hitchiking.

Another picture, this time from Port Bruce, Ontario:

Anyway, after a brief stop at Niagara Falls this morning, I’m now back in the US, and this posting comes to you from Geneva, NY. I’m heading for Ithaca tonight. Let’s see if I make it…

Hap and I headed off for a fabulous day’s kayaking in Puget Sound yesterday.

This is Blake Island, WA. Legend has it that Chief Seattle was born here.

This little chap fluttered down for the first time today from his nest above our kitchen window. He landed on the garden table.

He sat there squeaking for a little while, then stretched his legs.

And then he hopped up onto the chair:

before flying away down the garden to a rather inaccurate landing in a bush at the far end.

Given how much energy his parents have been devoting to feeding him over the last couple of weeks, I think he’ll be off to a good start in life.