It was bittersweet to bid the mighty and powerful Niagara Falls goodbye as I don’t think we’ll return because we still have so much to see and I still want to retun to Ireland and the Holy Land… busy busy – so many places to go. It was a little disconcerting going through the border (it really always is) No "Welcome Home!!!" But questions: "Where do you live? What country were you born? Where have you visited? Why did you go there?" Then he told us to take off sunglasses and asked if he could look in the van…. "Sure" There’s nothing there but bags of dirty laundry, a half eaten loaf of bread, couple bags of crackers, plastic glasses strewn about, a cooler full of cheese, mustard, mayo, hard boiled eggs, meat from last night’s dinner to be made into sandwiches… etc and just stuff travelers carry in a cooler, and a cooler of what remains of the wine Chuck packed 6 weeks ago, and bags and bags of "Stuff going through to Miami" and bags of books we have purchased at book stores with 70% off sales… did I mention the dirty laundry? And miscellaneous jackets and the rain gear we wore on the Maid of the Mist. The van is pretty much a junk bin at this point. "What’s in the cooler?" Gulp… Wine we brought with us and 2 bottles we bought in Niagara on the Lake (and a pair of shorts, and some tonic water…) He looked through that and looked around at the piles of bags of stuff. I guess we don’t fit the profile. Then he came back around and said to Chuck "What state do you live in?" By this time I’ve forgotten my name… "OK, go ahead" he said. I can’t blame the US for worrying about people coming in, it is the day before Sept 11 and that is one reason I said, "Let’s go home…"  Then with the dismissal we headed into Buffalo which isn’t the best place to go. Got out on I 90 and headed east towards friends’ farm in Sugar Hill, New Hampshire. I picked Saratoga Springs to stop for the night because it is the Alma Mater of Julia Paparelli.  How charming the town is! They have painted ballet slippers and painted horses in the streets as an art exhibit. And the campus is beautiful. While walking around campus, I picked up some leaves that have already turned color… and I noticed the fire hydrants with the flags on top so firefighters can find them in the snow. I felt like we were parents looking for school possibilities for our child. We took photos (of course we took photos). And we send our love and prayers to kids who are starting school. God bless you.
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