The Adirondack

I caught the Adirondack Amtrak train from Penn Station early on Saturday morning. What a journey! The journey is about 12 hours and goes from the centre of New York, along the Hudson river, through New York state, across the Canadian border and then into Montreal. For much of the journey the train travels next to a huge river or lake (with quite high mountains on one side)! It was wonderful just staring out the window for hours on end watching eagles flying overhead and herons standing in the rivers. There's some amazing history in the region. The rocky cliff near Schenectady which overlooks the track is "the site where the Mohawks fought and defeated the Mohicans at Kinquariones." Albany was where "Yankee Doodle" was composed in 1768! Hudson was a whaling port ... I wasn't paying too much attention to the history of the region (and missed the on-board lecture on the ecology of the Hudson river). Instead I tried to learn Danish from the four pretty girls that were sitting near me. One fell asleep on my shoulder.

We were very delayed at the border crossing. Three people were taken off the train. Two got back on. One was driven off in a van. Unfortunately we then arrived about 1.5 hours late into Montreal, but mum and dad were still there to pick me up!!

Ottawa's lovely! We've been for a short walk in the woods, had lunch in a pub, went flying (I managed three cross-wind landings with only a little help from dad!), fed a chipmunk, met Christine for lunch, played with some kittens, and took a boat cruise down the Rideau canal. I leave tomorrow morning for Chicago, Los Angeles and, hopefully, will catch my flight to Australia!

Then I have to book my flight to China! :)