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I'm so bad with these reports... but if you're still following it along:
Tuesday was our last day in Maine. The flight was scheduled to leave after 1pm and our car was due back at rental place for 12:30pm, so we still had the morning to ourselves.
On a stupid note, it turns out that we only really got along with our hosts at breakfast that morning. Up until then, they seemed very aloof. Turns out that what brought them out of their shells with talking politics. You know, one of those taboo topics you never talk about. Go figure. They also gave us some homemake blueberry jam, which was also a plus, because I happen to really like blueberries. XD
An aside, but what I think worked best in our favour at the B&B was that we were the only people staying there. There was another room, but it was empty, so the second floor gave us some "space", as it were, although we only really went back to sleep. Staying at another person's house is kinda strange. I'd probably think twice about going the B&B route again, but some of them do look more inn-ish and quite charming in a way.
We packed up the car and headed over to Damariscotta for a last visit there. We went into Remy's, the local discount place, and poked around. I managed to find some strange chocolate there to add to my US chocolate collection, most notably Sky Bars:
http://www.necco.com/OurBrands/Default.asp?BrandID=11
Never seen them before and haven't seen them since.
I also picked up a metal Slinky (now a desk tool at the office), since the darn things are so hard to find now, and Steff picked up some toys for her kids.
We made our way back to Portland, although we kept a decent pace so that we could do some more exploring. We were so tired on the Saturday that we leave the city as soon as possible and took off for South Bristol. Portland is a decently sized city and reminded me a bit of Erie. The downtown is small, but fairly clean and nothing too shocking. Heck, the area around the ferry to Canada is borderline TOO clean for me. What was neat, though, is that the ports are still working ports.
Walking around the port lands is like stepping onto a movie set, except that you know that all of the quirks and details are real, created over countless years. It's hard to describe what they look like, but imagine narrow dirt roads, lined with wooden buildings with strange, leaning angles that house fish markets, with piles of ocean fishing gear in between. It's a world that before that day only existed in pictures and books for me. Eyeopening, really.
The day was moving on, so it was time for us to get to the airport. That was the plan, at least. You see, in Maine, you have the change of encountering intersections that aren't clearing marked and... we ended up on a strange side of town and hopelessly lost. And time to return the rental was ticking down. Steff found a Tim Hortons and sent me in, since I'm Canadian and all. They gave us some directions that we took with some worry, but got us back to the airport fairly quickly.
About Portland's airport - It's a cute little airport. Check in went fast. However, the security guards were rude and insulting (went over my ID like I was a massive security risk and made some questionable comments) and acted like they had a stick up their butts. I HATE that you need to play along with that BS to board the plane. A poor woman broke down in tears as her jacket went through the x-ray machine with her ID in i. My word, something REALLY needs to be said about culture of fear.
The flight to New York was rough and I found it nerve wracking. The less said, the better. When we landed, we ended up passing by Manhattan Island. It's the first time I've seen it since the 9-11 attacks. The skyline looks emptier now.
I don't remember too much about LaGuardia, because most of our focus was on getting to our plane. We hoofed it across from one end of the airport to the other, a bit of a headache since it wasn't close like at JFK. All I remember was that the screen displaying departures and arrivals looked dated, but the terminal looked like it was kept up better than JFK. Food prices were also insane and even though I was hungry I figured I'd wait until we got back to Pittsburgh.
Oh, and we flew to Pittsburgh on the Steelersmobile:
http://www.wpxi.com/sports/14097117/detail.html
The plane was wrapped in Steelers logos and colours. This was really funny because we had just launched football stuff right before I left.
We arrived to Pittsburgh in one piece. Like Maine, it was already starting to feel like home. I grabbed my bags and Steff went to get a rental.
Or, rather, attempted to.
ALL of the rental place were sold out! Okay, that's a bit of a lie, because we could have gotten a 12 seater van if we wanted to. But yeah, no one had any cars. It was insane and stressful. Steff started phoning around to find us a ride. She managed to get a hold of her dad, thankfully. We had dinner at the airport while we were waiting. For airport food, it was surprisingly good, if a touch pricey. I also grabbed some allergy meds, because I actually am allergic to dogs so I figured that I'd get that taken care of as soon as possible.
Good thing, too, because Steff's dad brought along Lance. I don't know if Steff has told any stories about Lance to people before but I can confirm that they're true. He's a lovely looking dog, but he isn't all right upstairs. The poor thing probably had something happen to him when he was younger (Steff found him when he was older) so you feel bad for it, but as time passes on, you start to wonder if he's using it to get ahead.
We finally made it to Lordstown around... I can't remember, but I think it was pushing 10 or 11. I got introduced to Noggin. Some of the shows are okay, like The Upside Down Show (it reminds me of old TVOntario shows from the 1980s, but with less Toronto), but then, there's Wubbzy.
THE EVIL ONE
Okay, the art direction on Wubbzy looks cool, when it's still. As soon as it starts moving and the characters start talking, you begin to wonder who thought this was a good idea, who ponied up the dough for it and WHAT DRUGS WERE THEY ON?! The main character? I didn't realize that it was supposed to be a guy until I heard the opening. I'm STILL not sure, to be honest. And his friends come across is one-sided extensions of a single idea. We have Wubbzy, the gendery confused "child", that female pink rabbit thing, who is supposed to be the techie of the group, and a male bear thing that's supposed to be the smart character. Also, why does Wubbzy not wear clothes? And why... do I take that damn show so seriously?!
Next up, my adventures in Ohio!
Tuesday was our last day in Maine. The flight was scheduled to leave after 1pm and our car was due back at rental place for 12:30pm, so we still had the morning to ourselves.
On a stupid note, it turns out that we only really got along with our hosts at breakfast that morning. Up until then, they seemed very aloof. Turns out that what brought them out of their shells with talking politics. You know, one of those taboo topics you never talk about. Go figure. They also gave us some homemake blueberry jam, which was also a plus, because I happen to really like blueberries. XD
An aside, but what I think worked best in our favour at the B&B was that we were the only people staying there. There was another room, but it was empty, so the second floor gave us some "space", as it were, although we only really went back to sleep. Staying at another person's house is kinda strange. I'd probably think twice about going the B&B route again, but some of them do look more inn-ish and quite charming in a way.
We packed up the car and headed over to Damariscotta for a last visit there. We went into Remy's, the local discount place, and poked around. I managed to find some strange chocolate there to add to my US chocolate collection, most notably Sky Bars:
http://www.necco.com/OurBrands/Default.asp?BrandID=11
Never seen them before and haven't seen them since.
I also picked up a metal Slinky (now a desk tool at the office), since the darn things are so hard to find now, and Steff picked up some toys for her kids.
We made our way back to Portland, although we kept a decent pace so that we could do some more exploring. We were so tired on the Saturday that we leave the city as soon as possible and took off for South Bristol. Portland is a decently sized city and reminded me a bit of Erie. The downtown is small, but fairly clean and nothing too shocking. Heck, the area around the ferry to Canada is borderline TOO clean for me. What was neat, though, is that the ports are still working ports.
Walking around the port lands is like stepping onto a movie set, except that you know that all of the quirks and details are real, created over countless years. It's hard to describe what they look like, but imagine narrow dirt roads, lined with wooden buildings with strange, leaning angles that house fish markets, with piles of ocean fishing gear in between. It's a world that before that day only existed in pictures and books for me. Eyeopening, really.
The day was moving on, so it was time for us to get to the airport. That was the plan, at least. You see, in Maine, you have the change of encountering intersections that aren't clearing marked and... we ended up on a strange side of town and hopelessly lost. And time to return the rental was ticking down. Steff found a Tim Hortons and sent me in, since I'm Canadian and all. They gave us some directions that we took with some worry, but got us back to the airport fairly quickly.
About Portland's airport - It's a cute little airport. Check in went fast. However, the security guards were rude and insulting (went over my ID like I was a massive security risk and made some questionable comments) and acted like they had a stick up their butts. I HATE that you need to play along with that BS to board the plane. A poor woman broke down in tears as her jacket went through the x-ray machine with her ID in i. My word, something REALLY needs to be said about culture of fear.
The flight to New York was rough and I found it nerve wracking. The less said, the better. When we landed, we ended up passing by Manhattan Island. It's the first time I've seen it since the 9-11 attacks. The skyline looks emptier now.
I don't remember too much about LaGuardia, because most of our focus was on getting to our plane. We hoofed it across from one end of the airport to the other, a bit of a headache since it wasn't close like at JFK. All I remember was that the screen displaying departures and arrivals looked dated, but the terminal looked like it was kept up better than JFK. Food prices were also insane and even though I was hungry I figured I'd wait until we got back to Pittsburgh.
Oh, and we flew to Pittsburgh on the Steelersmobile:
http://www.wpxi.com/sports/14097117/detail.html
The plane was wrapped in Steelers logos and colours. This was really funny because we had just launched football stuff right before I left.
We arrived to Pittsburgh in one piece. Like Maine, it was already starting to feel like home. I grabbed my bags and Steff went to get a rental.
Or, rather, attempted to.
ALL of the rental place were sold out! Okay, that's a bit of a lie, because we could have gotten a 12 seater van if we wanted to. But yeah, no one had any cars. It was insane and stressful. Steff started phoning around to find us a ride. She managed to get a hold of her dad, thankfully. We had dinner at the airport while we were waiting. For airport food, it was surprisingly good, if a touch pricey. I also grabbed some allergy meds, because I actually am allergic to dogs so I figured that I'd get that taken care of as soon as possible.
Good thing, too, because Steff's dad brought along Lance. I don't know if Steff has told any stories about Lance to people before but I can confirm that they're true. He's a lovely looking dog, but he isn't all right upstairs. The poor thing probably had something happen to him when he was younger (Steff found him when he was older) so you feel bad for it, but as time passes on, you start to wonder if he's using it to get ahead.
We finally made it to Lordstown around... I can't remember, but I think it was pushing 10 or 11. I got introduced to Noggin. Some of the shows are okay, like The Upside Down Show (it reminds me of old TVOntario shows from the 1980s, but with less Toronto), but then, there's Wubbzy.
THE EVIL ONE
Okay, the art direction on Wubbzy looks cool, when it's still. As soon as it starts moving and the characters start talking, you begin to wonder who thought this was a good idea, who ponied up the dough for it and WHAT DRUGS WERE THEY ON?! The main character? I didn't realize that it was supposed to be a guy until I heard the opening. I'm STILL not sure, to be honest. And his friends come across is one-sided extensions of a single idea. We have Wubbzy, the gendery confused "child", that female pink rabbit thing, who is supposed to be the techie of the group, and a male bear thing that's supposed to be the smart character. Also, why does Wubbzy not wear clothes? And why... do I take that damn show so seriously?!
Next up, my adventures in Ohio!
