2009 Vacation Day 15 - Lost in Longueil...AGAIN!

So this is the last day of the Been There Dumped That blog. All posts earlier than this one chronicle our first trip in the Alto... a 2 week excursion to Cape Cod, in a rented Alto. All posts after this one are under a new blog called Route Alto 80... which is where you are now. 80 is the production number of our very own Alto.

What to hell is with this...granted, I did miss the exit...which was not entirely my fault as the signage is the shits...however, going one exit further should not land you in what may as well have been another planet. Now, my internal compass is pretty good, but in Longueil, all it seems to take is a few blocks of travel on what is definitely totally disjointed urban planning to throw me right off. Crazy.

So we arrive back at the start point and drop the Alto off. The end of an amazing foray into the world of travel trailers.

We saw a lot, talked to a lot of great people, the little Alto attracted a lot of attention and through the whole two weeks we had a lot of fun. Pretty much sums up this vacation.

2009 Vacation Day 14 - Odd...Very Odd

Off to the top of Lake Champlain today. We want to be very close to Montreal for a short drive tomorrow. Once again hopped the freeway as the scenic route originally planned would have been really slow. Really not much in this area at all...but there is a campsite. So we pull into the little office/store and there is no one around. Peeked in the windows...not much activity at all...the "store" had literally two lonely Cokes in the fridge and the usual assortment of kids camp toys...although they could have been here since day one. The whole place was definitely odd feeling.

2009 Vacation Day 13 - Are We in Niagara Falls?

Big drive today...from the very tiny NH coast line to the very large Lake George. Given the distance, we had to hit the freeways...our normal scenic route would have taken us all day. One thing I have noticed is that travel time while towing a trailer is about double. Although I am doing the speed limit or slightly below...it all just seems to take longer. There were some fabulous vistas coming across NH & Vermont...long rolling roads.

2009 Vacation Day 12 - Walking the Beach

Not a cloud in the sky when we woke...tons of sun, but it was a little cool to start. Wanted to check out the shower facilities. They are housed in a complex near the beach...we had heard from other campers that the showers were only cold water...no biggie...it's the summer...how cold could the water be? Nice and clean, individual little shower rooms...all very civilized. I have noticed, more times than not, that the pressure in these showers is generally pathetic...sufficient, but certainly not what one would call invigorating. Having been lulled from past experiences, I naturally expect the same.
So I give the tap a healthy twirl...and am immediately greeted with a firehose worthy blast of ICE cold water...pounding out of that little shower stall and drenching my previously civil little change space. Damn cold water. Mountain spring water...with nary a mountain to be seen. I am now officially wide awake.

2009 Vacation Day 11 - Shoparama?

Hit the road relatively early...need to use the freeways to skirt around Boston. Was planning to use 495, but discovered through conversations over the weekend, the 95 will be much shorter and is not the "urban" freeway we assumed it was. We did not want to get into an congested city traffic type situation. On the 95, you could think you were anywhere...pretty much connected surrounding little cities outside Boston through the forest. Good drive, definitely what you want to be able to say when you are pulling a trailer.