Sunday, September 30, 2012

Ice cream fail. And no crocodiles.

Long post again. Sorry.

The drive from Lincoln to Burlington was very scenic. More rolling hills, more dark woods, more leaves that looked like they were on fire. For a moment I felt like I would get desensitized, that I would get scenic overload, and not be able to appreciate it anymore. But then I took a turn and came upon yet another breathtaking landscape, and that thought was gone baby gone.

I was too early for check-in again, so I went a-hunting for food, and killed some time over a burger with my book. The book is a collection of the best short stories that have been published in Hammer & Bolter, Games Workshop's online magazine for fiction set in their different universes. I have written quite a lot of stuff set in the WH40K universe and read some, some good, some bad, some downright awful. Now I wanted to read some of those short stories, to get an idea of the level of writing and if I could match it. I think I can. Hell no, I know I can. Applications open April 1st. I'm going to have a killer story done then.

But back to the trip. I didn't really do much of anything in Burlington. The Headache was acting up, so I spent some time reading, writing, walking around. Then I went to the movies and saw End of Watch. Very different for a cop movie, in a lot of ways, almost all of them good. See it.

I left early to drive to Lake Placid. As I was walking out through the lobby I noticed a pamphlet that had the Ben & Jerry's logo on it. Ooooh. Picked it up. Opened it. Read. Factory tour! See Ben & Jerry´s ice cream madness! Wohoo!

Then. Disaster. "The factory doesn't make ice cream on the weekend." NOOOOOOOOO!!! So a tour would be just...a tour. A these here are the machines that usually make ice cream kind of thing. No no no. Even worse? I could have gone Friday. Fucking Headache that made me ignore everything, including the pamphlet stand in the lobby.

Instead, I got into the car and set off for Lake Placid. Again, the GPS took me on another route than what Google suggested. Smaller roads, which I prefer. More small towns, more twisting and turning roads. And a ferry! I had no idea I was taking one, and all of sudden I was in line, waiting to drive onto the ferry. I think it was good that I was unprepared. I have horrible experiences with sea sickness, and I would probably have been on edge knowing I was getting on a boat.

It went fine. Dark clouds overhead and thick mists shrouded the nearby mountains and hills, but the wind was weak and the lake flat. The ferry carried me into the state of New York.

Then another drive through spectacular landscapes. Peaks and valleys, woods and rivers. Mind-blowing, and so unlike anything I've seen before. Finally I arrived in Lake Placid. A small town, 2500ish people, still clinging to the glory of the 1980 winter Olympics. The whole place screams winter sports, and the main street is a major tourist trap in the same league as Old Town in Stockholm. Really not my kind of place at first glance, but there are other reasons it's full of tourists.

This time I did look at the pamphlets. So tomorrow I am going on a tour of a gorge about an hour from here, and then something else that I can't remember right now. The weather is going to suck, but that will make people stay away from those activities, so yay!

I went to the movies yet again today, and saw Looper. Nice scifi action movie with some unexpected twists. I had some major flaws, but was still well worth seeing. The theatre was really old school. One ticket window, small coarse paper tickets, a little old man in a uniform tearing the stubs, what I presume was his wife behind the snack counter. The ticket was seven dollars, the snacks were three bucks each, regardless of the kind.

In line ahead of me I heard some people talking about a fundraiser for the theatre. Inside, the people that had been talking sat down behind me and kept talking. So I got into the conversation. Turns out the theatre has to upgrade to digital projectors to be able to show new movies, and they simply don't have the money. We discussed ways they could use Funded By Me or similar sites to raise money from people outside of town that had been to the theatre. I for one would gladly pay, since the place was cool and little old men need their movie theatres. We also talked a bit about Sweden and the 49ers and Lake Placid and other stuff. One of them was a former Olympian and had won a silver medal in luge in the Nagano Olympics. Cool.

I am staying one more night in Lake Placid before going on to Albany. Tomorrow I will try and get up early to go to the gorge. In the evening I will go to the sports bar down the street to find some football fans and scream at a game. In between I may go look for crocodiles, but I doubt I'll find any...

No pics today. Maybe tomorrow, or after Albany.

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