Jetta No More

At long last my string of VW ownership has been broken. My third VW...a 2001 Wolfsburg and I have parted company. It has been to Glacier National Park, the North Shore of Minnesota a couple of times and innumerable times to Pardeeville, WI. 

After 123,000 its age was starting to show. The driver's side heated seat stopped heating two years ago. That made winter less bearable. The check engine light has been on for 13,000 miles. But according to everything I have read on the net that's not uncommon. Two tires had slow leaks. Oh, and the sensor the detected the drivers side door being opened hasn't been working for  a long time. Aside from the dome light not coming on when the door is opened, it also relocked the doors after 3o seconds. Practically that meant the car needed to start less than 30 seconds after the doors were unlocked or else the car alarm would go off. Amazingly none of this to me was an annoyance.

The crayon smell inside the cabin has been with me the whole time...ever since I purchased it from Burnsville VW brand spankin' new with 13 miles on the odometer. Everyone who rode in it asked the same question, "Do you know that your car smells like crayons?"

For now my car is a 2007 Toyota Corolla - a base model. Why? It was a deal that I couldn't pass up. Not what I would choose on my own. But an opportunity that I couldn't say no to.

It is a very nice, solid, good car. It doesn't have the sports suspension or the torque of the 1.8 turbo. The brakes are as responsive as the VW's for disc brakes. But it is a nice car. But it sure isn't the Jetta. 

The magic of Poutine

Looks appetizing, no?

Poutine, not to be confused with Putin, is another recently discovered favorite of Kristi's. Poutine is a French-Canadian dish consisting of French fries, gravy and soft cheese curds. (See Wikipedia's entry.)

The Burger King in Montreal had a poutine option on their menu. We had to wade through a bit of French to get the order to the cashier. Our poutine was packaged in the same type of styrofoam carton as what is pictured. Actually this photo is a very accurate representation of what we received from BK. The white on top is the soft cheese curd. The texture is something like a deep fried cheese curd but not as rubbery. The gravy is a simple brown gravy - fairly nondescript. The only thing that has any nutritional value is the fry (if the potato skin is left on).

Don't be too surprised if you some Poutine at a dinner party sometime this year. 

Donut Conclusion

After two weeks of Tim Horton's, Dunkin Donuts and Robin's Donuts we (Kristi and I) have definitive opinions about the whole donut thing.

1. Canadians and East Coaster have a serious problem with the donut business. Either they don't know or don't care about the health implications of a steady diet of these babies. Maybe Supersize Me hasn't been translated into Canadian.

2. Donunts have zero fiber content. Eat wallpaper paste and you intestines will like you better than eating a diet of donuts. Two steady days of Dulcolax wasn't enough med to break through the problem. A third day using Exlax was enough to punch through.

3. Who tastes better? As far as donuts go, everyone must be buying their donuts from the same supplier. None really tasted different. They were sort of interchangeable. Sad to say but true. A winner can't be named. Coffee, supposedly the big point of difference between the chains was an even bigger disappointment. Everyone had a muddy, somewhat burned light roast.  Coffee shops have nothing to fear from a donut chain invasion. Without a doubt Second Moon has unbeatable coffee.

I'm going to go back over our route and see if I can track each and every place that Kristi had a maple donut. If I'm ever in trouble (as most husbands are prone to at one point or another) a six pack of maple donuts is going to get me back in good graces much faster than flowers. I really hope that Tim Horton has an online delivery option.

Tough morning for the girl

There is a little "he said, she said" to this story. The last night in PEI was Tuesday. We wanted to get a good start to Boston on Wednesday morning so we wanted a good night of sleep. All of the suitcases were packed prior to going to bed. We were all set for a fast start in the morning.

About 4 a.m. all of the sudden I heard Kristi yell out...

Photos of the big day

Thanks Spencer for the great photography. Just a small sample of what he shot. Lots more on the way. There are more at his blog...

Morning in Boston

Driving in Boston isn't all that bad. It's the parking that's brutal. We took I-93 into Boston and managed to park in the Massachusetts Ear and Eye Infirmary. Somehow we managed to find the Freedom Trail and see most of the Boston historical sites. Once we got to the Old North Church we bailed out and headed to the car. $20 of parking was a cheap price for what we got to see.

Great Italian section in Boston near the Old North Church. If we had more time we would have sampled the food. All we have to show for our day in Boston is to packages of gnocchi. It will be a tasty reminder.

Boston roads did get a little tricky as we tried to find our way to Harvard. After stumbling across MIT we eventually found the campus and walked around for a little bit. Much smaller campus than I expected.

By 3:30 we were on the Mass Turnpike headed west to Albany. Holiday Inn is our destination. ...only the best for my gal.

Lobster dinner

OK the Glasgow lobster dinner doesn't have any church significance. It
is a fundraiser for the local fire department. Regardless, this dinner
pushed Kristi to the edge. I ate the plate of steamed muscles by
myself. She tried the lobster but decided to stick with her roast beef.

Two days earlier she tried clam strips and liked them. She has done
really well with the various seafood. I'm proud of her.

Kristi will be telling about the spousal abuse she experienced. Look
for the video blog soon.

On I-95...somewhere in Maine.

Kurt