Random Walk (see footnote 1 below)

June 8, 2009

America is wonderful.  Yesterday, Walter and I were holding hands and strolling along the paths at Niagara Falls (both in America and in Canada).  Today, I'm about to quaff the last beer of vacation in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  The Eisenhower Interstate System:  what a great use of taxpayer money!

Here's a confession, when I come across a vacation entry on other people's websites (you know. . .on the first day we . . .then we. . .after that. . .), I barely skim them.  I know, someone has had the vacation of a lifetime, seen exotic and memorable things, and wants to tell me all about it.  Well, I'm going to assume everyone else is just like me, so for your benefit, I'm going to skip the details and give you a small random walk through our last eight days. . .you know the parts that would catch your eye if you skimmed the more detailed version.

• I saw an empty helicopter propped on the lip of a ridge right above highway 81 when I drove through Virginia.  It made me say HMM.
• Fifty-one minutes into the trip on the first day (that's how long it took for me to remember that I forgot my lap desk so that I could write thank you notes when it was Walter's turn to drive)
• Did you know you have to pay 50 cents to get back into the US from Canada?  I didn't and neither did the nice woman from the midwest, who had crossed the pedestrian bridge to take a picture without her purse.
• West Texas does not have a monopoly on wind generators.  We saw a wind farm in New York.
• If you choose your accommodations wisely in Erie, Pennsylvania, you never have to go outside (to eat, visit friends in other hotels, or spend the day at the local water park).  This would be handy if you planned to stay in the country's 13th snowiest city in the winter.
• You can wonder aimlessly around the Pentagon after dark without arousing suspicion if it is raining such a gully washer that even the MPs aren't on patrol.  Do not try that in dry weather or daylight.
• It is impossible for me to choose a favorite character from the new Star Trek movie, and I am only a little disappointed that rain scratched our soccer watching plans. 
• Yet again, the Buenger family agreed to meet at a restaurant that had closed down (no, we are not hungry idiots.  As has happened innumerable times before, we chose the restaurant and discovered its defunct-ness only after we arrived).

I'm told that the Let's Do It! Mission Weekend was a terrific success.  Thank you Tammy Raulerson for enlightening everyone about pediatric cancer, and thanks to all the participants for their good work.  

Walter and I still have miles to go before we can cuddle up the dogs.  By Wednesday, we'll all be doing the happy dance together.

(footnote 1:  Click here for the mathematical explanation of random walk)