TEST

We never had an apartment on the ocean before. This could get addictive.

I have no idea who these people are but they were in seats that we very much coveted.

I just met these dogs a minute ago.

Wer'e accustomed to seeing sugar in little packets but it really does grow someplace first.

It's a bird rave party. Admission is strictly by invitation only.

Our first apartment in South beach. The woman was an unwilling participant in this photo. Another words, I drank too much coffee and did not possess the necessary patience to wait for her to leave my view finder.

She likes rainbows.

Wow! JC Penney is having a sales on pillowcases.

Some friends that Yelena met in Yoga class. Should i be worried?

The next time that I order a $17 drink, it better come with a side of lobster.

Originally I was going to photograph turtles but, the bastards never showed up!

The building on the right was where we stayed for a month on the ocean. That was nice. Notice that I'm wearing a long sleeved shirt. I hate long sleeved shirts. That's why I'm supposedly moving to South Florida but, this year all bets are off on the weather.

Notice that she's wearing a jacket. It's just not right, who can we sue?

Boston, the city that we visited on the way to a desired destination. If that sounds harsh, well, it is, sort of. The truth is that after living in NYC for decades, Boston feels horribly immature. There is no real cohesion to the place. Sure, there are some individual streets in a few neighborhoods that are beautiful and old but a few streets do not make a city. Apparently, Boston was poorly planned and even after they spent a fortune burying the main highway that split the downtown in two (The big dig), the area now looks forced and, the supposed parks above the highway are sterile and a poor afterthought and, don't get me started on it's miserable weather. It has the worst of both worlds; as a city it is too small and unsophisticated to be taken seriously and as a college town, it is too spread out and lacks intimacy.

"And one and two and one and...oh come-on Johnson, take it up a notch, that's the spirit!

My stereo would sound amazing in here!

A building in Harvard.

Modern architecture.

Washington is not a place you go to in search of a fine meal. Of course in a city of this size, you will find some wonderful restaurants but I sense that the majority of D.C. locals do not care that much about the quality (flavor or healthiness) of their dining experiences and it shows. We frequented different bakeries and dessert places, all sub-par. We walked around two fine neighborhoods; Dupont Circle and Georgetown. Both were major culinary disapointments. We don't expect much from food when we are in the country (although we have been pleasently surprised on multiple occasions) but when one is in a major city, there really is no excuse for the amount of uninspired food that we experienced. Of course it seems that I'm obsessing about food but after all, why build and maintain a city if tasty food is not part of the equation. Also, D.C. has an inflated and cynical sense of itself. You can feel it when you walk around and talk to people. The energy of the place is a bit on the negative side and with good reason. Imagine all of the politicians, lobbyests, lawyers and other cynical people whose job it is to slice up the country for their gain. Sure, other large cities have powerful greedy individuals in their midst but, this city is built for politicians and all that they represent. Aside from some beautiful old government buildings...

You will be mine, you will be mine all mine...

Staring at the food will not make it go away.........Yes dear.

The library of congress. No, this is not my first library experience smart asses!

Lord, I ask for forgiveness. Request denied!

How do we know that he was born in this country?

Savanah is charming and old.

Just charming.

Vermont and New Hampshire are right next to each other so it was relatively easy to drive from one to the other...

I do love a paved road, don't you?

There is no better (and lazier) way to see the foliage then to drive through it.

First, we visited the largest city in Vermont - Burlington. With a population of 38,889 at the 2000 census, the city is the smallest U.S. city to be the largest city in its state. The highlight of the trip was this high-end chocolate store, Lake Champlain Chocolates to be exact. Ok, to be honest, we visited 2 of their stores because they were giving out free organic truffle samples and somebody wanted to spread her piggishness around.

This is Lake Champlain, not to be confused with the more famous chocolates.

Vermont State symbols:
State Beverage - milk.
State Pie - apple pie.
State syrup - Maple.

We drove through a bunch of dairy farms.

Haven't seen any orchards, but plenty of maple!

It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup.

We drove by some ski area, can you tell?

From Vermont we drove across the state to Franconia Notch State Park, New Hampshire, which is set in the White Mountains.







If you look real close, you can faintly make out mountains and stuff.

Buy the ticket, take the ride.

The state motto: "live free or die" (another unrelated comment).

New Hampshire was the first to declare its independence from Mother England -- a full six months before the Declaration of Independence was signed. You go girl!

And now, the start of her striptease show.

And finally the jacket comes off.

I've got all day.

I look small compared to the log behind me but, that's the point and no, I don't have an inferior complex, anymore.

Red ones, yellow ones, green ones, orange ones...

She is just dizzy with delight!

In a distant time there was mountain, then men, then wheat, then Wonder bread.

We had to say goodbye to the Presidential range in the distance. Not an easy thing to do.

Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288 ft.

It is famous for its dangerously erratic weather, and long held record for the highest wind gust directly measured at the Earth's surface - 231 mph on the afternoon of April 12, 1934.

To get to the summit we took the 7.6 mile toll road. The line is normally quite long, but we lucked out.

It is a very steep climb from an altitude of 1,527 ft at the bottom to 6,145 ft at the top, an average gradient of 11.6%., so our car proudly got the bumper sticker:

Opened in 1861, the Mount Washington Carriage Road was the first man-made tourist attraction in America.
Building the Road was an enormous task. The nearest source of supplies was eight miles away, and all transportation was by horse, oxen or on the backs of men. Dynamite was unknown. Black powder was the explosive, and blasting holes were all drilled by hand. There was no machinery to handle the countless tons of rock and gravel that had to be moved. Even in Mount Washington's bad weather, laborers worked 10-12 hours a day and lived in primitive tents.

All that labor so we can enjoy a beautiful drive up.

As we climb higher, the temperature drops and the vegetation changes dramatically. No tree can survive the destructively high winds.

Unfortunately, we only made it up to the 4,000 ft mark because the road was closed due to nasty snow and ice.

You can count on me to be properly dressed for any occasion. I wanted to wear sandals, but I thought that they would clash with my hat.

I thought the view would be better from the edge of the cliff. Guess who pleadingly disagreed.

Winds exceed hurricane force about 110 days per year.

I had the color purple in my mind and so I said, "let there be purple", and it was a good thing.

Now that's what I call hardy plant life. The unquenchable desire to hang on no matter what life throws at you. I must be strong, they're watching me.

I told you not to go out into the wind. Don't give me that look, you'll get no sympathy!

Mt. Washington has a subarctic climate, although it receives an extremely high amount of precipitation, atypical for most regions with such cold weather. Other nerdy points to follow...

The best views from the top open up during autumn foliage.

"When you go out into the cold you'll take it and like it".

The amazing thing is that in order to see this tundra plant life in Colorado, you would need to be at the 12,000 ft level, not 4,000 ft as it is here.

I knew I got out of the car for a reason, but it's so cold that I forgot why...

Starting my descent, I had the strange desire to put the car in neutral and see what would happen. Someone had other ideas...

"Slow down, I want to take a picture"... "Anything you say Pookie". "Don't you Pookie me!"

Isn't color fun? Isn't fun the best thing in the world?

Excuse me, is there any organic food around here?

"This is my big opportunity to pose next to a gas station. Call my agent."

And of course no blog is complete without a picture of a sunset:

Mount Desert Island, the largest island off the coast of Maine, is home of Acadia National Park and the town of Bar Harbor. The town gave us an impression of being very progressive - lots of health food stores and restaurants which proudly serve local and organic food. The island has a permanent population of approximately 10,000, although it is estimated that two and a half million tourists a year visit Acadia National Park.

Were it not for slow moving, continental glacier over a mile high,... 2 miles thick in some places, the mountains here would be significantly higher than what we see today.

When this giant glacier finally melted and retreated, it left rounded mountain tops, long lakes, many boulders, and the 7 mile long Somes Sound - the only fjord on the East coast of the United States.

The glaciers also left some peculiar shapes...

We took a hike up Gorham Mountain Trail. It's one of the most popular hiking trails in Acadia National Park

And here is the proof that we made it to the top

With a 525 foot summit, it is not one of the highest mountains on Mount Desert Island, but because of its coastal location, the views are close enough to be intimate and spectacular.

It was really windy is some spots

I photographed her yet again to see a reflection of myself in her glasses at the same time, a narcisist's dream.

What a world we live in - some people photograph their reflections, yet some photograph teddy bears on top of a mountain:

A matching set:

Mr. Nature's favorite viewing position.

The island does have a beach. Here I pose for the Paparazzi

while she is sunbathing

Next destination - Cadillac Mountain. It is one of 17 mountains on Mount Desert Island, that were pushed up by earth's tectonic and volcanic forces millions of years ago.

At 1,532 feet, it is the highest point along the North Atlantic seaboard.

The summit provides spectacular views of Bar Harbor

Vacation or not, sinister thoughts brew.

Penny for your thoughts, "just take the @$%#'-in picture".

Cadillac Mountain is also the first place to view sunrise in the United States from October 7 through March 6. Unfortunately we were there in September, so missed it... Instead here is the picture of sunset:

It was really cold here

Each little island explored, a new adventure...

There is a Japanese garden on the island. It's green.

She's smelling blueberries and I'm doing god knows what.

"Leave me alone."

I know I can count on her to lead me astray

Who's that lurking in the shadows?

PS from Yelena.

This was my first visit to a US National Park and I was really impressed that this park, apparently like all other American national parks and monuments, is well preserved and easy to access. The detailed map outlines all the attractions, hiking trails and clean restroom facilities, which there are plenty, so you don't have to do it in the forest Remember that, my fellow former-USSR friends? The U.S. is the only country I know of that takes such a tremendous pride in its national parks. Given NPS's $2,750,000,000 annual budget and amazing services that it provides, an $80 yearly pass for a car is a true bargain.

Time for fun trivia:

National parks and national monuments in the United States were originally individually managed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior. The movement for an independent agency to oversee these federal lands was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather, as well as J. Horace McFarland. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational, inspirational, and recreational benefits. This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service. On August 25, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed a bill that mandated the agency "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein, and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations."