Well, our family finally made the transition from the palmy mid-West to the urban jungle of New York. As one dear old lady warned me, "move" is a four-letter word, but in earnest, now that it's all done, it's good to be in the Big Apple. Half the fun of the whole endeavor was driving a ponderous 22-ft moving truck with a friend, packed with all our worldly goods (all of which were rued, by the way), and learning how to be a trucker. Stops at diesel stations: chatting with drivers of big rigs: being forced to use the trucks-only lanes: being asked to stop at weigh stations: finding in the last 5 miles of our trip that Parkways means "no trucks" and Mapquest had only given us directions for a normal car....
Getting back into a normal car was great fun after inadvertently pruning trees, flattening curbs, and threatening the residents of Scarsdale, NY. So I drove back to Michigan to retrieve my family after unpacking our furniture in NY, and the trip to Canada land began. Despite my beard at the border crossing and having to switch to kilometers once in Ontario, it couldn't have been smoother. Ontario boasts towns in close succession with the names of Paris, Milan, Oxford, and Cambridge. Who needs Europe? But a true boast of our northern neighbors is their marvelous Niagara Falls. It far exceeded expectations, and truth be told, the Canadian falls are much more impressive than the American side. We even took a boat (the so-called "Maid of the Mist") which takes you so close to the Falls that you think this time the captain has had it and is ready to submerge us all permanently. What a fantastic sight to look *up* as thousands of tons of water are pouring down at you.
So, after 3 days in the land which, as a native informed me, cares most about beer and hockey, we entered New York and drove to the Seminary in Crestwood, NY which is to be our home for the next 3 years. A glorious home. Loads of families with children all attending the Seminary, mandatory chapel twice a day when the school year begins (the chapel and choir are very hard to describe, but splendid), and lots of Italians in the area. But the thought of our children obtaining NY accents is troubling!
Nicodemus
Nick,
Glad you had a successful journey--or two. Keep us 'posted' on how the studies go!
T. More
Posted by: Thomas More | August 13, 2007 at 05:14 PM