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Today has dawned bright and sunny, temperatures expected to reach the mid 20's around 90 degrees C. Very nice, might have to wear shorts today, that'll frighten the natives!
I think we are off to a Shaker village this morning, lots to see there we think. The bikes will all be leaving today their nine day rally ends at 6pm so we might be in for a quieter night (I hope). To be fair things did quieten down from about midnight and only started up again around 6am. It's now 8.45am and the noise is getting louder and more consistent. having said that Anne reckons she's been disturbed (I've said that for a long time) on and off all night by the bikes.
Anyway breakfast and it was down to one of the places in the 'village' complex attached to the hotel. We had to queue which was unusual but I suppose expected as the whole place is still busy with bikers etc. Breakfast was fine and it gave us the opportunity to listen to two old ladies discussing the merits of using Tarragon in the sauce for eggs benedict, only for them to realise when they tasted it that there was none of the herb in the sauce, of course this was put down to them having changed the recipe!! Americans you have just got to love them.
Breakfast completed we returned to the room to collect camera's etc and to force ourselves into our shorts. Not a task for the feint hearted or those of a delicate disposition. We both managed to get into a pair and a dashing couple of figures we looked (not). I also had the opportunity to open my Fathers Day cards which were lovely.
Off we set to find the Shaker village and find it we did, it was a little further than expected but as it turned out well worth the effort. We arrived and were greeted by a lovely lady who explained all about the place, got us orientated on the map and while I was paying the entrance fee had a discussion with Anne all about origami!! I think business must be slow as there were a couple of staff behind the counter I noticed making cranes (birdy things) out of various sized paper. Down stairs we went to catch a movie all about the Shaker movement, which it turned out was a religious group that favoured celibacy aswell as family, not sure how that worked but hey! And there I was thinking they just made furniture! We visited a number of buildings following the film where some very nice people explained in detail such things as broom making and how they were all fed in shifts together with what they ate. For instance jacket potato and apple pie for breakfast, weird. The buildings were fantastic and the whole place very photogenic, I took a few I have to admit as I was well taken with the place. We even had a bit of lunch there where I had a bottle of rhubarb soda, very tasty. Again the member of staff there was very pleasant and we had a good chat with her and she explained that the Shaker movement no longer exists and there are only three Shakers left in America (there is scope for a joke there but I'll desist).
We then decided to return to Meredith by a slightly longer route and to be fair it was certainly longer. In fact from my point of view too long given that I have another 250 plus miles to drive again tomorrow which will take at least 3.5 hrs, so much for a relaxing holiday!!
Eventually we got back to Meredith and we went straight to Franky and Bennys for ice cream (I deserved it). I had three scoops of strawberry cheesecake and Anne had one scoop of something with pecan nuts in it, lovely and thoroughly enjoyable whilst sat in the 80 degree heat. A wander along the lakeside and a watch of the boats coming and going was in order, how some of these people manage is beyond me. They have as much trouble 'parking' a boat as people do parking cars! Funny thing though is it's blokes who can't park boats, never even seen a woman try so it's probably prohibited by law! Maybe I could try to bring in a similar law in the UK to prevent women parking cars (any support for this let me know). The other thing I've noticed is how many sea faring dogs there are ( no I don't mean ugly women on boats). We watched several boats come and go and the majority had dogs on board (even those without the four legged variety). Then to top it off we went back to the hotel to find a couple checking in with their animal 'nellie' I feel like I'm part of that film 'hotel for dogs'. Not funny for a man who thinks dogs are not mans best friend especially when I see them being treated like a person, I hate it. There have been several people carrying their animal around with them, I just want to stop them and tell them it can walk it has four feet, put the dammed thing down. As you can possibly tell it's something I have fairly strong views on!!
So at the moment we are back in the room getting sorted for dinner, not sure where we are going but I'm tempted to take my own cutlery!!
We ended up at the Italian the same as last night only tonight was much quieter, no bikers. Anne had a starter which was a meal in itself, it was written as spinach and goats cheese rolls. We expected maybe a couple as a stater but not here in the good old US of A, a plate as big as bug could be arrived and there was at least 12 big slices of this roll, enough to have done us both as a main course. Half of it was left, it was a waste but impossible to eat it all. After all we had a pizza the size of a round coffee table to get through, again we failed and left half of it. Now being in America they wanted to parcel it all up for us to take him. It's the norm here, your paying for it do it's yours is the attitude. Of course when we refused the offer to take it I thought the waiter was going to fall over. You could see the shock and amazement on his face, he went ashen ( a feat in itself given he was black)!! Anyway once he'd got over the shock I paid the bill and we left, to take a short walk along the front. As it was we were still back at the hotel room for about 2115hrs. Not much to do here on an evening especially as the hotel has no bar and there are no drinking establishments in the local area. You seem to drink with your meal here and that's it.
Something I have noticed while travelling around is that any town/settlement that has a Masonic Lodge displays the Hammer and Sickle (oops Square and Compass), on a road sign as you enter the town, giving the name and number of the lodge. A good idea I think and maybe something we should look at doing in the UK, I might send it in as a suggestion to Grand Lodge, that should guarantee I don't progress!!
Anyway thats it for the night, it's now 2200hrs, Anne is reading a book, yes that's how bored she is, so I'll do my Zebbidy impression and inform Anne it's time for bed and hopefully I'll have no trouble with Dillon! Sleep well my friends and may the force be with you all.
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