BootsnAll Travel Network



Tour of New England

Horn Pond Maine.jpg

Almost a month since my last entry. It has been a transition month for us as we begin our move from one hemisphere to another. Before leaving Italy I was frantically trying to upgrade Luci’s laptop to XP while we had her parents DSL connection to use. I was for the most part successful but it took up a lot of my time. After returning to the States, I had my laptop sent in to be serviced which also inhibited my blogging.

Our re-entry to the US was, for the most part, uneventful. We were hassled somewhat at immigration because of Luci’s status. After 2 years of having a green-card, an alien resident who’s status is gained by virtue of marriage must submit proof that said marriage was made “in good faith”. When we submitted the paperwork (including the green-card itself) they told us it would be between 6 months and 2 years before we would receive the extended green-card. In the meantime, they put a really simple, red-ink stamp with some pen scribbles in her passport which was supposed to mean she could travel in and out of the US. Well, it wasn’t large and sparkly enough and didn’t contain the fingerprints and photos (1.25 inches by 1.25 inches showing the right ear with no jewelry) that the immigration officer was looking for so we got held up while he checked on it. When we arrive at my parents and began looking through our mail we found that the card had just arrived. The expiration date on her new green-card is May of 2014. We should have no more border problems for the next 10 years.

On the weekends while still in Italy, we made some nice trips around Lombardia with Luci’s parents. We went one Saturday to Lago Maggiore and another we took a drive around the Massiccio di Bernina. A couple of days before leaving Italy we finally got our itinerary for this season’s Antarctic deployment. We leave from Portland, Maine on the 7th of October (Thursday) and arrive on the Ice on the 11th. This has given us a little over two weeks to spend in New England before leaving again. We have been taking full advantage of our time to visit friends we haven’t seen in a long time. Last week we made a trip up to the White Mountains and hiked out to Zealand hut; one of my old haunts from my days working with the Appalachian Mountain Club. We didn’t spend nearly enough time in NH as we would have liked but we wanted to make sure to have enough time to go to Bar Harbor where we haven’t been in almost two years. Despite the short time we were there, we did manage to see some good friends. After leaving New Hampshire we drove to the Commonground Fair (an annual event in the state of Maine) where we met up with friends from all over the region, most of which we hadn’t seen in quite a while. After the fair, we went to my brother Isaac’s where I helped him do some painting before going down to Mount Desert Island. We spent two days on the island catching up with old friends and visiting our favorite places around the park. The town of Bar Harbor was packed with people from the cruise ships moored in the harbor so we tried to spend as much time as we could out of town.

Now we are back at my parents in Lebanon. Asa’s wedding was yesterday so all my other brothers and their significant others are staying here as well as us. The wedding was nice but, since I was in the ceremony, I don’t have any pictures to show of it. The weekend has been crazy but now, as the brothers trickle home, we have to start thinking about our imminent departure for Antarctica. We have begun to make piles of stuff in our room. The is the pile of stuff that is definately going with us to McMurdo; then there is the pile of stuff that is definately staying here or going back to Italy next spring; finally there is the pile of stuff that is currently in use that might either stay here or go with us to the Ice.

I hope to post another entry before leaving but it is hard to say for sure whether I will be able to or not. I will definitely be blogging from the Ice so keep checking up with us.



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