Down to Harrisburg
Trip Start
Aug 11, 2007
1
10
68
Trip End
Nov 08, 2007
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Monday, August 20, 2007
Not a bad trip down through to New York, then over the Tappan Zee bridge - a bit north of NYC, so the closest we got was seeing the city skyline in the far distance as we crossed the Hudson River. We'd decided not to stay in NYC for the couple of nights we'd tentatively planned - 2 nights is really too short, so we'll look at coming back for a month in the next year or so instead.
Just after we crossed into New Jersey it started to rain, then pour, so for the next 4 hours we drove in pissing rain, made heaps worse cos there's so many big trucks on the interstate highways between NYC and Harrisburg (some of the heaviest truck traffic in the US) kicking up so much spray we couldn't see more than a few metres in front of the car (as you barrel along at 110 - 130 kms/hr!). And then there was some accident that choked the traffic for miles....
420 miles (around 700 kms) and 9 hours after starting out from Falmouth, we finally arrived at our friend's Karen and Allan Burton's place in Harrisburg just after 6pm - about when we were scheduled to arrive.
Tues 21st - Woke to rain and cold (nearly as cold as NZ!) Chris had been developing tonsillitis for a few days, and while it finally looked like it might be improving, he was concerned it might develop into a strep infection, so we wanted to get it checked by a doctor and definitely get it cleared up. So after breakfast it was off to the A&E department of Holy Spirit Hospital - the best place for him to see a doctor since we no longer have US medical insurance! This is an eye opener for those of us who have used A&E in NZ - you get to the car park of the hospital and a notice informs you that if you don't want to (or can't) walk to the clinic, then you have two other options - either use the free car park shuttle to get you to the clinic door; or drive to the door, get out and use the free valet parking service!!! Then into the clinic where there was hardly anyone waiting (let alone the electronic sign telling you the wait is now 6 hours...) and virtually straight in to see a doctor. It took around 2 hours in the clinic, but most of that was waiting for the test results to come back. Luckily, negative for the bad bugs, but Chris has got a penicillin prescription just in case.
Then it was an afternoon of catching up with people - firstly at the Fonterra USA office (although about half the people there now are new faces for us) and then a surprise visit to our former neighbours in Bridgeview Drive - Phyllis, Caroline and Bill.
Allan, Karen and us all went out for dinner at one of our old favourite haunts - Bangkok Wok, (the only decent Thai place around here) where the food was just as good and their salt water aquarium is still flourishing (in fact the owner showed us where the clown fish (the little Nemo ones) were breeding in this huge anenome).
Coming down from the Cape and back in Harrisburg so easy to drive and find our way around - it hardly seems like we've been away for 2 years!
