My Factory of Extravagant Marvels

We left right after work on Friday June 25th. Gabriela and Paulo picked up Jon and I at home and then we left towards Black Mountain, by Lake George. The car trip, once we managed to get to the highway, was about 3 hours long. Black Mountain is located by Pike Brook Road, just off route 22 in the state of New York. Our first hike comprised a stop by Lapland Pond for a quick swim in the muddy waters, and a walk by wetlands and two other ponds before we reached the peak of  Black mountain. Paulo and Gabriela are more experienced hikers and could keep up a very decent pace. Jon, although also experienced in outdoorsy life, had injured his ankle playing basketball and had to pay attention to each step. That was good, because I was carrying a lot of wait for what I am used to and I can't say that I spent that many hours of my life hiking, being a city girl that I am. I love it though and want to keep on doing this. I like city life but there is definitely no comparison with the life y

This past weekend promised lots of adventures. Jon went down to St. Albans, VT, by bike on Friday and my plan was to join him on Saturday, bringing my bike on the good old Greyhound to ride back to Montreal. We were going to visit the Hartmans and pick up our new sexy camera. Everything was going well, I got help from Aaron, Jen and Jack to prepare everything and was able to leave on time. Jack even gave me a ride to the bus station. The sun was shining and there was no rain in the forecast for the whole weekend... I was feeling lucky! The bus was not very full, I noticed. It should not take too long once we got to the border. Or so I thought. Once we got to the Vermont border, I was informed by the border patrol officer that my passport was expired. By 38 days, to be precise. And I had just not noticed. Now, do you want to know the best part of the story? The border patrol officers who let me in the USA two weeks before that - when my passport was expired by 26 days - had no