Plans are afoot!

During a lull in today's activities (my truck is getting a scheduled maintenance, we got my new watch resized, Barnum got an oil change, and right now Kiri is having her hair redone) I'm starting to do some research on flights for Anticipation.

The current plan is to fly into New York City (possibly getting together with fimbrethil et al for a quick visit), take the train up to Albany, where we would meet up with jarlsberg71 and drive the rest of the way. The con itself is August 6th - 10th, so I want to leave on the 3rd (morning flight) with the plan being to overnight in Albany, then not have to race up to The Great White North. Coming back would be a reverse of the previous trip. Car, train, the fly out of NYC on the 13th.

Alternately, I've found that we can fly to Montreal's Trudeau International Airport with a layover in Detroit for about the same price as going through NYC. The layover going back is 3.5 hours.

On the gripping hand, we could fly into Albany, meet up with John and then do the drive.

No matter what option we choose, airfare alone is going to be about a grand.

I'm doing this all through Orbitz. Anyone have a site they prefer?

Oohh. Kirsten will want to kill me, but...

Another option for the trip.

Fly to Detroit, rent a car, and drive to Montreal. 586 miles according to Google Maps.

So, how crazy am I? I'm figuring a red eye to Detroit, and breaking for a lunch will get us into Montreal in the evening. Remember, I drive long stretches for a living, so it's not a big thing for me to go six or seven hours on the road.

Canadians.. anything I should know about driving on your beaver-infested roads?

Meow. (A wine review)

Tonight we decided to open the Herding Cats Chenin Blanc/Chardonnay to go with garlic-enhanced chicken and stuffing.

Very nice. The chenin blanc gave a nice tartness on first taste, while the ending was quite smooth and effervescent throughout. Forget what you expect with chardonnay wines, this is not a wine for sipping on a warm evening. I'd definitely pair it with a meal, although keep the menu light. Alcohol content is 13%, and it hit us both hard. The pairing is 80% Chenin Blanc and 20% Chardonnay. Interestingly, we both noticed small bubbles in our glasses. Not a sparkling wine, but there was a small bit of carbonization.

This was our first South African wine, and we were pleasantly surprised. kshandra and I both give it 3 penguins out of 5.