On Wednesday, I didn’t get a chance to sleep in as Trish, Caroline and I hit the open road to go down to Syracuse for some shopping at the outlet mall. It was due time that I got some new clothes and I also needed some new shoes.
The trip was fairly uneventful, although I do remember seeing two cops trying to get a deer out of the middle median of the highway. Both Trish and I saw the cops around the deer, but Caroline swears that she saw them shoot the deer. I find this quite hard to believe considering we were in the front and she was in the back. I really find it hard to believe that a tenth of a second later, a deer was shot! On the highway no less!
We made good time (probably due to the fact that we were travelling on a Wednesday!) and pulled into the Outlet Malls around 10:30AM. As soon as we pulled up, we were horrified as Trish said “Is it closed on Wednesday?” There was literally ten cars in the parking lot! We are lucky in that it was still open. Trish and I treated ourselves to some Arby’s and I made the age-old mistake of ordering ice tea. I’m sure I’ve already mentioned this somewhere, but ice tea in the United States DOES NOT CONTAIN SUGAR! Argh, it is disgusting. I could not finish more than three sips and Trish was gracious enough to pass me some of her own drink.
The day was fairly uneventful. I went to Banana Republic to pick up some pants and a nifty new hat for the summer. We then moseyed over to the Kitchen appliance store and marvelled at their wares. In the end, I got a pair of Pumas at 40% off (plus I could have potentially got an additional 30% off if I left an old pair of shoes there to some African country!), some dress shoes, some shirts, some shorts, and a Nike Sensor which goes into my shoe and interacts with my iPod to measure my pace while jogging. It’s quite neat. All Nike shoes supposedly have a spot in the heel to insert this sensor. I also managed to pick up a Nickelback DVD I couldn’t find in Canada as well as the new Tenacious D DVD for $12! That was increcible considering I’ve only seen it for $30+ in Canada.
After the day was done, we headed into Watertown to go to Ruby Tuesdays where we had some amazing steak the last time. Unfortunately, this magical steak must have only been in Syracuse at the time as we were quite unimpressed with our food this time around. We contemplated bringing some mini-burgs back across the border but upon asking the waitress if she knew if we can transport them, she thought we could not as they were a meat product. This was also our thought during the last trip.http://palmer.grumpster.com/?p=1214 So no mini-burgs were bought and we headed for the border.
I’m glad we decided to hit the road a little earlier this time around rather than arriving home around midnight like the usual trips. I think if we just stick to the outlet mall and not go into Syracuse, life is good.
When we hit the border, Trish’s favourite story comes into play. We pull up to the booth and I declare that I have purchased $400 worth of goods and the other two women have around $100 each. He asks a few questions…
Guard: “Do you have any tobacco/alcohol?”
Me: “No.”
Guard: “Any bologna?”
Me: “Get yer damn dirty paws off of my bologna!” (ok, this didn’t really happen)
Guard: “Any gifts?”
Me: “Uh yes, actually a gift for my girlfriend.”
Guard: “What is the value of this gift?” (thinking that out of the $400, it must be quite a pricey gift.)
Me: “Mmm…I would say $15.”
At this point the guard’s eyes go as big as saucers as he realizes I spent $400 and all I got my girlfriend was something worth $15. Trish is trying not to crack up beside me. As soon as we pull away she bursts out laughing at the sheer absurdity of the moment.
We head into the office and pay our dues (actually Caroline did not have to pay anything. Sweet!) and I take this moment to finally set the record straight about something that has been nagging me.
Me: “Excuse me, but can I ask a question about crossing the border with burgers?”
Guard: “Sure…what about them?” (with a highly skeptical look)
Me: “Well, we’re wondering if we can transport some burgers from the restaurant across the border to eat later.”
Guard: “Uh…well…of course you can! It would be different if it would be a truck full of burgers but if it’s just some burgers in a bag, that’s fine.” Please note that this guy is looking at me like I’m crazy. Of course, after the bologna incident, I am careful of these things!
Me: “Great, thanks!”
Guard: “Wait! Where are these burgers from?!” (thinking that they must be the most amazing burgers for me to want to cross the border with them.)
Then I tell him about the Ruby Tuesday’s mini-burgs and he seems unimpressed. Trish is cracking up behind me as I ask the border guard about some mini hamburgers. I am glad I took the time to do so because now I know I can bring some mini-burgs back with me the next time! Yeeha!
The rest of the trip was fairly inconsequential although we got into a good game of highway hypotheticals near the last leg of the trip. We rolled into town around 10PM. All in all, a productive day on the road! Perhaps it shall become a tradition as there isn’t much to do on St. Jean Baptiste.
By the way, if you are wondering what I picked up for Vero, it is a Snuggie and supposedly is quite lame. But I knew Vero would love it, and she does. She doesn’t want to leave the house without it!