| Sitting by the fire on my hearth, sipping Italian wine, eating Vermont cheese and munching Canadian crackers, please allow me the liberty of adding a little anecdotal wisdom to this thread. Now, mind you, I don't want to cover the experience of the French Alps which is quite awesome indeed. I want to comment on Trip Reports. Thirty five years ago in the summer I drove across the country solo to Colorado. This was my second drive across the plains, my third trip to the Far West. I took a detour up to Madison, Wisconsin and stayed for a week or so with an acquaintance from college. I arrived in Madison a few hours after the famous riots and bombing there during the Vietnam War. The city was filled with pepper and tear gas while empty of people. My former college buddy (he had dropped out of my school, had gone to U. of Maryland and then transferred to U. of Wisconsin) was sharing a place out beyond the lake. I crashed there for a few days, and then he came up with the idea of going camping for a while in the Apostle Islands up on Lake Superior. For your information there is skiing there with a lift service area named Mt. Ashwebay. The winter snows are heavy and it is pretty rugged country. However, this guy was the type of guy who wiped his dog's ass (that's the truth). Most of his life was spent in Washington, D.C., and little of it was spent in the outdoors. He figured that since I was his guest and had some solid back country experience, he would do something different relying on me. The drive up through the north country of Wisconsin went well. However, as soon as we started to rough it, he started to complain. For three days it didn't stop. His dog, believe it or not, was also a terrible companion in the woods. When we pitched our tent and hit the sack, it didn't stop whinning outside. This was summer, mind you, cool but bearable. The dog was afraid of the dark!!! It was one of those big white Japanese or Siberian dogs, too. Nevertheless, after three days of this, we returned to Madison. Lo and Behold, immediately upon arriving in that fair city and meeting up with this guy's friends, I heard him declare he had a wonderful time!!! He couldn't stop gushing about what an incrediblely good experience he had!!! Thank God he didn't take a Camera with him. That would have been too much. |