Plattsburgh

The NorthernBaby clan had some free time recently and decided to visit the other side of the lake. Northern Mommy and NB/T had never visited Plattsburgh in New York. (Northern Daddy had visited the less pleasant parts of Plattsburgh for some job interviews when we first became the Northerns.) The bonus in our planned destination was a trip to Target - there are a grand total of zero Target stores in the state of Vermont.

This picture was taken especially for Uncle Jeremy. (To prove that we did in fact drive almost an hour to get to a steeekin Tar-jhay!)It took some effort to get to our magical destination. We drove for endless miles....we boarded a ferry boat to cross the lake....
we drove some more.....

and finally, we reached the Golden(wait - make that Ruby for Target's red) Retail Outlet.

We grabbed a cart (they have really nice carts at the Plattsburgh Target-almost snagged one to take back home with us. Why? We don't really have a use for a shopping cart at home, but these carts were just that nice!) and started looking for a nice new slipcover for NorthernMommy's sofa. We had to browse through some throw pillows....

and play with some dog toys....

and we finally found a suitable slipcover for our home. After all of the excitement of Target, it was almost a let-down to shop the rest of the mall, but we were up to the task.


This thing - I'm not sure what exactly it is (there was a sign explaining it, but I gotta tell you I was so caught up in watching it work that I didn't read one word!) - I think it would be called a kinetic sculpture. (Okay, I just spent way too much time finding this on Google, but it was created by one George Rhoads http://www.georgerhoads.com/) This thing was awesome in its intricacy and just plain fun to watch - there are multiple steel balls travelling the rails and motorized lifts and such. Everything , all of the multiple lifts and ladders, is powered by one small electric motor that connects to everything through gears and belts. Really cool!

After the mall and all of the excitement of stores and the food court, our intrepid adventurer NB/T fell asleep as we drove out through Plattsburgh's waterfront area. It was much prettier than most people in our area would let on. It's no Burlington, but a nice place to visit on a sunny summer day.

As NB/T snored away the miles, we came across this ice cream joint (this was not far from the motel we passed where we saw some really friendly young ladies working their summer jobs......it's not often that we pass through areas with working prostitutes, but we managed to in Plattsburgh!) If you could get past the idea of eating ice cream made in a silo - and past the creepiness of the working 'ladies' not so far away - it was a neat place to stop. And the best part?--NB/T got NONE! He was asleep, so he forfeited his chance at ice cream! Northern Mommy was happy to get a chance to eat ice cream without a pushy little whiner constantly asking for a bite!