It’s Labour day weekend (May 1 was considered a too communist date to hold this event) so it’s time to go to another instalment of the Harvest Party in Cherry Valley, New York. We combine it with a couple of hikes in the neighbouring Adirondacks.
We went on Friday after Alison’s work and it took an awful lot of time to cross the Canadian-US border. Not only were there a lot of cars that also went to the US, but I needed, for the first time, to be fingerprinted and they also took a picture of me. All foreigners entering the US, except Canadians and Mexicans, need to undergo these measures in order to protect the US from terrorists. In reality it only helps to catch illegal immigrants and petty thieves. I considered last fall to just boycott the US, but I’m afraid it won’t leave a lasting impression and I would have only punished myself. And with Alison having so much family members in the US it would also affect her. So I gave in and went for the humiliation of being treated as a sort of criminal. All in all crossing the border took more than two-and-a-halve hours, so we arrived quite late at our short hike to a pond with a camping spot. We pitched the tent and went immediately to sleep.
The following morning I skinny-dipped in the beautiful pond, but unfortunately the battery of my camera was flat so you have to use your imagination.
At the harvest party I met Alison’s aunt Cathy, who has the same camera as I have, and who was kind enough to lend me her battery to take the above picture. But for the rest of this trip we have to do without pictures…
Sep 4 2005
Harvest
It’s Labour day weekend (May 1 was considered a too communist date to hold this event) so it’s time to go to another instalment of the Harvest Party in Cherry Valley, New York. We combine it with a couple of hikes in the neighbouring Adirondacks.
We went on Friday after Alison’s work and it took an awful lot of time to cross the Canadian-US border. Not only were there a lot of cars that also went to the US, but I needed, for the first time, to be fingerprinted and they also took a picture of me. All foreigners entering the US, except Canadians and Mexicans, need to undergo these measures in order to protect the US from terrorists. In reality it only helps to catch illegal immigrants and petty thieves. I considered last fall to just boycott the US, but I’m afraid it won’t leave a lasting impression and I would have only punished myself. And with Alison having so much family members in the US it would also affect her. So I gave in and went for the humiliation of being treated as a sort of criminal. All in all crossing the border took more than two-and-a-halve hours, so we arrived quite late at our short hike to a pond with a camping spot. We pitched the tent and went immediately to sleep.
The following morning I skinny-dipped in the beautiful pond, but unfortunately the battery of my camera was flat so you have to use your imagination.
At the harvest party I met Alison’s aunt Cathy, who has the same camera as I have, and who was kind enough to lend me her battery to take the above picture. But for the rest of this trip we have to do without pictures…
By mare • english •