Our Third Foreign Country (part three)

In an earlier post I talked about the honeymoon period one gets when moving to a new country. Well, the love in with Plattsburgh has begun!!! Here is my list of things I love about this place:

1) It is stunningly beautiful. The lake, river and country side is amazing. There are lots of outdoor activities and you can be in the middle of nowhere with a short drive out of town.

2) The people still have the small town friendliness and openness about them.

3) Humongous parking spaces, wide roads and the town is small enough that traffic is never bad.

4) The University is right on the Saranac River and river trail.

5) It's summer! Even this heat wave has been a huge relief compared to the weather we left behind.

6) They speak American English. Awesome!

7) The Koffee Kat coffee shop. I had the most AWESOME raspberry coffee milkshake ever.

8) Good Mexican food (at Pepper's Restaurant)

9) The wildlife, we have already seen a woodchuck (ground hog) behind the hotel and a beaver during a test drive while car shopping. A giant raccoon scared Karen nearly to death when we went for a walk a few mornings ago. Never know what is going to pop up next.

10) We are near our old friends Ken and Sara, Ken barbeques like a pro and his homemade beer number 17 is so good it would sell well in a British pub.

11) The birds, I have seen Cardinals, Blue Jays, Ospreys, Gold Finches and many other old favorites. I even have two new ones for my life list, the Common Grackle (the iridescent blue head is amazing in the right light) and Eastern Blue Bird. I can't wait to hit the major birding sites in the area!

12) Riding the ferry across Lake Champlain.

13) There is a mall and nice grocery stores with an awesome range of choices.

14) Cheap gas. Americans don't appreciate that anything under $8 a gallon is a steal where we were living.

15) Common sense seems to rule at the university. Very little bureaucracy at work compared to Britain and a senior management that so far is more interested in the practicalities of making things work than with appearances.

16) Lot's of free parking downtown.

17) I might actually be able to practice my French giving lost Canadians directions to the Wallmart.

18) They don't drive too fast here like they do in Britain. 

19) Poptarts on sale 2 boxes for $4.

20) In Southampton the Ford Focus was everywhere, in Plattsburgh it's the Ford Mustang. I think that pretty much says it all.

Note that I decided to skip part 2 because whining about cell phone companies, cable companies and the DMV is predictable and boring.