BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?

Subject: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 07:28 PM

Why do they call it tourist season if you can't shoot 'em?

I lost it this weekend -- and I did what everyone really wants to do (at least once). I yelled obscenities at a tourist.

Our Subaru was in the right turn lane on Chapel St. (one way) in Portsmouth, NH, and we were ready to turn onto Daniel St. to find a parking place near The Press Room. Directly in front of us, a car with New Jersey plates driven by a young, dark haired woman was straddling both lanes. She was, to make matters worse, talking on her cell phone.

Through traffic was gridlocked. Both bridges across the Piscataqua River were raised to let a ship leave the harbor. Across Daniel St., Chapel St. was filled with standing cars waiting to turn onto State St., also one way, and probably cross Memorial Bridge into Maine.

Curmudgeon at the wheel honked the horn. And then honked it again. The only response was a gesture indicating "What can I do? Stop honking!"

Frustrated beyond bearing (by generations of tourists from here to Kennebunkport), I jumped out of our car, strode over to hers and pounded on her tinted passenger side window. "Turn right!" I yelled. "I'm going straight," she replied. I screamed, "Turn! Fucking! Right!" She again said she was going straight. I yelled in measured tones, "You're in the wrong lane and you're blocking this lane." She shrieked, "You can't talk that way to me!" and I screamed back, "Turn fucking right! Turn fucking right!"

I got back into our car, shaking. She managed to move her car to the left. A block away, the bridge was still up so there was no traffic (again one way) from that direction.

We (and the line of cars behind us) were finally able to turn onto Daniel St. and Tom and I found a place to park in front of the Daniel Street Tavern.

As we dropped money into the meter, I gathered that the two patrons having a smoke on the pavement had heard my side (at least) of the screaming match. But I think they approved.

However, I doubt I'll be receiving any Chamber of Commerce award this year for welcoming out-of-staters.

This isn't really like me -- I usually have a fairly high stupidity tolerance.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Becca72
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 07:49 PM

Good on ya, Bat Goddess! Thank you from someone else who lives in or near a tourist town!

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 07:53 PM

We call 'em Leaf Peepers, and I kid them about the failure of us onery locals to go out in the dark of night to re-glue to fallen foliage.

But enough of 'em retire here to keep the local economy going between Tourist Seasons.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 08:25 PM

It sounds to me as if that lady was probably lost and flustered, like most people can be in a strange place. It doesn't sound as if you helped the situation much.

"I usually have a fairly high stupidity tolerance" Self directed in this case it would appear...

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Rapparee
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 10:19 PM

Ya can't shoot 'em cuz they pump so much money into the local economy.

But it IS tempting.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 10:50 PM

Kevin, I disagree. It is incumbent upon a driver who is blocking traffic to make things right. And if she was in the wrong lane to go straight then she should have turned and gone around the block and tried again. It was colossally rude of her to sit and block everyone that way. It's bad enough if you get stuck entering a lane so you're blocking another lane and you can't back out or get around the problem, but if you're sitting where you can fix it, then you should. The fact that the young woman couldn't think her way through that problem was her problem.

In a somewhat related story (rude driver, and I lost it):

I lived in a large apartment complex for two and a half years after my divorce. My kids did pretty well with the move, but we lived next to the parking lot in a corner apartment on a U-shaped collection of buildings around the lot. It was an echo chamber with that arrangement and could be pretty noisy at night some nights. I was actually glad my kids spent the weekends with their father in their old quiet neighborhood.

One school night, at about 11:30, a woman pulled her big car into the parking space directly in front of my son's bedroom window, about 15' away, and proceeded to lean on the horn. Long, loud, klaxon honks as she stared at the far corner of the lot and clearly expected everyone in all of these apartments to not mind while she honked and waited for someone in another part of the complex to hear her and come out.

I listened to this for about a minute, then I walked outside and stood directly in front of my son's bedroom, a few feet from her. The idiot in the car didn't turn her head, didn't stop all of the honking. So I walked over to her car, paused to see if she would look (I'd have spared her, possibly) but she didn't turn her head, just kept honking. So I quickly slapped the hood of her car with the flat of my hand as hard as I could several very loud slams. She shopped immediately and clutched her heart. I walked to the driver's window and shouted through the closed glass "get out of the fucking car and go knock on their door. Don't sit here and make everyone listen to your goddamn stupid honking." And I walked back into my apartment.

She didn't get out of her car, but she didn't honk any more either. And I bet she remember that lesson. (I must say, it felt pretty good, even though I realized as stupid as she was, if she was armed she might have shot me.)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 10:59 PM

WINNEBACOME, WINNEBAGO
(Jon Campbell)

Come summer, they flock to the beaches and docks
They've got brown vinyl sandals and black nylon socks.
They've a red peeling nose and synthetic clothes
And from June to September it's anything goes
Where's my flipflop? Where's the gift shop?
Are you feeling sad?
Winnebacome, Winnebago
Clam cakes and chowder and stuffies to go,
There's a slick on the bay of Ban de Soleil
And Labor Day weekend seems light-years away.

They're out fishing for flats wearing Budweiser hats
They got a new Boston Whaler with a cooler up in back,
Well they go for a spin, loaded on gin,
And get stuck hard aground till the tide comes back in.
There'll be gridlock at the town dock
Are you feeling sad?
Winnebacome, Winnebago
It's a long rainy weekend with no place to go
There's a red tide today and a shark in the bay
And Labor Day weekend seems light-years away.

When the flea bites, jellyfish stings, are you feeling sad?
Watch a mobster eat a lobster, are you feeling sad?

They've got sand in their eyes and a burn on their thighs
And the last tuna grinder is covered with flies,
There's a squid in the sink, the TV's on the blink
They've a bucket of crabs that's beginning to stink.
Citronella, beach umbrella, are you feeling sad?
Well, it's Winnebacome, Winnebago
There's no place to park anyplace that you go,
So let's count license plate from the Midwestern states
And hope after Labor Day things will get straight...
And hope after Labor Day things will get straight...


Recorded by The Short Sisters A Little Gracefulness
@vacation @tourist
filename[ WINNEBAG
TUNE FILE: WINNEBAG
CLICK TO PLAY
RG
apr00

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: number 6
Date: 23 Oct 07 - 11:39 PM

I think Ann and I encountered her while driving our Subaru on the I95 just outside Waltham Mass. last Thursday .... She hopped 2 lanes and was about to side slam us, all the time she was on the cell phone .... laid on our horn to no avail and even though she was aware of us she kept coming at us ... had to perform some "jackie Stewart" maneuvers just save our souls.

Maybe she doesn't like Subarus, or maybe she doesn't like tourists?

But then again we were visiting friends up in Salem, so that does not make us tourists ..... does it?

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 12:26 AM

"I usually have a fairly high stupidity tolerance."

So did I.

But after years of stress overlaod, I blew a fuse - which is why I'm now on a pension...


The Wank-O-Meter is an amazing measuring instrument. It can absorb heaps of punishment for years, but will eventually short out.

I now find it FAR less stressful, to 'dump' when appropriate... I now feel far less stress... I'm still polite - for a start... :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 05:51 AM

It can be quite enjoyable to move into battle mode, so to speak, against some perceived injustice or threat - but spats of temper, road rage episodes like that, are something else. I doubt if they relieve tension, but rather generate it.

The only valid reason for honking a horn is to make sure another road-user knows you are there. If a driver is doing something silly honking them just makes it more likely they'll do something even more stupid and potentially dangerous.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 07:56 AM

McGrath, she could have easily unblocked the lane by turning right then making two lefts to get to where she was ultimately going (State Street one block away, one way towards the bridge to Maine). Not difficult to figure out even if she was unfamiliar with the territory.

She wasn't blocking just us -- but a block-long line of cars who wanted to turn right.

Our horn is very, very seldom used. I'm not sure I've ever even tested it since I bought the car a year ago. And I certainly don't make a point of screaming obscenities at people -- local or visitors.

But in this case it was all about her -- she didn't care if she obstructed other people or how many other people she was inconveniencing. AND she was too busy on her cell phone to pay attention. (This may ultimately have been the cause -- the lanes are clearly marked.)

Linn, who usually stops on the sidewalks of Portsmouth to help confused people find their way and wish them a pleasant stay.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: MMario
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 09:01 AM

*grin* haivng grown up, not only in a tourist town, but in the heart of the historical district within that town, I know exactly what you mean - -

and I remember Dick singing "WINNEBACOME, WINNEBAGO" at WYSIWYG's - and laughing so hard I could barely breath!

because when it comes to tourist season - you've got to laugh - the (legal) alternatives are all too depressing

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Rapparee
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 09:06 AM

I swear that I'm going to have a train's air horn installed in my Honda Civic, just for notifying oblivious cell-phone-users that they have just missed hitting me. Otherwise, I shall gently tap the regular horn on the few occassions it is needed.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Wesley S
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 09:28 AM

Growing up on the coast of Florida I've seen a few tourists. One came into the strip mall I was working at - parked sideways and covered three parking spaces while he walked up to the payphone. He proceded to page through the Yellow pages until he found what he wanted and then tore the page from the phone book so he could take it with him.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Peace
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 09:46 AM

"I swear that I'm going to have a train's air horn installed in my Honda Civic"

Don't waste the cash, Rapaire. We have some big red trucks with lotsa lights that flash and sirens and airhorns that make all kinds of loud sounds and there are still some drivers that neither see nor hear us.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: wysiwyg
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 09:47 AM

Reflecting on the road rage issue--

I think a question to ponder is not whether the tourist was right or wrong, or deserved sympathy-- that's a no-brainer. The question is, were you in control of your emotions and acting with calm deliberation in a way that worked effectively, or were you swept into behavior that could cause YOU some consequences?

And it's fine to vent at Mudcat-- but if your reaction was over the top TO YOU, that might be something to think about, too.


Just remember, folks, USers in particular-- sometimes WE're the tourists, and there are reasons people in other countries tend not to be entirely fond of tourists. :~)

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Wesley S
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 10:18 AM

I've got all kinds of sympathy for a lost tourist. But someone who blocks traffic just because it's more convenient for them - is just plain rude. And they shouldn't be suprised when they get the same in return. Having said that - be careful that the tourist isn't packing a gun and is willing to cap your ass with it.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Peace
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 10:21 AM

Good point. To paraphrase a comedian, "In my youth we had drive-by shouting."

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 10:25 AM

Most tourists aren't a problem, this isn't suggesting they are. This is noting the exceptional cases. I spent many years in the trenches (as a National Park Service ranger--you're not only a random target, they're looking for you). Most visitors are thoughtful and considerate and helpful. But then there are some who clearly shouldn't leave home or travel further than 25 miles from their familiar surroundings. I could tell you stories about stupid tourists (who at home are probably also stupid people) and I could tell you stories about some really remarkable tourists I've met over the years, the ones who are so delightful that they keep you coming to work in hopes of meeting more like them.

Anger isn't bad. Knowing how much is enough is important. Finger-wagging scolds aren't appreciated when folks have found a good place to vent.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Donuel
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 11:47 AM

ONE WAY cruises can be had for 75% off in the spring and fall when they reposition the fleet for the season change.

Some go from Italy to Spain and end up in FL.
Cruise ships are not ocean liners so the crossing can interesting.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Greg B
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 01:00 PM

Obviously you need one of these

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: GUEST,SINS at work
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 01:17 PM

A friend of mine was visiting me in NYC. He attempted Manhattan on his own and came back furious. Seems he asked a well-dressed gentleman for directions to a museum. The answer? "Do I look like a F**%$^***in' tour guide?
I thought it was hysterical.
Good on you, batty.
I am still trying to figure out why they have to drive haphazardly up and down the streets at 7:30AM when the locals are trying to get to work. You're on vacation! Sleep in and stay the hell out of my way!
M

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Rapparee
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 01:33 PM

I have met some lovely people, tourists and non, as I've traveled around. I have also met some...not very lovely ones.

E.g.:

In a Quebec City pizza place: "Waddaya mean, ya don't take Amurcan EXpress? Ev'rybody in DALLAS takes Amurcan EXpress!" (The sign on the door said, "No Credit Cards or Cheques.")

Stopping dead in the middle of an on-ramp to an Interstate, and then trying to turn around and go back -- past the LONG line of cars backed up.

etc. etc. etc. etc., in the US and elsewhere....

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Wesley S
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 01:42 PM

Stupid people don't get any smarter when they leave town.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Peace
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 02:07 PM

That's what amazes me about Bush going to San Diego.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 02:35 PM

I shouldn't have made a big deal about it being a tourist, or at least someone from out of state.

But it made a better story (and would generate a few more stories about close encounters of the tourist kind) and I KNOW a lot of people have fantasized about telling off a stupid person, tourist or not.

I lost it with her because she really didn't care that she inconvenienced anyone else and was too busy talking on the phone to figure out how to correct a bad move on her part. If it had been a car with New Hampshire plates, I probably would have done exactly the same thing.

Yes, my stress level is pretty high lately, but it's been pretty high for quite awhile now. And it will probably remain so until I find an escape from my current job.

I probably shouldn't have used the language I used, but it was succinct and she did understand it. And, ultimately, it worked and she figured out (once she was paying attention) how to unblock that lane.

Oh, and shouting lets loose all sorts of endorphins and stuff -- I felt better afterwards; it was very therapeutic.

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: jeffp
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 02:45 PM

Stress comes from repressing the urge to choke the living shit out of someone who seriously deserves it.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 03:24 PM

jeffp -- You got it!

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: ranger1
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 03:27 PM

Linn, I've always fantasized about doing the same thing.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Bill D
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 04:00 PM

It's too bad the drivers test can't include more stuff than basic steering and stopping vaguely near stop signs.

Sadly, there are people who are just not wired to cope with traffic & confusing situations...even though many of them are basically nice people. I am old enough to have way too many stories of dodging drivers who got into some awkward position, and had no idea how to get out of it. Often, they barely realize they ARE blocking or sitting in the wrong lane to make a turn.
   I have had cars nearly hit me as they realized too late THIS is their turn or exit, and swoop across 2-3 lanes in front of traffic instead of going to the NEXT turn and figuring it out.

   Anyone who gets a ticket for various such offenses should have to attend a LONG driving course where proper behavior is explained (ESPECIALLY if use of a cell phone is involved!)...then for additional offenses, they should have Bat Goddess pound on their car until they ....awww, never mind....it wouldn't help...

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 04:06 PM

And, Tami, you WORK with tourists every day!

Back when I managed a year-round shop in Kennebunkport (which was then sold to the local year-round hardware store -- me with it), I collected what the New York Times once referred to as "stultifying inanities" -- the stupid things people SAY when they're on vacation.

Such as when I overheard the couple on the bridge looking out over the tidal river. The wife said to her husband, "Isn't it nice how they park the boats pointing in the same direction?"

Oh, the stories I can tell...

Linn

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: number 6
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 06:17 PM

Whew .... man oh man.

All I can say if anyone one of you guys come up to the Canadian Maritimes I can guarantee ya, you will be treated amicably, and with respect, regardless of where your from.

Tourists ... we've all been one at one time or another ... made the wrong turn, asked for stoopid directions, drove a little bit slower than normal diring to find somewhere, and even gasped in awe at some silly landscape, were one of visiting crowds that invade someone's home turf.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Ron Davies
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 10:41 PM

Tolerance of tourists is a wonderful idea. But there's a difference between that and putting up with anybody--whether the person is a tourist or not is immaterial---who straddles lanes, refuses to turn right in a right-turn lane--and on top of that, chatters away on her cell phone, while doing the above.

What are the signs, arrows, etc. there for in the first place--for people to obey or not, as they choose? I would have been steaming at the right-turn cell-phone gal---and probably leaned on the horn too. I wouldn't have visited her car to tell her off--but only since I'd rather not be shot.

I'm a lousy navigator--can make mistakes-- in an unfamiliar place-- which put me in the wrong lane. And when that happens, I pay the price--and turn right if I'm in the right-turn lane and we get the right-turn arrow--even if it delays me since I wanted to go straight. To do anything else is unfair to the other drivers.

And everybody has to learn that. And the cell-phone adds insult to injury. She should be fined just for paying more attention to the phone than to her driving.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 11:00 PM

My rule of thumb when driving--if I missed the exit, go to the next one and turn around. Rarely is it difficult to do that (though I've encountered a couple of surprises over the years when the next "exit" was a major freeway. . .). And if you're on a city street and missed your turn, just go around the block.

When I was a ranger at the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee back in 1984 there were a substantial number of handicapped parking spaces next to the Sugarlands Visitor Center. One guy in a big honker station wagon decided that the way to park really close to the building without technically parking in a handicapped space was to pull up parallel to the curb but far enough out that he wasn't crossing any of the lines. Damned fool blocked four handicapped spaces with that move.

Various parks I've worked in have had spiral notebooks behind the counter so you could write down some of the funnier encounters. At San Juan Island National Historic Park in Western Washington they had such a notebook, and kept it behind a desk in a cupboard. (It was also where they kept a few sales items for days when we had someone to actually sell books and postcards). I walked into that building one day and found a guy there who had poked around in those cupboards and come up with this book and thought the stories were hilarious. Little did this pushy annoying fellow know that he was the next entry in the book before it was put back where it belonged, behind the counter and the sign that directed the public that rangers only beyond that point.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: number 6
Date: 24 Oct 07 - 11:23 PM

Ron ... only a "wack job" would defend a bad driver, but in relevance to this thread, lets don't tag tourists with being bad drivers, as there are enough locals to be found that fit into that category. My first post to this thread pointed out that we were the tourist, it was a local who almost side swiped us out of total neglect to the road whilst talking on a mobile phone.

In my latest post to this thread I was just putting a positive slant to tourists and tourism.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: ranger1
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 09:26 AM

Tourists are the annoying ones. Visitors are the nice ones. Probably 95% of people from elsewhere can be put in the "visitor" category. The other 5% give everyone from away a bad name.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: number 6
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 11:22 AM

I'd say 95% of people wherever they go, wherever they live are good folk, while the other 5% of people wherever they go, or wherever they live are just plain jerks.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Ebbie
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 12:02 PM

I live in a tourist town. On many days the cruiseships unload three times as many people as live here in the waterfront area. We all have our amsuing/frustrating/infuriating stories. Many touists seem to consider this town as being laid out for their use, as though we were a Disney site. These are people on foot, however, not drivers.

Drivers in a strange town can lose it. I would guess we have all been there.

Here is what I imagine was going on with the Goddess'es driver on the cell phone:

"I'm here at - what is the name of the street that goes by Parker? I know I saw the name Parker once. I think I'm on the right street but it looks like it's closed ahead. What am I supposed to do? I think I'm supposed to go ahead- isn't that what you said? No, I can't turn off-= I'll just get lost more. What can I do? Wait- there's a woman screaming at me- hold on..."

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 01:43 PM

When I was a ranger in North Cascades National Park the housing for rangers in our part of the park was in the nearest town of Newhalem, built by Seattle City Light for the people who work at the three dams on the Skagit River. The Park Service had a little furniture in there and no curtains. We had people drive through the town (where the NPS rented three houses for staff) to take a look, and see the patrol car and rangers in a house decide to come ask questions. They would open the door without knocking and walk right in. It was our practice to simply take them by the elbows and walk them right back out all the way to the sidewalk and explain that this was where we lived. If the question was easy, fine, answer it, but if they wanted anything else, permits, maps, whatever, they had to do to the visitor center or the campground entrance station up the road.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 01:54 PM

There is a song by Sandy Ives, of which I only remember the chorus:

We'll be glad when the Summer is over,
We'll be the thankful the tourists are gone!
On that September morn, when the tourists are gone,
We'll know we have lived through it all.

Anyone knowing the rest of the words is welcome to post them. Thanx.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: RangerSteve
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 04:00 PM

Eighteen years with the New Jersey State Park Service and 18 tourist seasons. The social worker at my dialysis center is really puzzled at idea that I've come to grips with kidney failure. I'm getting a pension and social security and not dealing with tourists. There's nothing to be puzzled about.

At Liberty State Park in Jersey City, there are ferries to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. There are no end to the people who end up in New Jersey at the end of the day, when they should have taken the ferry to Manhattan. Ellis Island is only a few feet off of the Jersey shore. I could hear the announcements from Ellis - "This line is for people taking the ferry to Manhattan." "This line is for people taking the ferry to New Jersey". Every day, there would be people ending up in Jersey wanting the rangers to drive them to Manhattan. I was once ordered by a tourist group to drive to Manhattan and look for one of their members who took the wrong boat.
There are probably 10 million people in Manhattan on a busy day. I tried to explain that to the group, but in the end, I just drove away.

On the other hand, I could sympathize with the foreign tourists. One of the nice things about Jersey is that so many people are from other places. All I had to do was make an announcement that I had a lost tourist from (name of country) and needed someone to translate for me. In every case, I'd end up with at least a dozen willing translators.

One day, it was so foggy that the visibility was no more than 25 feet. I'm not kidding. The NY harbor master closed the harbor. Two groups of tourists from Colorado and Oregon were dissappointed that the ferry wasn't running, but they understood. The one person who through a raging fit was from NJ, and had driven only 15 miles.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: RangerSteve
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 04:04 PM

Oh, yeah, I forgot the people who expect rangers to be restaurant critics. In their minds, I have eaten in every restaurant in New Jersey, New York and Pennsyvania and could guide them to the places and describe the quality of the food.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 06:11 PM

How long were you at Liberty State Park? I worked out at Ellis Island 1978 and 1979. I worked at Liberty Island only when I couldn't get out of it. Small world. :)

Do you know Kathy Craig?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Greg B
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 06:22 PM

Silly people. They should know that on a ranger's salary, Wawa
is haute cuisine.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: number 6
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 06:34 PM

Wawa ??

I once got lost up and around Wawa (Ontario) as a tourist ... er, yipes, I meant as a visitor. :)

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 06:54 PM

When I worked in London (most of my life) they were a nightmare - stopping in the middle of the footpath (sidewalk). Dawdling and weaving so one could not pass. Presumably if they stop on roads, they pull to the side so that traffic can pass. How hard is it to figure out that people working need to get by?

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: jeffp
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 07:01 PM

Around here the locals do that sort of thing. Very irritating. These are the same people who will plant their shopping cart (trolley) diagonally in the aisle so it takes up 2/3 of the space and then stand in the other 1/3 absent-mindedly gazing at the stuff on the shelves. Then they glare at you when you interrupt their meditation to get by.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: number 6
Date: 25 Oct 07 - 07:36 PM

Richard Bridge and Jeffp ... don't tell me the locals also don't do all those acts you have mentioned.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: RangerSteve
Date: 26 Oct 07 - 05:07 AM

SRS - I was at Liberty State Park from 1989 through 1993, long after you were there.

and as for the reference to Wawa - its a chain of convenience stores in Penssylvania and Southern New Jersey, named after the town of Wawa, PA, where the first one was established. Wawa is the Algonquin word for goose - I learned that from reading Hiawatha.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: jeffp
Date: 26 Oct 07 - 08:09 AM

If you will read my post again, you will find that I said the locals. Read carefully!

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: GUEST,Number 6
Date: 26 Oct 07 - 09:19 AM

Please accept my apologies jeffp.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: jeffp
Date: 26 Oct 07 - 09:21 AM

Done.

Subject: RE: BS: Why Do They Call It Tourist Season?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Oct 07 - 09:55 AM

Kathy worked at Ellis when I did, but she has a long history with the NJ state parks and has been out at Liberty quite often. Her brother Joe is at Morristown, I think. NPS. Do you know either of them? I last saw Kathy at LSP in I think 2003, when a bunch of Ellis rangers got together for a reunion.

SRS