President Barak Obama!!!

Seattle is foggy and gray today. M and I are sitting on the couch together. We stayed home from work today to see the historic Inauguration of Barak Obama. I feel the tides changing. It was a long long long, painful eight years. Thank you Obama!

The trip!!

It has been several months from my last post. The cross-country trip was spectacular! We visited so many landmarks and beautiful landscapes of the USA.

Memories:
Saying goodbye to everyone in VT and Melrose. Picking Matt up from the airport after missing him so much while he was in FL. Packing the car, trying to fit everything. So sad to leave everyone. Dinner at Brooksby with Anma and everyone else. Calvin's parting firework!;

Visiting and dinner with the Amherst gang. Warren's gin and tonics....;

Feeling the freedom of the road after leaving Amherst. Hooting and hollering with joy... knowing that our lives were changing!;

Double rainbows at Niagara Falls. Pitching the tent for the first time after ominous clouds, high winds, and a downpour; Crossing from Canada into Michigan.;

Camping at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore; huge bugs hitting and swarming the car... then they chased Matt around the site..... Deciding that the Aerobed was way too tall to fit in the tent, as our heads were super close to the top;

The beautiful campground site at Myre-Big Island State Park. Long winding walk through fields by the lake. Deer eating and sleeping... gorgeous pink sunset.... Doe and fawns across the site... bunnies everywhere... first campfire of the trip.... Racoons in the tree above our tent freaking us out during the middle of the night, mistaking them for large deer!;

More to come......

Homeless and feelin' good

The last two weeks have been a frenzy of packing, planning, and farewells. The apartment is officially Hannah's now and we're officially homeless wanderers. Or maybe a better term for it is adventurers, or perhaps vagabonds. I'm in Melrose and dropped Matt off at Logan airport for his flight to Orlando. He'll be visiting his family for a few days, amazing that it's been a three year hiatus. I'll be repacking our stuff, organizing the car, and visiting friends and family for the next few days. I keep getting chills of excitement!!

Life has been amazing the last few weeks. The cousins weekend went perfectly, despite some rain. I think everyone had a great time and there were no casualties! We packed a lot into a few days including Shelburne Farms, Ben and Jerry's Factory tour, North Beach, and Sunset Drive-In.

The fourth of July was spent on the waterfront watching the fireworks show. The funniest moment of all was the ducks dive bombing out of the air into the lake after the first fireworks were set off. They then proceeded to launch themselves several feet out of the water after subsequent booms. Hilarious! The show was beautiful, although I do miss the music choreography that Boston does. Mom was here for the 4th and then stayed for a few days. We also had a small yardsale. Dave and Sully came for a couple of days too. The apartment was packed!

Went camping the following weekend with Hannah and friends. Had a blast and the weather was gorgeous. It was a trip being back at Silver Lake again. Camping also reminded me of how much work and stuff we'll need for our cross-country journey (16 days and counting)! Also, sefore we leave on the trip Matt is spending four days in Orlando with his family!

Matt and I have a rough route we're going to follow.

View Larger Map

I'm thrilled, ecstatic, excited!!!!!

Things have been busy. I have been slowly sorting and selling a bunch of our stuff. Our time in Burlington has been dwindling and there is so much to do! Traveled to Boston Sunday night, bought a roof rack for the car, and the M had a meeting in Manchester, NH the next day. I drove up back to VT in the van with Mom. It was fun and great to catch-up with her. Yesterday we went to M's company dinner at the Icehouse. It was a good time, we as good as that type of thing can go. :-)

This weekend the cousins are coming to Burlington for a few days. I'm borrowing mom's minivan and picking everyone up Friday afternoon. It is going to be nuts! There is a lot going on in the area so there will be many choices. Hopefully they won't mind all crowding in the living room! I'm hoping that it will be nice enough to go for a swim, tubing, or a hike.

R.I.P. Nick

An amazing man with inspiring energy and heart.

NYC 08

Hit up NYC for a few days. Went by bus from Boston to NYC early in the am. We stayed at this funky hotel in Manhatten called The Pod. That day we went to see the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Awesome time and we barely made it in since there were so many people in line. Jon Stewart is hilarious and I was laughing the entire time. The guests were Scott McClellan (former Bush Press Secretary) and B-52s' Fred Schneider!


Besides that we did a ton of touristy stuff like visiting the Met:


On the rooftop there were some big, bright, and shiny sculptures by artist Jeff Koons:

We did a bunch of other things like walking through the city and spending time in central park. We also ate the biggest sandwich I have ever seen from the Carnegie Deli. Oh man, there was so much brisket on two tiny slices of bread. We had to eat it with a fork!

Cal and Steph came out with us one night for dinner and drinks at an Irish Pub. The trip was really fun and I am still in awe of the city!



p.s. We ate some really yummy cuban corn: