Blog Therapy

HOLEY RUSTED METAL BATMAN! It's been SO long since I've last blogged! I keep wanting to put it off too for some unknown reason, but I am forcing myself to do it today considering I'm sitting here in my bath-robe, it's cold outside, and no car today. Might as well.

So, we finally left San Fran./Oakland. YAY! I always kinda miss wherever we leave because I establish a little bit of a routine and some favorite places to go (like the grocery store) but I really am quite happy to get out of there. Maybe it would be better in the summer and if we stayed in another hotel? The sound of the traffic and the train yard was so bad just all the time, I think I was literally going crazy from sleep deprivation. Everything else was kinda nice (minus bad drivers! A HUGE pet-peeve of mine) but nothing like SoCal where I can head down to the beach and the air is warm. Anyhow, I DID get to see my baby brother that I hadn't seen in a least a couple of years (that makes me sad) and we went and ate some really good PHO and had tea at the Japanese Gardens and strolled around Berkeley (which by the way is thee most liberal-minded place I've ever seen!) It was nice to be with him though. He's in Brazil again now, so who knows when I will get to see him again.

So we took the long drive from SF all the way to Spokane, Washington to FINALLY meet Nick's family! Driving along the Columbia River was just as beautiful as I imagined it would be with huge rock cliffs, evergreens, and this time of year; frozen waterfalls. It really was gorgeous. We got to spend 2 weeks there, visiting everyone, although I think we could have spent another week. I am hoping though that we can make it back there when the weather is warmer and we can get outside more. Anyhow, we got to go through a bunch of boxes of Nick's stuff from years ago and we found some pretty neat stuff like model cars and trains and even a rocket. Maybe some day we will have a little boy who can utilize all that stuff! So anyhow, we rode a ferry out on Lake Coure d’Alene and saw Santa and Mrs. Clause, and saw the tallest decorated Christmas tree in the North America. It was really nice getting to see everyone and spend time, alas I wish we could have had just a FEW more days at least. We still missed Nick's other Brother and his family by about a week. They live in CO. so maybe, just maybe, we will get to go see them before the kidd-O's get too big. I love CO. by the way.

So after Spokane, we headed to Minneapolis, MN for a meeting Nick had there. I was already getting sick by the time we left WA and by the time we rolled in to MN, Nick was feeling just awful. He made his meeting, but we were stuck there for a week while we both got better. Let me tell you, it's even less fun being sick at the same time as your spouse than it is going it alone. I did however, begin to feel a bit better before he did and it just so happened that I got to ride the shuttle across the street to the Mall of America and do some shopping! Nick was feeling better by the end of the week, so he went with me one day to see the underground aquarium that is at the mall. It was really neat. I wish I would have remembered my good camera, but all I had was my cell phone. Oh, we got to pet a stingray and a shark and a horseshoe crab! I have ALWAYS wanted to do that! The rays actually LOVE to be pet! It was amazing.

After we left MN we headed towards Massachusetts, but ended up staying Christmas Eve in Niagara Falls! We got a gorgeous room overlooking both falls that were lit up at night. There was this little slot you could open up in the wall and listen to the sound of the rushing water. It was gorgeous. We didn't have time to go walk around that next morning, so we'd like to go back through and spend a little more time, whenever it is that we head back that direction.

So we made it to Boston on Christmas night. I really hated traveling on Christmas, in fact, I'm still kinda depressed over it, but what's done is done and there is next Christmas on the way.
Anyhow, we are in a very quiet and pretty spot outside the city and just yesterday it finally decided to get cold. There is a TON of photography ops. to do here, so I am really looking forward to seeing what develops. Not a whole lot to say about the place yet. We're settling in and we may be here for quite a while. We'll just have to wait and see, as usual.

Well there, I blogged and got it out of my system. Hopefully I won't take so long to post the next one! In the meantime, there are more photos to be seen here.