Holiday Travels

It's Jan 13th, and I'm finally getting to the holiday post. Maybe, for everyone's sake, I'll keep this one brief. Although, I'm not really sure how to do that. I could just say 2 wks, 7 states, McDonalds, Makechnies, many Nelsons & many laughs. Ok, there's the abridged version. Now, the unabridged version for those of you who might care (Mom?). We started in Utah Christmas Eve through Christmas morning. Actually, rewind even before that. We almost didn't go anywhere for the holidays b/c we had to rescind the deal on our recently purchased Lexus - the day before we were to drive to SLC, and a couple of days before our flight out of SLC to New Hampshire.

Why, you ask - Well, the nice Russian mobsters who sold us the car had turned back the odometer without our knowledge (an 80k mile deception). Fortunately, Eric was able to pull the lawyer card, and we got our money back. We just didn't have a car. So, we rented one - a suprisingly nice Ford. And, in case you were wondering, this time we listened to The Innocent Man on CD. On Christmas Day we flew to New Hampshire to spend time with Amy's family (Eric's sister). We hadn't seen them in 3 1/2 yrs. Well over-due. We spent a decent amount of time in the car travelling to different destinations, but it was a nice excuse to chat. Our first trip was to Vermont to see Joseph Smith's birthplace. Vermont also happens to be Ben & Jerry's birthplace. A wonderful place indeed. Next, we drove to Boston, Mass - a cool little city, but Fa-reezing cold. It didn't help that I was trying to tough out a stomach flu that had made its way through the whole family. Nausea + long road trip + spectators = not a pretty sight. Luckily, it only lasted 24 hrs, and I was over it for our final adventure to NYC. We have a bro & sis-in-law who live there (oral surgery internship) so we thought, why not! It was cool to feel the energy and be a part of the mayhem on New Year's Eve. We woke up at 4:30am to see the Today Show. We were at Rockefeller Square during a picturesque fluffy white snowfall. We walked around Times Square & Central Park. We went inside the Manhattan temple (a high-rise right near downtown), we dined at The Eatery (so yummy). And for the big countdown, we thought we were clever in taking the (free) Staten Island ferry. We thought for sure we'd get to see some amazing fireworks on the water on our way back. No such luck! But it was cool to see the Statue of Liberty up close and the skyline at night. I certainly don't regret not standing in the cold and chaos for 12 hours waiting for the Ball Drop (sorry for the double negative). When it was time to leave New York, we decided to kidnap our sis-in-law Allison and take her back to New Hampshire with us for a couple of days. While in New Hampshire, we had a nice routine of hitting the gym, playing games, eating Gregor's delicious meals, & ending the night with Gilmore Girls & chocolate ice cream. Yes, even the boys watched. Thanks Amy & Gregor - for keeping us well-fed & well-entertained! Click here for pictures. P.S. After flying back to SLC we still didn't have a car so we had the brilliant idea of buying one in SLC before returning to Boise. Unfortunately, what we thought would be a quick purchase turned into a 3-day headache with shady used car salesmen, and believe it or not, more Russians and more swapped odometers. In the end, we did find a car. The same as the last one but 2 yrs newer. Apparently, we're hooked. Thanks Patrick and Natalie for letting us sleep on your floor for those extra nights.