Merry Christmas to all!

Santa has come-to multiple state and homes for lucky, little Miss E. We've unwrapped, exchanged and stuffed ourselves to serious extremes for 2 days, but we've also seen many,many family from near and far and that has been our greatest gift.


We were up until the wee hours last night celebrating in Suffield, CT with family we don't see nearly enough of, and then we were back at it early this morning.


We spent a special morning with Papa and Grammy, opening stockings, gifts and savoring a delicious breakfast before hitting the road and heading back to MA. We were treated to some fluffy snowflakes on our journey; nothing to complicate the drive, but just enough to make driving on a Christmas morning feel magical.

We then commenced with the annual Pickard/Parker Christmas Day Swapathon. The cousins were delighted to see each other after a long stretch of visits only by FaceTime.


While the kids played, the adults got down to business and wrangled our way through our Yankee swap. We laughed, we ate, we drank... it was truly a perfect afternoon.

We're tired from a few days of putting in a lot of hours , but can't imagine doing it any other way, or having changed a thing!

Merry Christmas!

Location:Briarwood Dr,Attleboro,United States

Holidays, Rainbows and Bugs and everything else nice...

We're back on the East Coast for our first family visit since leaving in August, and I can say we have this week packed full with visits and fun. We arrived a little later than planned this morning thanks to some snow in Denver, but we're pleased to see 44 degrees on the thermometer and NO SNOW here :)

Interesting, we just saw a rainbow! Wacky weather, I guess.


We ended up camping out at the airport Residence Inn (our hotel chain of choice, if you recall our prior journey) due to our late arrival. Fortunately, as West Coasters, this wasn't that painful at 1:30am this morning when it still felt like a civilized hour to us. At 7:30am, it was a another story...

We wrangled ourselves out of bed and onto the highway (it feels nice to say that, in CA, they are freeways, and I have NOT mastered that lingo) and past our favorite RI landmark, the Big Blue Bug, resplendent in his holiday best- Rudolph nose and antlers. Oh how we've missed you Big Blue.



We then stopped in heaven, I mean Dunking' Donuts, and picked up the Big Box of Munchkins to keep us going. A quick stop at Nan's for a bit of luggage/present reshuffling- oh yeah, I failed to mention we arrived with 5 large suitcases because : A. Southwest lets you check 2 free bags a person B. we all know I am cheap, so why ship if I can check said presents in my luggage and C. we were a little behind in present procurement this year. This is horrifying for someone like me who NEVER checks bags.

With a lighter load in tow, Emma and I took off to meet up with her BFF Amira, to exchange some gifts, and catch up on all the little things 7 year old girls chatter about when they now live 3,000 miles apart. Mainly, "can I come live with you, can you come live with me??" Ah, if only it were that easy :) We had a great lunch at Shogun, one of our old favorite spots, and made all kinds of plans for the girl's next visit- only 6 weeks away. Much better than 5 months!!



We're on the Mass Pike now and on to Papa and Grammy's in CT. Someone is a little tuckered out from the lack of sleep last night and the time change...


Hey, it was a good travel day for us today... We made it to 3 states :)

Location:Worcester-Providence Turnpike,Sutton,United States

True California Weekend

Fall festival, wine, Apple... What more can you ask for. We had a great weekend exploring south this time. Our travels took us to a fall fair in San Jose, complete with 4H exhibits (the Big E it was not, but it was the best we could do!) where we acquired some nice pumpkins and E got her fill of small furry animals (none of which came home with us- much to the disappointment of E).


Los Gatos was our next stop, and the highlight of my day, possibly my year :). We went to the David Bruce Winery. Anyone that knows my drinking habits knows what a big deal this is. We drank lots of free wine, then bought an insane amount of not free wine.


They know EXACTLY what they are doing there :).
We even got to meet David Bruce. Interesting fellow who used to be a dermatologist. I don't even know how to draw a parallel there, so I'll just say he makes a darn good wine.


Los Gatos is right next to Cupertino. Cupertino is home of the Apple Company. Being so close, we figured we had to take a quick spin by. Sadly the company store isn't open on Saturday, so we didn't all come home decked out in Apple t-shirts, but we did notice the seem pretty fired up about the iPhone 5 launch as they were posting banners outside entrances. It was fun to see, even if iMacs weren't raining from the sky :)


Next weekend we have a 4H event and a fun run/charity event for Emma's school, so we'll be busy, but local.
We miss you all!

Location:Blackhawk Meadow Dr,Danville,United States

Labor Day Weekend Sightseeing - Mission 2

The family auto logged a few more miles today, but it was well worth the ride. We started our mission after breakfast (the farmer's market treats were delicious -I'd give the prize to the double chocolate zucchini bread) and headed over the Bay Bridge and onto the 101 for our Golden Gate Bridge expedition. I've decided there are a few too many VERY large bridges around here. I don't even have a fear of heights and these make me nervous. However, to get where we were going, and to make E happy, we had to traverse the Golden Gate. San Fran was a bit foggy this morning, and at times it was tough to even see the top.






From there, our destination was Muir Woods, but once we arrived, it was packed, parking was a nightmare, and we all know I don't like people enough to deal with that! We kept driving on to Muir beach instead, and were rewarded with spectacular, if foggy views of the jagged coastline.


We did get to see some amazing trees along the road, even though Muir Woods wouldn't have us :)



After a quick pitstop for road sandwiches at a great local deli, we ended up at Point Reyes National Seashore which met everyone's expectations. E found 6 purple starfish and lots of other shells to start our West Coast shell collection.



We took a nice long walk down the beach, and I was "surprised" by a big wave that snuck up behind me as I was helping E get a live starfish back in the water. I went home a little wet!



We left our mark, at least for today :)

Location:Blackhawk Meadow Dr,Danville,United States

Seeing some more sights

Today was a little something for everyone. We started out with our new Saturday morning ritual of breakfast out and the local Farmer's Markets. Today we tried the San Ramon market. The produce and treats were fantastic. We may be reaching the acceptable strawberry intake limit per person per week in this house, but they are just so unbelievably good and cheap! We also picked up some cinnamon buns that may or may not make it until breakfast tomorrow morning ;)

We then set off for the Jelly Belly factory in Fairfield to tour the jelly bean plant, gets LOTS of samples and buy a few more treats. Check out this super cool photo of our tour. Don't be jealous of the hats...


From Fairfield, it was just a few miles to Napa, so of course we had to go check it out... and what 7 year old kid doesn't love a wine tasting?

We wandered around downtown Napa for a bit to find a good spot for lunch and settled on Rotisserie & Wine. Turns out, it is owned by Tyler Florence and HE WAS THERE! How cool! He was actually working. The food was fantastic too, although after seeing Tyler, we could have been served cardboard and I would have been happy!

We drove up route 29 and stopped at the Peju Winery for our first of hopefully many wine tastings. The spot is beautiful, as I'm sure all of Napa Valley is, but we'd seen this one on a TV special back in Boston before we left, so thought we'd give it a try. Emma was entertained with the wine barrels and artwork while Joe and I sampled some of Peju's finest.



Tomorrow we're off to the Golden Gate Bridge (E is itching to drive over it!!), Muir Woods and the beach. We love long weekends!!

Location:Blackhawk Meadow Dr,Danville,United States

Local tourists in our new city

We've spent a week unpacking and working and thought we would reward ourselves with a bit of San Francisco sightseeing today.
We started out on Lombard St.


to test Joe's driving skills on a curvy road after having just driven 3,000 miles in a straight line. I'm happy to report he can still turn the wheel :)




We then headed over to the Palace of Fine Arts and took Emma to the Exploratorium.


Very cool. So much so, that we are now members, so any of you that might come for visit-it'll be on the To Do list.
We also had our first official view of the Golden Gate Bridge today (as CA residents). It's one cool bridge.


We took a stroll around Fisherman's Wharf, saw the seals, picked up some Sourdough (E already ate this poor turtle's head off and said "it sure is yummy")


and Ghiradelli chocolate and had some ice cream.


Some of us might still be wearing a bit a bit of hot fudge!


The Alcatraz Triathalon is tomorrow and there was lots of activity going on: concerts, parties- it was a good day to be downtown.


We'll keep on explorin'...
We'll get to The Rock next time.

Location:Franklin St,San Francisco,United States

Mile 3178. Home

A lot of miles, a lot of fur, too much fast food, but we're here!



We're off to register E for school, but wanted to let everyone know we're here. Safe and sound with happy E and pets.







More later!

Location:Blackhawk Meadow Dr,Danville,United States

Mile 2980 - Welcome to California!

Ahhhhhhhhhh, California.
We might just make it.



The animals could sense our excitement this morning, and Rip was up early and ready to go. Syd took the boycott approach and for the first time in a week, I had to wrangle her out from under the bed. Being in a hotel, I had no broom handy, and had to resort to snapping a towel and throwing a cutting board at her. Yes, you read that right. I had limited supplies. Needless to say, the cat and I aren't speaking right now.

It's only 57 degrees at 9:24am and beautiful blue skies. High of 80 today in Danville.

We have only 200 miles to go...

Location:Alan S. Hart Fwy,Truckee,United States

The end of day six. We can almost smell the end...

It's Reno. There isn't much to say here. We took care of a few domestic duties this evening, including my favorite task of laundry. It was made extra special by hotel laundry facilities, which is oddly like college. If you are 5 minutes late moving your items from the washer to the dryer, someone unceremoniously dumps it out on the table for you.

The highlight of the evening: it's taco night during Happy Hour at the Residence Inn. E was delighted with the unlimited cheese supply. Joe, not so delighted with the strange processed meat options :)

Tomorrow: 3 hours and we hit Danville. Oh sweet glory. The car walls are starting to close in on us a bit and surprisingly we've been able to lose things in such close quarters. Though we've had fun, we're ready for a bit more space! One more night at a Residence Inn tomorrow and then the moving truck comes on Friday. Yippee!
We may be California residents now, but we'll always be Pats fans. I found this picture earlier today, and had a laugh. We have a good dog! It appears he may not think the same of us if his expression is any indicator ;)

Location:S Virginia St,Reno,United States

Mile 2757 - Pacific Time

We're in Nevada, the last state before CA! We've also entered Pacific Time. We're 3 hours back from most of you now, so please don't call us first thing in the morning ;). We're cruising west about 200 miles from Reno. Traffic is light. It is us and the trucks. We're still missing 2 license plates: Kentucky and Hawaii. There's not a ton out here, but it is pretty. E summed it up best when asking "where are all the houses?" That should give you an idea of the scenery. Lots of mountains and valleys with VERY small towns VERY far apart.

We were hoping to change things up a bit thanks to Carol's suggestion and stay in Lake Tahoe tonight instead of Reno, which looks neither nice, nor noteworthy, but changing accommodations to Tahoe, with the pet contingency in tow proved tricky. We promise to check out Tahoe in the near future and give everyone an update. Or, if you want to come out for a visit- we'll take you!

Our morning has been interesting. We've passed under the mountains (tunnels):


Saw a truck on fire, which appeared to be quickly spreading into a brush fire along the highway:


Watched countless dust devils spin (they don't photograph that well, so I'll spare you the bad photo!).

Saw snow and salt that looked like snow.







We're almost there!

Location:Victory Hwy,Golconda,United States

Mile 2487- Last Full Day

Good bye SLC. You were fun. Packing up was a bit of a challenge this morning in an urban environment with too many cars around and too little space. We must have been quite the site as we strapped all of our worldly goods onto the roof, loaded up kid, cat and dog, de-trashed the car and went about our morning activities which now are routine to us, but to the average businessman getting into a taxi, must be quite the spectacle. If for no other reason, the snow storm like fur explosion that now occurs when we open the trunk. This car will get pampered with this nicest detailing we can find once we get settled. You've been good to us nice vehicle and we appreciate it! Please keep it up :)

So now for some sites from this morning- no trip to SLC is complete without a visit to Temple Square and Church of Later Day Saints. It is a beautiful site.







And we did take a peak at the capitol although we did not go all the way over, as we had been inside on our last visit.


Back to I-80 we are, and a nice ride through the Great Salt Lake.
Salt anyone?



This is one of the Morton's salt facilities. I'd love to dive into that pile!
Happy Wednesday everyone!

Location:SW Temple,Salt Lake City,United States

The end of day five - Salt Lake City

Oh sweet bliss of a nice hotel and non chain restaurant. We checked into the Hotel Monaco where Ripley was greeted with more enthusiasm than his human traveling companions, and given his own doggy bed, dog bowls and specialty dog snacks. If only they had someone to walk him for us! There was even a bellman to assist with luggage... It was heaven.

We had time to take a stroll down to the Gateway, a lovely area of shops, restaurants and play areas. E had a blast in the water fountain. It's quite warm here, about 90 degrees, so she took the opportunity to run through the kid's water play area, and had a good howl.

We had dinner at a non chain establishment with food that may have actually been made today by people, not machines. I'm not known for my exceptional eating habits, but if I see another McDonald's or Subway, it'll be too soon. I can't wait to get a kitchen back and go grocery shopping!



Tomorrow is our last full day on the road. It's hard to believe our journey is nearly over! We've had fun so far and I must say this is a truly amazing way to see our country. Except Nebraska. Sorry folks, that part was kind of long and a bit less than stimulating, plus, no welcome sign. I still can't forgive that...

Good night everyone!

Location:S Main St,Salt Lake City,United States

Mile 2187 - Continental Divide

I guess we're officially in the west now. We've passed the Continental Divide. Twice actually. Not really sure how that works on a straight road, but I'm not one to mess with science.





It's been a beautiful drive, and we're enjoying the scenery immensely. The town names have given us a chuckle or two as well and I'd like to take a minute to share some entertaining names we've seen along the way. We mean no disrespect to anyone with any ties to these places, they just gave us a laugh in pronunciation or some other fashion as we saw them.
Here goes:
Conyngham, PA
Nescopeck, PA
Jersey Shore, PA
Mishawaka, IN
Ogallala, NE
Wamsutter, WY
Wahoo, NE

I'd also like to thank Nabisco, makers of Barnum Animal Crackers. You are truly a delightful snack.






We just heard from Atlas, our trusty movers, and our belongings are currently just mere hours behind us being treated to a truck wash at the moment. We've seen a couple of Atlas trucks on the road and Joe has had to restrain me as I've tried to identify if they are ours. The odds would be low, I know this, but I still have to look ;). For now, I take solace in knowing Wayne, our driver, a good man from what we've seen, takes pride in a clean truck!

Location:Lincoln Hwy,Rock Springs,United States