October 21, 2005 - February 4, 2006
Vegas to Nashville in a weekend. Boo ya! We worked a week from Nashville, enjoying the fall colors from the Opryland KOA. Downtown Nashville is actually kind of neat, but we got suckered in to the kitsch that is B.B. King's. Mediocre food, mediocre drinks, lousy service, and an inexplicable bathroom attendant who brushes of the back of your t-shirt as if it were a Brooks Brothers suit. We also visited Eric, a friend Ceridwen met in Romania.
From Nashville we headed back to Atlanta for Halloween with the babies. Actually, Halloween wasn't the primary objective, but it was fun to play with Nieces in pumpkin outfits. We spent the week with Ceridwen's brother and sister-in-law, doing all those wholesome family things such as flying (and crashing) model helicopters and teaching young children to say "cornucopia." But alas, soon it was time to move on.
And move on we did, right up on that there eastern seaboard to Virginia Beach. We spent a week at a "name your own price" condo-style hotel a couple of blocks from the shore. ("name your own price" means "we'll tell you no if you name too low a price, but we're more than happy to take more money that we need to stay in business") They were just setting up the boardwalk for Christmas, so when it became "official," we joined in the line of cars paying to drive down the festive walkway. (Why wasn't it a "walking" exhibit? Probably because then they couldn't provide the CD of christmas songs (and ads) for you to listen to as you drive.) Our favorite part? The 11 nights of Christmas all illustrated in lights! (11? Yes, 11. They seemed to have misplaced the Twelve Things a-Thinging.)
From Christmas in Virginia, we headed up to Thanksgiving in New Jersey. Keath's parents have been hosting this huge family event for some time now, and we try to make it whenever we can. Nothing too exciting, except for the usual overeating. It is good to see family again, but after six months of nobody but each other to deal with, it was a bit of sensory overload.
The next week, we had to split ways for the first time since The Great San Francisco/Bucharest Division of Early September. Keath had a couple of managerial training courses to complete for work, so we booked them back to back the same week - one in Manhatten and one outside of Denver. We went to Manhatten together, during which time we were able to briefly visit with Michelle, whom Ceridwen met in Romania. Then, Keath had to head out to Denver while Ceridwen drove up to New Hampshire. (There's an annoying story here about the poor quality of cab service in Manhatten and hotel service in Denver; ask Keath about it some time) Unfortunately, while in Denver, Keath learned of the passing of his step-Grandmother Annette, who had been sick for some time. We knew it was coming, but it's still hard to deal with. So, instead of New Hampshire, after training it was back to New Jersey (by way of Atlanta) for Keath. Then, finally, a rendezvouz in New Hampshire.
We spent Christmas with Ceridwen's family in New Hampshire. Another not-all-too-exciting-if-it's-not-your-family type of thing, but it was good. In addition to the usual Lewis family gingerbread cookies, Keath made Reindeer Balls to foist upon one and all. It was good.
We headed back down to New Jersey for a brief Hannukah and birthday exchange (Keath's mom is a New Years' Eve baby!) with family before heading to Bill and Leah's house for New Year's festivities. Since the local party store was all out of those tacky "2006" hats that you're supposed to wear, we headed in to the costume department and picked out cheest plastic costumes instead. A good time was had by all.
After New Years in New Jersey, we set out for a second Christmas in Atlanta. It was pretty much exactly like Christmas in New Hampshire, except it was warmer, it wasn't really Christmas, and there were babies afoot.
From Atlanta we headed back up the east coast to SoNoCarCo, a hip name we made up to fit in with SoHo, NoHo, HiDi, and so on. Our hip term refers to the Southern North Carolina Coast, where we stayed for a bit in Ocean Isle Beach, a little strip of land off the aforementioned SoNoCarCo. Here, Ceridwen managed to contract some sort of stomach virus, so we actually spent two days at a nearby hospital (with a very friendly staff) before enjoying our time on the beach.
From Ocean Isle it was up to Philadelphia, for Keath had Important Work to Do. Laura was able to join us for a couple of nights while she was job hunting in the area, which was nice, because when Keath is training people he very rarely gets out of work on time. And then finally, our interlude was over, for we had tickets on the weekend of February 4 to fly to Hawaii. Yes, we would need to part ways with Vantom, for though he is a mighty vehicle, he cannot jump the gap from California to Kauaii. (At least we don't think he can. Technically, we never tried.)