Richmond

Had a great day on Sunday in Richmond. It's been unseasonably warm so we could sit outside and have a long, leisurely lunch with our friends. We then went for a stroll and had a look in some of the shops in Carytown. I managed to come away with yet another candle to add to the seven pounds of scented wax that I've already bought.

After saying farewell to Bob and Kirsten and also checking out a few more shoe stores in the Short Pump shopping area, we drove back to Newport News to meet up with Alex and Courtney for Mexican food at our favourite restaurant in Virginia, Tequila Rose. Thankfully, the food is still fabulous and the margaritas are still yummy...and huge! This is the small size!

It was a great night and so lovely to meet Alex's new girlfriend. Well, new to us - they've been living together for almost two years!! The night stayed warm so we got to eat outside on the deck - a bit of a novelty in January in Virginia!!

On Monday, Ryan was off with the "boys", doing who knows what and I toodled around on my own in the rental car. Popped past the Prime Outlets again, stopped in at the Christmas store and then drove down to Newport News Park where I did the 2.6 mile trail. So so so pretty - dammit though, I forgot the camera battery so will have to do without pics. It was again lovely weather - 75 degrees, whatever that is in Celsius - so it was lovely to walk around and once again, there was no one there. I really don't understand why no one walks these trails. I walked them every weekend when I lived here but I only passed about six people and it was a public holiday here. I love this trail - it winds around a lake and you can spot deer and squirrels as you go. I also love how the path itself is soft with dry pine needles and fall leaves.

Monday night, we spent hanging out with Ryan's sister, her husband and our neice and nephew for the last time at their place. Cate and Jared have grown so much since we saw them in 2004 and we're sad that it will be a long while til we see them again! Who knows what sort of personality traits they will develop by then! We're now at Ryan's dad's house in Suffolk for the rest of the trip. We're trying to make the most of the last few days though and avoid thinking about how much we'll soon be missing everyone here. (I'm trying to drink my body weight in Diet Dr Pepper too.) We drove over here yesterday morning and then went for lunch with Ryan's grandparents to celebrate his grandfather's 85th birthday. We came back to their house after lunch and looked at some family pictures - quite fun to see photos from the 1930s when Paw Paw was in 2nd grade in the middle of the Depression!

Last night, we also caught up with the last of the Denbigh crowd, having dinner in Chesapeake with Sue and Bill. We had forgotten the joys of the interstate in peak hour though - nightmare! Sue cooked up a massive meal - roasted game hens, sweet potato and cranberry bake, green bean casserole, herbed pototoes and berries and angel food cake for dessert. It was wonderful to see their home and meet their furbabies.

Today, we're having a day in at Randy and Lucy's. Lucy has organised some barbeque (which is slow cooked pork, shredded when it's tender and then mixed with BBQ sauce and vinegar...sounds a bit odd but it's DIVINE!) for dinner. I am thinking I may pop out to the mall in Norfolk this afternoon, though it's turned really cold out there (36 degrees Fahrenheit) so we'll see if that happens. Robin and Jack are coming past tonight and we are going out for dinner with Nancy and Bryan, Lucy's daughter and her husband. We always have a fun time when we go out as a six, so we're looking forward to that too! Tomorrow, Robin is bringing her kids over for our last full day and then we're flying up to New York on Friday! I can't believe it's all almost over but we're enjoying the last few days with family as much as we can.

West Point, Virginia

We've had a wonderful weekend so far in Virginia...

When I last wrote, it was Thursday morning and we were about to head into West Point to look around. West Point is a lovely area of Virginia and somewhere that we would love to live if we do come back to the States someday. It has a really sweet small town feel and everyone is so friendly. We went in to meet Ryan's sister and then we went to the downtown area, perusing the antique store, the art gallery/coffee shop (Mmmm, lemon chess cheesecake!) and also the jewellery store. I took some photos around town as well...

We picked up Robin's kids and had a great seafood dinner in West Point at a place called Nick's. Very very yummy but we were totally decimated again by the amount of deep frying involved! We obviously need to build up "fry stamina" again!

On Friday, we met up with Ryan's dad in Williamsburg and he, Ryan and our nephew, Jared went to the Ripley's Believe it or Not musuem. They had a blast and Robin and I grabbed the opportunity to shop at one of the Christmas stores that Williamsburg hosts! An hour later, I have lots of new CUUUUUTTTTEEE things. Ryan was especially sad to miss that store.

After a quick lunch, Ryan and I went down to Denbigh High School, where we used to teach. It was so fun wandering the halls, freaking people out. Lots of people had no idea at all that we were in town, so there was lots of blank looks before recognition dawned! We arrived just as school was letting out and had a good giggle at some of the "gangsta" looks that the kids were sporting. I can't believe I taught kids with their belts around their knees without cracking up!! We then headed over to Uno's where we used to spend Friday afternoons at Happy Hour when we worked here. We caught up with a whole new bunch of Denbigh people which was wonderful. It was quite funny that a lot of them hadn't seen each other for almost as long as we'd been away too!

Yesterday, we had a fun day in the house with the kids and Robin. The kids got a rock painting kit for Christmas so we went out into the woods behing the house. Jared has a little motorised John Deere Gator and it was so cute to see him "Driving Miss Daisy" with Cate.

Robin and I got totally into the rock painting, even after the kids had lost interest :) It was great fun to sit on the screened in porch in the afternoon warmth anyhow. It's been such great weather that we're really able to enjoy the outdoors!

Later in the afternoon, Ryan, Robin and I went to a wine tasting in Williamsburg with even more Denbigh people which was fun. The Australian wine was labelled from Melbourne which was a bit odd but it was pretty gross so maybe it was grown down by the river.... We then went over to the Outback Steakhouse, where I had a very Australian meal of Hickory Smoked Ribs :)

I then convinced Ryan and our friends, Alex and Courtney that we should walk around Colonial Williamsburg in the dark, stop for a drink and takes photos. I don't think they really had any idea of how many photos that involved....

It is just sooo pretty in Colonial Williamsburg. I'm going to go back in the daylight to get some better pictures of some of the old buildings too. There wasn't much light around last night though I did take this gorgeous shot on the William and Mary college campus.

Today, we're heading up to Richmond to meet up with even MORE ex-Denbigh people. Can't wait. We're going to this cool, funky shopping district and then I have some directions from Robin to some GREAT shoe stores....

ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!

We've only got one more week to go!!!

Back to Virginia

Well, when we last left our intrepid travellers....

We had a great day out in Baltimore and saw the aquarium and the waterfront area. It ws a beautiful crisp day - perfect for photos but the camera battery was dead! :( Ryan loved the aquarium especially and the shark exhibit was very cool. They had an Australian exhbition on which was funny - looking at blue tongues and galahs in Maryland! Apparently, they made a bit of a tactical error when it first opened. They have recently moved the kookaburras into a separate location as they had been eating the display lizards!!

That night, we had a fun final night in Baltimore. James, his brother, Ben, Courtney, Ryan and I went out to a very cool Japanese steakhouse where they do all the cooking right in front of you on the grill. Twas very entertaining! Then we went on to another bar in the Towson area and played some pool.

On Tuesday morning, we got up reasonably bright and early and rented a brand new PT Cruiser to drive down to Virginia. The drive itself was pretty uneventful, though it kept threatening to snow. In Williamsburg, we checked into our hotel and then wandered around the historical Colonial Williamsburg area with James and Courtney until it got too dark and cold to see much! We then walked up to one of Ryan's college eatery hangouts - the College Delly (sic) and Courtney and I tried our first Ruebens for this trip.... MMMMMMM!

We went back to "rest" in the hotel after eating these huge meals but then Courtney and I had the fab idea that since it was only 7pm, there were two perfectly good shopping hours available and the Prime Outlets mall was just down the road!! Ryan and James reluctantly joined us, though we split up when we got there. Ryan and James reckon they did the entire mall twice but Courtney and I maybe managed a quarter before we got "trapped by the savings" at my favourite store in the Outlets - Wilson's Leather. Bags and jackets basically but all heavily reduced!! I got a replacement work bag, leather gloves and a wallet for Ryan - Courtney got two bags, hat, gloves and an incredibly soft black leather jacket. When the boys finally found us in there, we convinced James into a leather jacket too. Courtney and I both commented that we had shopping frenzy adrenalin going by the time we left to head back to the hotel with our booty! I'm going to have to go back one more time as I STILL haven't done all the stores...

We then headed out to the Green Leafe pub, an old favourite of Ryan's and a newer favourite of mine. This was the pub that we went to after the July wedding and we had an equally fun night this time. James kept ordering Courtney cocktails that she wouldn't drink though....

Then yesterday, we did a wander around Colonial Williamsburg again in the daylight and then drove down to Newport News to pick up our car and wave Courtney and James off in theirs as they had to head back to Baltimore. Our car has cost us an ABSOLUTE fortune so we're determined to enjoy it for the next ten days!! I've only turned the windscreen wipers on five times instead of the indicators so far...

We drove up to West Point, where Ryan's sister, Robin lives and caught up with her at the newspaper office where she is editor. It was great to see her and we hung out with her workmates for a while until it was time to head out and pick up the kids. They were so excited to see us - so sweet! We had a quiet night in last night, doing laundry mostly and chatting - and Robin made Ryan fried porkchops which had him in heaven!!

Today we've continued the slow start. We're off to meet up with Robin in downtown West Point. I've charged the camera battery and want to take a whole lot of pics - it's so gorgeous down there!! Not sure what we'll do tonight but tomorrow, Ryan, his dad and Jared are going to the Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum and later we're going to meet up with all the Denbigh people that we've missed so far in Newport News. Ryan and I are also hoping to swing past Denbight High School to say hello in the afternoon so we'll see what happens.

Baltimore

Hello from Baltimore! We arrived here last night and it is great to see Courtney and James again. Not much to report yet, just wanted to let my mother and anyone else who might call the embassy know that we made it. :)

We had a great night out last night in Baltimore, going to a pool hall and playing darts as well. James' mother also spoiled us with a delicious spread when we arrived. We're heading out and about today - Ryan is keen to see the Baltimore Aquarium which is apparently one of the best in the country and Courtney and I are happy to do a little more shopping.

The plan is to head out tonight to Howl at the Moon (www.howlatthemoon.com) which is a dueling piano venue. Should be a blast. Then we'll drive down to Williamsburg tomorrow to show Courtney and James the wonders of Ryan's hometown. So should be in touch in a few days, perhaps with a few fun stories to tell!

Last post from Boston

Hello again! Another fun few days in Boston and now everyone is napping pre-dinner so I thought I'd update this log again.

So yesterday was a nice warm day again, though a bit rainy. We are really been blessed with some great weather while we're here. It's an absoute winter heatwave here with highs in the high teens, low 20s each day. Probably doesn't sound that incredible in Australia but since this should be one of the coldest spots in the US right now, we're feeling pretty lucky when we walk around without coats like we did today! My brother was walking around the park this morning in a tee shirt! The flora is all confused as well - there are cherry blossoms in the Public Gardens and the willows are all green again!

Yesterday, we had an educational day at the Boston Science Museum. Lots to see and lots of buttons to push. We went for a very late lunch to the bar that inspired the TV show, Cheers. I had Boston Cream Pie - oooh yum! We then went back to the apartment to catch up with my brother and then went out to a funky, very authentic restaurant in the North End - the area known as Little Italy. I had butternut pumpkin ravoli in an aspargus and lobster cream sauce....to die for!! We then adjourned for liquor coffees and good conversation before wandering back home.

Today, we had another late, lazy start and managed to miss the breakfast, brunch and lunch rush. I think we actually started eating at about 2pm! We went to a lovely place near Ryan and Bec's place and had a nice walk there too, along a cool old style street with lots of interesting little shops. After "lunch", we walked over to the Prudential Tower and had a drink in their bar on the 52nd floor. The sun sets really early here at the moment so it was only around quarter past four but we got to watch the sun set and all the lights come on in the city.

We're off out for dinner in a while and then tomorrow, we're leaving on a jetplane for Baltimore to meet up with our friends from Adelaide, Courtney and James! We've had a blast in Boston - great city and wonderful company!

My Goodness!

There are too many Dunkin' Donuts shops in this town for any rational society!! And there's lines in all of them. Madness!!

So, last time I wrote, we were heading off to a pro-basketball game. We watched Boston take on the Cleveland team While I know nothing about basketball, we had a great time cheering on the Celtics. It was a very close match with Boston often a few points ahead but Cleveland won in the end by 3 points. I knew none of the players, though I did recognise one name on the Cleveland team - LeBron James - and he really was an awesome player - a complete standout even though I didn't really know what I was looking for in terms of skills! We came home via a cool little pub named "The 21st Amendment" which we thought was quite fitting :)

Yesterday, we had another wandering-around day in Boston. We started off at the Boston Public Library and were lucky enough to find three free exhibitions going on. One was about the idea of public morality in 18th/19th century London and how this was reflected in print – so basically tons of old books – another was etchings of places in the US and Europe by Gardner, a Bostonian artist of the 1900-50s, and the third was the John Addams Library. Addams was the second president of the USA and a manic book collector. He had an amazing variety of books and they are all available to students today, though now mostly on-line. After the library, we had another meander through the shops and streets, followed by a nice dinner and a bottle of McLaren Vale red at Bec and Ryan’s.

And now it’s time to rug up and head off into the cold again! And for Ryan to find more donuts....