D.C and Philly

Finally got a chance to visit the US country capital, Washington DC! It was so beautiful!! Freezing but beautiful :) The White House is so pretty in the snow. We walked the Lincoln memorial, the Jefferson memorial, the American history museum (where the original star spangled banner is), the national archives museum (where we got to see the original Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights) and the Capital building. There is so much American history in DC, I can't believe it's taken me this long to visit.
Then we drove up to Reading, PA, which is Adam's old stomping ground. We spent some time with his Mommom, and his aunts, uncles and cousins. We drove all the local hangout places and ate our share of: Forest Inn hotdogs, Bell Alley pretzels, Pat's Philly cheese steak, and Victor Emmanuel Italian. Haha. I gained 10 pounds in PA. Today, we drove into Philadelphia and visited the Liberty Bell, Independence hall and Washington Square. It was also freezing but packed with American History. To be in the place where the first congress met and where they debated the Declaration of Independence, is SOOO neat.

On the road again...2,300 miles in 1 week

Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia and Maryland in 1 week! 2,300 miles, that has to be some kind of a record. Even for us that is a lot of travel. We left Adam's parents place on jan 15th and made a 15 hr drive all the way to San Antonio. My 92 year old grandpa and my aunt live there. We walked along the river walk and through the Alamo. So much American history in that city. Then we cruzed up to Austin and spent a few days with 2 of our friends from Cali. We loved Austin! It is such a great city. We went to this cool strip of really old houses that have been converted into bars. It was really neat. Then we drove through Nashville, the country music capital of the world. It was a short visit and we would have liked to spend more time there. Then we went up to Lexington to visit my childhood best friend. She has 2 adorable little boys and a great house that is 130 years old. It was so beautiful! Yesterday, we had another LONG drive to get to Baltimore, where we are going to be staying with Adam's cousin and his wife.  It was actually a really pretty drive. I read most of the way while Adam drove. When we got in we walked to a cute little Mexican restaurant where we drank Margaritas out of a hubcap! Their house is so cute and it's nice that we will be staying here for a couple of days and that it is walking distance from bars and restaurants because its snowing pretty hard out there. Snowy days are the best to enjoy when you don't have to work and you can just sit in a Starbucks and watch the snow come down.

There's no place like home for the Holidays

What a great time with friends and family! We decided to fly to San Francisco for Christmas and surprise my family. It was such a great surprise! We had Christmas Eve in New Zealand and then gained 22 hrs on the flight home and landed in the US on Christmas Eve morning. It was so strange, it felt like going back in time. On the plane, as the California coast came in to view I couldn't stop tearing up. It had been almost a year since I've been in the US and now I'm finally home. We spent a week or so with my brother, his wife and their baby, my parents and my sister, her husband and their 2 boys. We had a great time up at their cabin in Tahoe forAdam's 30th birthday. We met up with some college friends in Tahoe and in San Jose. Then we spent New Year's Eve with Adam's cousin and her husband in Sacramento. After the New Year we flew to Arizona to visit Adam's family and spend a week with them. It was adam's dad's 60th surprise birthday party, his parents anniversary and his mom's birthday! All of his family flew out from the East Coast to celebrate. We had so much fun and laughed so hard that I think I have a few extra laugh lines on my face. We are so blessed to have such incredible family!!! I couldn't be more thankful. It was such a restful time that it was hard getting up at 4am this morning to hit the road for a month long "Tour De USA". There are a lot of places we haven't been yet, including our own capital D.C. We took one day last week and drove to the Grand Canyon. Wow! What an incredible place! It is so vast and beautiful. Adam almost gave me a heart attack hanging over the edge of the cliffs. What would travel be without a little adventure :)