On the road again...

It's autumn again and in the autumn I get an itching for the burnt reds, deep oranges and popping yellows of the leaves changing in North America. I think this is why H and I have nearly always visited the US together in the fall. 50% of our car conversations go something like "Oh my, look at that tree! It's beautiful." "Yea, and on that hill, do you see all that yellow. It's amazing."

So, we are back States side to see the family, travel a little and enjoy our 1st anniversary(!!). Here's a look at the adventure so far:

Day 1
We flew from Prague direct to JFK. No problems there. We landed and pulled up to the gate. Still no problems. Then the captain announced that there would be a delay in opening the cabin doors because there had been a security breach and the entire terminal had been evacuated. So began a 2 hour wait on the plane, a wait in a line of about 700 people at immigration clearance, and ultimately missing our connecting flight because of the most horrendously unorganized and incompetent customs desk I've ever seen. To spare you the details, imagine 1000 people with no line trying to squeeze into 2 desks to get a customs stamp.

So, we were forced to take the next available flight the next morning at La Guardia, which meant finding a hotel last minute. The airline would not compensate us in anyway for the delay, but my tears of exhaustion got us at least a free taxi to La Guardia. We asked the taxi driver to take us to a national hotel close to the airport, they had availability so we checked in, ordered some Chinese take-away and crashed. That was our big night in NYC.

Day 2
 La Guardia. It is actually quite a nice airport. This flight was uneventful. We got to Columbus, got our rental car and headed for Zanesville because we had a party to attend (and organize!). Friday night we had our Ohio Wedding reception with my family. All my aunts and uncles, lots of cousins and their babies and my ever patient Grandmother joined us is our celebration. We held it at my Grandma's house. My mom had done the legwork before hand to organize what cake we wanted, have food available and get decorations together. My cousin, who is a great photographer, took pictures (which I'll post when they are available). There was music, laughter, food, hugs and lots of love. It was the perfect party.

Day 3
Thanks to jet-lag, we were up super early so we ran some errands (there's nothing quite like Walmart at 5am) and then decided to go back to bed and try to sleep a bit longer.  We woke up around lunch time and headed to a second celebration: My Grandmother's Family Reunion.

This is a gathering of my Grandma's extended family that covers generations and generations of family members who all owe their existence, including me, to Alston and Alberta Newman. Alston and Alberta were my great-great grandparents and in their life together on a farm in the mountains of West Virginia they bore and raised a slew of children, seventeen all together. So, you can imagine that this was a BIG family reunion. I don't know that H had ever been to an event quite like it. We were hugged and kissed and questioned and fed. The reunion was held at a campground outside of Zanesville, where the rolling hills were a beautiful background to a celebration of family.

Day 4
We did not wake up super early, as exhaustion and jet-lag and my airplane-acquired-sinus-infection had all caught up with us. We did finally hit the road about 9.30 and headed west towards Dayton. We stopped in Dayton Air Force Museum, as anyone related to aviation must do and throughly enjoyed ourselves. I felt like I had my own personal guide because H knows the make, details and history of nearly every plane there. After a picnic of hummus, crackers and fruit (thanks to Mom, who packed us a picnic for the road!) we set the GPS for Lexington, KY and that is where I write to you from.

The drive down was lovely and we are looking forward to see what adventures Day 5 may hold!