(Real) Christmas in Connecticut (Mile 5,282, Trail Mile 129.11)

For those younger than, say, 49, the title is an old movie joke ... look it up. 

Okay, back to business. The drive from New York was one of the most uneventful of our trip, other than the frustrating task of finding a Fedex location to drop off our Covid test. We stopped in about five different random drop-off locations before we finally found one open at a Dollar General in East Nowhere, Pennsylvania. Just another sign that it's 2020.

About eight hours later, we arrived in Mystic at our cozy little Christmas cottage.

Here's what the map looks like now:

After a good night's sleep, we settled into our new home. Nathan enjoyed the snow.

We also took a stroll to downtown Mystic, where we got some take-out from a famous bakery called Sift. Apparently the owner was the winner of a big nationwide baking competition, and they had the lines outside the door to prove it. I have to admit, the food was worth the hassle! And, considering that Rachel and Nathan have become obsessed with baking competition shows, this seemed like a worthy diversion.

Turns out that in Mystic, even the whales wear masks.

We spent the next couple of days before Christmas visiting.

Rachel also spent a LOT of time cooking. We got the payoff for all of that effort on Christmas Eve when we had Mom, Dave, and Deb over for brunch. Sadly, I didn't even think to get one photo of the awesome food!

The following day was Christmas, and, as with our pre-Christmas in New York, there was a lot of sadness about who we could see, who we couldn't see, and the general bummer of having the holidays occur during such strange and depressing circumstances. Even the weather was a little cruddy and sad. The blanket of snow that had been there for the last few days was replaced by gray skies and rain.

That said, we felt truly grateful that that, as in New York, we got to spend our holiday with more family than many people did this year. And, this was still Christmas! We had our annual Christmas Facetime visit with the Drapers that morning.

And, there was a fire burning in the Christmas room at Dave and Deb's, and there was a holiday feast and presents under the tree.

There were funny hats for everyone.

And the winner of "Year's Best Present" went to Dave for the broken dustpan that he got for Deb. 

I, on the other hand, made out like a bandit with a whole slew of Kickstarter games that I'd ordered long before we even knew we'd be leaving California!

It may not have been the best Christmas ever, but it certainly was memorable.

Perry Christmas! (Part 2)

It wasn't until the second half of our three-week stay that we went into full winter wonderland mode. We had a massive snow storm! We'd had a few flurries when Nathan and I went out for our morning walks ...

... but eventually we hit the motherlode! Or, should I saw the MOTHER SNOW!!!

Grammy also let Nathan help decorate the tree.

All of this was in preparation for Saturday. Since we would be in Connecticut for Christmas, we decided to have a special family pre-Christmas celebration on Saturday with Grammy and Poppop. 

This was a year - and a holiday - of ups and downs, particularly given that Covid meant visiting with some folks and missing others. We longed for a good old fashioned family gathering in the grand style that we'd both experienced growing up. Sadly, this just wasn't the year for that. However, there was a little comfort in the fact that, even if we couldn't have a big Christmas, we could have two little ones!

After three wonderful weeks in New York, the longest stop of our trip is ending, and it's time to head to Connecticut. After that, this family whirlwind will start the long trip back to the West and our new life in Oregon!

Perry Christmas! (Part 1)

After three months, we're finally in New York - one of two stops that precipitated this trip in the first place. This is also our longest stop of the trip at just about three weeks. That seems almost like an eternity compared to the brief stops we've made along the way. 

We're staying on Silver Lake in Rachel's hometown of Perry.

Even better, we found ourselves a beautiful lakeside cottage with plenty of views and an amazing sunset almost every night.

After a couple days of settling in, we had what felt like our first weekend in forever without a national park to attend to. Instead, we spent Saturday morning poking around nearby Letchworth State Park, aka, the Grand Canyon of the East. This also happens to be a spot where Rachel worked many a summer (serving goodies at the snack shop) back in her high school days.

And in the evening, Rachel's family threw me an early birthday party! It was great to see everyone after so long, in particular because this year we've had so little social contact with anyone. 

After we rescued Becky from the killer whale, we settled in for cake and a rousing covid-friendly humming rendition of Happy Birthday to You.

On Sunday, we had the opportunity to enjoy a special Christmas experience that was completely new to Nathan: cutting down a fresh Christmas tree! The Drapers invited us to join them for their annual tree outing. We spent the afternoon seeking the perfect tree, and Todd even let Nathan do the cutting! This was great training for when we'll be living in Oregon- the Christmas tree capitol of the United States.

The next couple of weeks felt almost like life had returned to normal. I spent my days working, and Rachel and Nathan chilled at the house, did school work, and spent time at Grammy and Pop-pop's baking cookies and visiting.

With our schedule more settled than it had been in months, I even had the chance to enjoy my weekly game night with Tim, Adam, and Steve. This has been particularly special for me because this is one little piece of our old life that I was able to bring along with me on the great adventure. With everything we've left behind, this weekly event has become more and more important to me. I know that no matter what state I'm in, these guys will be ready to kick my butt at Eclipse, Tapestry, or whatever else is on tap that night. It's also time for our weekly gaming chat/podcast. Shameless plug: if you're interested, you can find us in the Apple iTunes store, Spotify, or YouTube by searching for "Board Game Hot Takes"!

Evenings at home were also a great opportunity to keep up to date on what's happening in the Holiday Baking Championship.

Our time in Perry wasn't all about playing games and eating pie! We had a great time getting out in the woods in Letchworth. It may not be a National Park, but it'll always be National in my heart!

All that hiking made me hungry. I need some more pie!