Home for the Holidays

Although it was somewhat unplanned, I found myself back in the States for the Christmas season. A lot happened in the month I was home...a bit of which I will attempt to capture here.



I flew into Reagan Airport in beautiful Washington, D.C. It was a night landing, and I almost started crying as we passed all of the towering and well-lit monuments. Zipped right over the river and then landed. Aunt Martha met me at baggage claim, and then we had an adventure trying to find Uncle Ray who had been forced to make circles because of the tight security. A short drive home and a cozy bed awaited me!



A week or so of working on the ´ol graduate school applications. A bit of relaxing. A lot of post-dinner teatime with good chats. Runs in the snow. How good it felt to see and feel snow! At last, it felt like winter had truly arrived!



Visited with some friends...rode up to Ohio where we took a day trip to Amish country. Cheese factories (with sampling stations), and apple cider vendors, and buggies, oh my!



Then to Richmond for Christmas. Had a good time with Derek, Carrie, Gavin, and Carrie´s family. Derek and I had our sights on a ski trip, but it just wasn´t cold enough. Instead, we went on a 2-hour bike ride at Pocahontas State Park in the freezing rain (that was my poorly planned idea).



Made a spontaneous trip to Washington, D.C. after Derek gave the car a quick morning oil-change. Met my cool postal worker friend, Eric, for lunch and then...to the museums we went! Gavin enjoyed the hands-on exhibits at the Museum of Natural History. Walked around the Mall a bit. Took the Metro over to Chinatown to check that out. Though the Tai Shan restaurant brought memories of an all-night hike up the holy mountain, the food was really no comparison to the experience. And, yes, there was even a Starbuck´s in Chinatown.



A few days before leaving the Richmond area, I realized that one of my teammates from Team 9 lived (according to MapQuest) a mere 3.7 miles from my brother´s house. So, of course, we had to spend some time catching up.



Some more application work...a small get-together for New Year´s and the poof! Time to go back to Honduras.