Return trip home - Christmas 2011

On Boxing Day we packed up and said our goodbyes to Rachel and Deana before hitting the road once more.  We drove north to Winchester, Virginia, where my brother, David, has recently moved.  We checked into our Hampton Inn then went to his new home in the center of Winchester.  We met his two new cats, Bella and Lila, then walked to the Village Square Inn for a delicious dinner.

Tuesday we drove to Philippi, West Virginia, through rainfall that became heavy at times.  First stop was at the Mansfield Place nursing home to see my Mom.  She seemed fairly well and alert for 92 years of age and she didn't have any complaints to air.  We gave her some Texas pecans and kolaches which she enjoyed.  I warmed up one cheese kolache and she gobbled it down - and this was after she ate a good sized lunch.  Her appetite is certainly still good.  We showed her photos and videos of Sophie-Claire on our laptop computer which she really enjoyed.  Then in the evening we went to my other brother's (Danny) home and had a nice dinner and visit with his wife, Melissa, and children Morgan and Jonathan.  We were having fun but it was getting late and we had to head on to Clarksburg where we had reservations at the Hampton Inn.  We drove in heavy rain and it was predicted that the area would get one to two inches of wet snow.

Wednesday morning dawned and we were pleased to see that the snow did not materialize - just some ice on the car and a dusting of snow in the area.  We headed south to Charleston then west through Huntington, Ashland, and around Lexington to Louisville, Kentucky where we arrived ahead of schedule.  The scenery between Lexington and Louisville was very nice even in winter and it is part of their Bourbon Trail with many name brand distillers along the way.  We checked into the Hampton Inn in the downtown area and spent a few hours seeing what we could of Louisville since this was our first time there.  First on my list was a tour of the Louisville Slugger Museum and baseball bat factory.  We had a nice tour and then spent time looking around the impressive museum - impressive if you enjoy baseball like I do.  Rita was under awed.  Next we took a free trolley down Fourth Street to the Brown Hotel, a beautiful hotel built in the 1920s.  We sat in the bar and had an early dinner since we skipped lunch.  I started off with a Basil Hayden bourbon while Rita had a mojito.  Then Rita had a huge cheeseburger while I had their signature dish, a "hot brown" sandwich which originated in this hotel.  We took the trolley back to our hotel for a good, quick tour of Louisville.

Thursday the weather turned very mild and clouds turned to sunshine as we drove south past the Churchill Downs, Fort Knox, Bardstown, Elizabethtown and Bowling Green to Nashville, Tennessee.  Here we took I-40 west and stopped in the little town of Buffalo for lunch at Loretta Lynn's Kitchen where we had terrible food.  Enough said.  We drove past Memphis and Little Rock, Arkansas, to Bryant where we had reservations at the Hampton Inn.

Friday morning we woke to heavy fog and very mild temperatures.  We drove southwest to Texarkana, Texas, then headed west towards Dallas.  In Rockwall we stopped for lunch at a Casa Taco for another horrible meal.  We weren't having good luck with lunches.  We drove through downtown Dallas and headed south on I-35 for the home stretch.  We stopped in the town of West for fresh kolaches at the small bakery in town.  Pressing on we drove through Waco and Temple (huge car pileup) to the toll road around Austin.  In Kyle we stopped at our HEB grocery store to do major shopping.  We arrived home about 7:30 pm, unpacked the car, put away groceries and looked at our mail before going to bed.

It was a very nice Christmas road trip but it surely felt good to sleep in our own bed and shower in our own shower.

Christmas 2011

Christmas Eve we started off with a delicious mid-morning brunch of ham cups filled with eggs and veggies.  We attended an afternoon showing of the new Tintin movie which we enjoyed.  In the evening everyone gathered in the kitchen to create a delicious Persian dinner of Iranian rice and grilled chicken kabobs. 

Christmas morning we had a late brunch of croissants, boiled eggs, and hot cocoa.  I talked to my brother, David, and we Skyped with Gretchen and Sophie-Claire in Panama.  In the afternoon we dressed up and went to the Washington Duke Inn for a delicious, huge Christmas buffet.  There were carving stations with beef, turkey and ham in addition to banquet size tables filled with starters and vegetables.  Another room had additional tables with several different kinds of desserts.  Even trying to control ourselves, I ate way too much but it was all delicious.

It was a wonderful Christmas.

Christmas – December 23, 2011

Rachel took off work today while Deana worked a full day.  After breakfast Rachel, Rita and I drove to Chapel Hill and stopped for some specialty items at a Persian shop called Jahan.  Then we went to Trader Joe, Whole Foods, and the Meat House for food items.  We drove to Hillsborough and had a sandwich at Weavers Market.  Then we walked a 10K (6 mile) AVA year-around event through the historic town.  It was a beautiful sunny day with mild temperatures.  We came home and had a very nice dinner of thick steaks on the grill and a variety of vegetables.  In the evening we played cards with next-door neighbors to about 11:00 pm.

Christmas - December 22, 2011

After a refreshing good night’s sleep we rallied and set out once more.  Rachel and Deana went to work and we played with Olive and unpacked.  We met Rachel at a very nice café/bar in the renovated American Tobacco Center called Tyler’s Tap Room.  We had a nice lunch and I had a flight of four local microbrew beers.  We went to a very nice gourmet food supermarket in Chapel Hill called A Southern Season.  If you are ever in this area and like foods, you should visit this store.  In the evening we all went to dinner at Parizades in Durham, one of our old-time favorites that is reminiscent of a European café.  I had delicious lamb chops, Rita had chicken, Rachel had steak and Deana had grouper.  Everyone liked their food as well as the Willamette Valley pinot noir.  We ended with the most delicious chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream.

Days 2 & 3 of our Christmas Road Trip – 2011

Tuesday morning we woke to light rain in Longview, Texas, and headed east on I-20 for a long drive during intermittent rainfall.  We passed through Monroe, Louisiana, to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where we stopped for lunch.  Then we drove east through Jackson, Meridian, Tuscaloosa, Birmingham, Gadsden, where we stopped for dinner, to Chattanooga where we spent the night.  

The next morning, Wednesday, we woke to a downpour which remained with us through most of the day.  We drove northeast through Knoxville to Ashville, North Carolina.  I had wanted to take a different scenic route but our GPS took us this way which was okay since it was too rainy for seeing the scenery.  We stopped for lunch in Hickory then made our way to Rachel and Deana’s house in Durham, arriving around 4:00 in the afternoon.  It was good to see Rachel and Deana and their dog Olive.  Also, their house was festively decorated for the holidays.  After a good salad for dinner Rita and I slept for about 11 hours straight.

Day 1 of our Christmas Road Trip - December 2011

The first day of our Christmas road trip began from home which we left in the rain about 9:30 am.  While I had looked at a map and marked out a route, we used a Garmin GPS for the first time.  There are many nice features to this GPS and I feel I’ll warm up to it eventually.  We skirted around Austin on toll roads then headed east on highway 79 through Hutto, Taylor, Rockdale, to Hearne where we turned north on highway 6 to Calvert, our first stop.

We stopped at Zamykal Kolaches in Calvert to pick up a dozen kolaches.  Then we walked across the street to the Wooden Spoon café.  While the food was okay there was nothing special about the café or the meal.  Soon we were back on the road heading north on highway 14 through Bremond to Groesbeck where we stopped for gasoline.  My father once lived in Groesbeck but this was our first return there in about 40 years or so.  We continued on to Richland where we headed north on I-45 a short distance.  In Corsicana we took highway 31 west around Athens and Tyler where we took I-20 to our destination of the Hampton Inn in Longview, Texas.

We checked into the hotel and called Rita’s brother, Ken, and his wife, Mary.  They came by and we drove the very short distance to Cheddars restaurant where we had dinner.  After dinner and conversation they took us back to the hotel and headed off.  It was a short but nice visit.  The rain followed us to Longview and it appears that it will be with us tomorrow as well.