Happy New Year!

Our trip home was a lot easier than our trip north. The weather was misty and warm most of the way. All of the snow and ice on the highway--although not all of it in the fields and woods--had long since melted.

Cairo turned a corner on this trip. (How could he not?) On December 23, the first day, he had thrown up three times before we even got to Atlanta. The Happy Traveler didn't seem to help at all. But then he only threw up once more on the entire trip, and that was under extenuating circumstances (lots of bumps, turns, and stops in quick succession). I am tempted to believe that he was never carsick in the first place...just anxious. Once he figured out that nothing bad was coming, he relaxed quite a bit.

Since the drive home was easy, we took the opportunity to relax and to pop into thrift stores at every opportunity. We got a ton of great stuff. The s.o. got a whole new wardrobe and gathered stacks of books for his eBay business. I ended up with two blouses, a pair of trousers, a skirt, and two necklaces. Our kitchen was enriched by the addition of a set of cream horn moulds (they were British, so I'm spelling them accordingly) and a ravioli press. With all those stops, I think the trip home might have taken as long as the icy nightmare on the way up, but BOY was our mood different.

In the end, having collected our cat at the s.o.'s dad's place and lingered over a Mexican dinner, we straggled home at the last possible minute before the New Year. We pulled into our driveway at 11:57 p.m., rushed in the door, and turned on the TV to New Year's Rockin' Eve. The s.o. and I kissed as the ball dropped, and POP! went the champagne we'd bought on the way home. Then we talked about how much we hate Ashlee Simpson and sifted through our gifts.

I know it sounds strange coming from people who've braved a blizzard, but we hope all of you have had a holiday season as wonderful as ours.

P.S.
Several of the upcoming entries in this blog will be titled with the names of states, and will explore various parts of our vacation. There's too much to tell otherwise.