Hartford, CT second time around

Eric and I left Johnson City, TN on Wednesday morning at about 8 am. Our plan as to when we were leaving changed about 17 times due to Eric needing to schedule an interview and the weather was going to get pretty nasty. Our first stop was Harrisburg, PA. This is has been a great lay over spot for us the past 8 months. Our friends have been kind enough to let us come and stay whenever we needed it and also let us come with very little notice. Being able to stay with them has probably saved us $1000 this year. The snow came in huge amounts but the roads never got too bad. The weather only cause the trip to be about forty minutes longer than usual. After a night of games, pizza, and good fun we left on Thursday and came to Hartford. Eric is at the hospital right now doing another rotation with this program. We head out tomorrow to NYC. Hopefully no more snow.

And away we go

So after four months of living in Tennessee we are heading to our next destination. Eric and I are leaving on Wednesday for our next adventure. First stop Harrisburg, PA for the night to visit our good friends. Then on Thursday we head on to Hartford, CT. Eric is going to visit the program up there again on Friday. On Saturday morning on to NYC. Number one on our to-do list is Carlos' Bakery in Hoboken, NJ. If you know the show Cake Boss on TLC that is where we are going. Sunday morning I fly home to Des Moines. Eric will go to Kingston, NY. We will spend the month of February apart. I know it will be hard but I keep reminding myself that so many couples have to do almost all of fourth year apart so one month won't be that bad.

We have loved our time here in Johnson City, TN. The ward has been great and I really felt like we found a home here. I am sad to be leaving the great friends we made here but I also know that we have great things ahead of us also.

New Years Eve 2010

 On New Year's Eve we headed over to Asheville, NC. The largest house in the USA is located there. It was built in 1895 by George Vanderbuilt.  The grounds were also fabulous. I am excited to go back some day in the spring or summer. The house was still decorated for Christmas which was beautiful. I have to admit I was a little jealous of the people who got the live there. There is an indoor pool and beautiful rooms and a fabulous library. But then I thought of the work to keep a house like that running and I was happy to come home to my place.

Gatlinburg 2010

 In one of the visitor guides I found a coupon for a needlecraft store. Since I crochet and Eric's mom tats. We decided to head out there to see what the store was like. The store was in the middle of nowhere. While we were in the store Dad took a few pictures. I loved the barn with the bike. We actually drove all the way back out there to get a book that we had seen the first trip. The great part the book is all in German and nobody speaks German.

 Eric had to spend most of the week in Johnson City but on Tuesday he came back for the afternoon and to stay the night. We went for a late lunch/early dinner at a steak house. It was really yummy and it was great that Eric was able to come for the day.

 After dinner we walked around Gatlinburg for a while and saw the cute little shops. There was a little square area with a fountain that was still flowing but also covered in ice. I thought it was really neat that the fountain was still on but freezing.

 After our walk we went to the Ripley's Aquarium. It was an awesome aquarium. We had a coupon for $3 off if we went after five and we had plenty of time to see everything. Including this cool seahorse. We also went through the world's longer underwater tunnel. There were lots of sharks and other fishes. They also said there were sea turtles but we didn't see them.

 I was the only one who was crazy enough to reach down and pick up the horseshoe crab. It was weird to touch an animal that was so hard on the outside.

One of the new exhibits was the penguin playhouse. Because it was later in the evening the penguins were pretty calm but it was fun to crawl through and be so close to the penguins.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2010

For Christmas this year Eric's parents came to Tennessee. They flew into Knoxville on the 23rd and stayed the night here in Johnson City and then on Christmas Eve we drove to Gatlinburg, TN. On Christmas Eve the weather was sunny and in the forties with no snow on the ground. Then on Christmas morning we woke up to a winter wonderland. It was the first time that I remembered Christmas Eve being so warm and sunny and then Christmas morning being covered in fresh snow. It snowed all day and all night through the 26th. It was one of the prettiest snows I have ever seen.

We had soup on Christmas Eve and then spent the evening watching "The Polar Express". Eric's parents had never seen the movie so it was fun to watch it all together. Then on Christmas morning we woke up and opened the few presents we had and headed out into the storm. Down in Gatlinburg we went out for breakfast at the Pancake House. While we were there Santa came in to say hi. The rest of the day we played games, mostly Dominion. For dinner we chicken crescents. When I first met Eric's family his mom made these but I couldn't remember the name and called them chicken hamsters. It was a fun day spent cuddled up on the coach in front of the fire enjoying family.