Where Were We? (On the Road Again)

Our apologizes for the month-long hiatus.  Kristy and I have been mostly stationary (Black Beauty has been getting antsy) as we’ve been visiting family and friends in New York and Pennsylvania.  Our last stop on the blog, Niagara Falls, is one hour from my family in Irondequoit, NY.  Kristy was able to visit for about a week there with myself and my mom and sister before heading south to stay with her family in Mount Joy, PA.
  

Andrew, Laura and Cathy Simmons

As for the said ‘harrowing tales’ of family visits, the only gruesome tale to tell is that I received two $50 tickets for running red lights on the way to and from a dentist appointment.  The kicker is that I was caught by video cameras placed at the stop-lights, and that, of course, I was wrongly accused and continue to maintain that I was merely passing through yellow lights.  Damn Big Brother.  Beyond that tangent, we had a great time.  The weather was amazing and we were finally able to experience above 70 degrees for the first time this year! 

Kristy and I also visited my friend of 28 years, Tom, and his wife Kat in Brooklyn to meet their new baby boy, Miles.  We had a great time helping out with Miles and relaxing with Tom and Kat. We also spent an afternoon with my Uncle Joe and his wife Laralu in the NYC.  

Proud papa, Tom with baby Miles- 3 weeks old

Laralu & Uncle Joe Gioco - thanks for a great walking tour!

Balcony view from Joe & Laralu's artist cooperative apartment near Hell's Kitchen

So, our route took us from Rochester, NY to Mount Joy, PA (in Lancaster County), and from there we took a side trip via train to Brooklyn, then back to PA for Thanksgiving with Kristy’s family.

Quality sister time with Ashley!

Kristy's father,  Larry, reviewing the fine art of putting on tire chains

As you can clearly see in the above photo, a re-pack was in order. Thankfully, we worked out an even better system so that I could bring more tools on the road! (Kristy was really excited about more tools.) We have a few other photos of Kristy's family but on another camera so you'll have to wait until the next post to meet the fam. Suffice to say that it was a great visit- though it always feels too short to visit everyone!

After the holiday weekend, we then drove to New Jersey to visit Kristy's friend Lindsey and her family who live near Cape May. (Kristy and "Ty" played field hockey together in college.) It felt pretty momentous looking out over the Atlantic Ocean and thinking just how far we'd come over the past eight weeks.

Lindsey and her family were great to hang out with, and they treated us to a fantastic fresh seafood dinner. Wow! Actually there was lots of great food during this visit. It was my first time having lobster, mussels and clams, and I have to say, I am now an official seafood fan. 

Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Tyler for converting Andrew!
Now if I could get him to like olives... ~ Kristy

Celebrating Kristy's birthday

From New Jersey we treated Black Beauty to a taste of the ocean on a ferry to Delaware (sorry to miss you Brandi), and from there we traveled across the Chesapeake Bay via tunnel and bridge before heading west towards Nashville.  Although the road to Nashville was a bit out of our way we felt it was more than worth it because we had tickets to see one of our favorite musicians, Gillian Welch, on December 1st, one day before Kristy's 29th birthday.  

No flash photographs so this was the best we could do.

Needless to say, the show was amazing.  Gillian plays with her musical partner, David Rawlings, who tore it up on the guitar.  The two sang together so beautifully and powerfully that the crowd convinced them to perform two encores.  This was definitely one of the highlights of our trip so far.  Nashville was also a very cool place to explore, with live music coming out of numerous bars at all hours of the day.  Plus, we enjoyed fried green tomatoes and blackened catfish. Yum.

Great way to spend a birthday!! 

Broadway in Nashville

From Nashville we drove a few hours back east to Knoxville to visit Roberta, one of Kristy's roommates from her 2nd Jesuit Volunteer year in Bethel.  For all you Bethelites: Robbie is doing really well! She's working full-time and going to grad school for Social Work. Her sweet abode feels like it's in the boondocks (which is of course a wonderful compliment!) but it's only a few miles from downtown- wow, right? 

After a night of shared memories and strange, old Bethel prom photos, Kristy and I drove a bit south to catch some of the Great Smoky Mountains before heading to Asheville, North Carolina to see another concert, this time performed by The Carolina Chocolate Drops with an opening performance by Frazey Ford.  We met up with our good friends from Bethel, Chris and Bethy, who moved to Boone, NC over the summer so that Chris could pursue graduate school.  We're currently hanging out in Boone with them. (Photos to come!)


Interjection from Kristy: First of all, the Carolina Chocolate Drops were great- definitely worth mentioning. I was pretty disappointed that Frazey Ford, one of my favorite artists lately, didn't play any of my favorite songs off of her recent album, Obadiah. Turns out there was no drum set or band backing her up. I didn't even get to get a photo with her. Shoot. 


Anyway, the next day a crazy thing happened in Asheville. Nope, I didn't run into Frazey. Bummer. But I did run into a guy with whom I graduated high school and attended church- Jon Nicholas. This is especially wild because he was only visiting Asheville for the first time as well- on a work trip from NYC. 

Jon works as a Greenpeace canvasser.

We're happy to be visiting with old friends and promise to post again within a week. That is, if you haven't given up on us yet.