Off to Maine

We left home for Maine on December 20th, immediately after school. It had been a long, hectic day at school, as the day before Christmas break always is, and we had to look forward to a 7 hour drive to Connecticut. In our older, wiser years, we have decided that driving the 12-14 hours to Maine in one stretch is just too much! So, in lieu of an abundance of "family time" in the car, we stop midway for the night. It is wonderful, and we get a good night's sleep, a free breakfast and then we start fresh on the remaining seven hours to Maine.

So this year, we packed up the car with two huge suitcases, two travel bags, a pile of presents for family members, a car topper in case it was needed for extra storage, a bucket of kid activities, a portable DVD player with 13 movies, and last but not least, Uncle David and his suitcase. We were packed tight with stuff, and full of anticipation for the trip. At 5:00, we left Harrisonburg at 55 degrees.

As we drove to Pennsylvania, we watched the temperature plummet, and the snow/rain begin to fall. It was really icy, so our normal speed of 70 mph, crawled to a mere 40mph. Not good for traveling quickly! But we trudged on and arrived at our destination, Danbury, Connecticut around 12:30am. It was snowing like crazy in Connecticut, which definitely helped get us into the Christmas spirit. And it was COLD! No more 55 degree weather for us.

When we woke in the morning, there was about four inches of snow on the ground, and the kids were sooo excited. It was strange to have to clean off the car, since we have been so spoiled by our garage. But I remember many days of having to scrape snow or ice off the car prior to departing to go anywhere in the morning. So after warming the car, and scraping by TJ, we left Connecticut around 10am. We arrived in Maine around 4:30. Home again, home again!