The Great Goodbye Tour!

We have a great adventure planned for 2019 that will take us far away for many months, at least 7 if all goes as planned! Before we head off to Australia, New Zealand and other ports of call we have been catching up with friends and family from Indiana to New Jersey! Not only are we able to visit with the people we love, we have had some fine adventures as well!

While visiting my sister and her family in Virginia we wandered around Ball’s Bluff Battlefield, saw one of the smallest National Cemeteries and learned some interesting history about a Union general who was punished because he lost a battle he wasn’t even supposed to have had. Visited a few taprooms and enjoyed the local beers.

At a reunion of Dan’s family that included aunts, cousins, brothers, sister and nieces and nephews they tried to recreate some photos from their youth. No one was injured, but the laugh muscles were well used!

We had a quick visit to Indiana that happened to coincide with prime leaf peeping and had a much more scenic drive than planned to avoid that traffic. I was able to present my cousin with a re-gift of a tacky piece of household décor, carrying on a family tradition. My uncle “created” (with pie dough, after attempting with croissant mix, he is nothing if not creative and thorough) Witechy Grubs to prepare us for Australian food. Good thing he didn’t find out he could have real ones shipped in time for that visit!We hit multiple tap rooms in several Indiana cities on that visit.

Headed to Pittsburgh to catch up with friends and more family. Timed that trip arrive the night Pittsburgher’s kick off the holidays with parades, street fairs and fireworks! While catching up with friends we hit up several of the local tap rooms. Later we wandered to a cidery for some gingery apple goodness. A lovely dinner at a tiny Italian place capped off the visit to the ‘Burgh.

Then off to New Jersey to see more friends and the state capital. State capitals are a thing with me and I am trying to visit all 50. This one was under renovation, so we only caught the outside and it will join 4 others that I saw while they were under renovation. Between stuffing ourselves with turkey and pie (lots of pie) we visited a few local tap rooms and enjoyed several delicious flights of eastern beers.

We are enjoying lots of wonderful surprises in many familiar places as we go to visit folks before we leave. While we act like the visits are to make sure everyone remembers who we are when we get back we acknowledge that they are mostly opportunities to brag about our upcoming trip!!

“Family isn’t always blood, it’s the people in your life who want you in theirs: the ones who accept you for who you are, the ones who would do anything to see you smile and who love you no matter what.” Maya Angelou.