Hartford Marriott Farmington

OK, so there were 9 of us for Thanksgiving at Mom's this year! What a surprise...it went from 2 then to 4 then all of a sudden people were showing up left and right. It was great.

I flew into Boston and got a great rental car with Satellite radio...listened to interviews with Depak Chopra and Barbara Walters who each have new books ...

... and locked on the back rack of our motor home. The Person brought their own bolt cutters and clean cut both cables and slip the bike off the rack in the middle of Thanksgiving night. We give thanks for those who steal other peoples property for band door profit.

The first thing i did is go to my best friend Juliana birthday party and i was the only one to come because all other friends ditch her sec for me i was happy i was happy to go because everybody who was suppose to come didn't watch the other blind side and we went out to eat they should come Juliana just turn 15 year old she is so cool and she is my best friend forever.....:D

We left Agawam at 5 a.m. Even though the weather was horendous we still managed to make it to Washington DC in good time, about 6 hours. The rain held off for about 2 hours while we walked around DC checking out the major sites. When ...

... there was still some weird comfort level of the "known" versus the unknown. At any rate, I hopped onto the Silver Line bus for $2 and took it to the South Station, where I bought an Amtrak ticket for $44 back to New London. Jan and Jack were there to pick me up, and they kindly took me home to a hot meal, hot shower, and bed.

... bookmark, a purse hanger, and the book Three Cups of Tea. Chris and I also secretly arranged to have a sat-nav delivered to her, which she really needs!

Back at the hotel, Chris and I finished up our foodstuffs, then walked to Max Fish for appetizers to complete our dinner. We packed up, showered and were in bed early, but I was too excited to sleep, so I finished my Ruth Rendell book, Death Notes.

... years.

Jan & Jack arrived at 11:00 to take us for a beautiful drive in the country--Litchfield and Kent in western Connecticut. We stopped at Lake Waramaug and had an outdoor lunch at the Hopkins Inn overlooking the water, then drove on to Kent where we walked around town a bit, admiring the huge animal sculptures scattered about. I could have spent a lot more time there! We drove over Bull's Bridge, a ...

... near our hotel and had lunch of thin crust pizza and salad. It reminded me of Olive Garden, only better. Jan & Jack dropped us off at the hotel to get settled and we arranged to meet them later.

After unpacking at our 6th floor room, we walked out the front door to go for a walk and ran into our friends Cookie & Paul Shapiro who drove up from NYC just to see us for a couple of days. Cookie had just had laser ...

... the Doce Vida bakery I found the day before, then to the package store where I bought three bottles of the Columbia Crest Cab Reserve that Chris and I like so much. Back home, Jan made a quiche for dinner. I received a text from Mom letting me know that Tammy was awarded the honor of Homecoming Queen for her senior year. I talked to Chris and we ordered Jan a Garmin sat-nav as a birthday present. I am so looking forward to seeing him tomorrow!

... on the inside before we lost a lane or two to traffic. A mere touch on the accelerator and I was going from 80 to 100 with no effort. I think this thing could have hit the top speed on the speedometer with no problems whatsoever. And that was 160 mph! One finds that traveling the lonely business roads of America solo can lead to a bit of danger seeking behavior. And seeing how fast and rugged your rental car is is just one of the joys of business travel. I wish you guys could ...