I feel like so much has happened in the past two weeks that I would normally blog about as it happened, but what with traveling and being really busy at work, I just haven't had a chance. When I did have spare time I was catching up on reading everyone else's blogs!

I do technically have some work, but nothing that won't wait till tomorrow, so I'm going to indulge myself.

We went on our trip to see family, fall colors and some new places. First we hit Virginia, where we visited my mom, dad, a sister, a nephew and a niece. After that we visited AS's mom, who lives in the same town. Her dad was supposed to show up too (the parents are recently separated), but he didn't and that immediately ratcheted down the tension AS had been feeling. We had a great dinner with her mom and adoptive sister, and AS got tons of high-end material and expensive patterns from her mom, who works in a fabric store and gets deep discounts. We shipped them home to the tune of about $75, but there was seriously at least $1000 worth of patterns and fabric. We could probably sell one piece of cloth on eBay and make up the shipping costs! (Not that AS would let me, but maybe she'll part with some of the patterns...)

Next we went to West Virginia so I could show NT my childhood "vacation home," a ramshackle old house in a valley (or "holler" as it's called in WV), where I whiled away many a lazy summer climbing hills, wading in creeks and making campfires. Another sister lives nearby, so we hung out with her, her husband and kids. They took us to the site of the coal-mine disaster you probably all heard about in early 2006. I was in England at the time, and it made the news there! My brother-in-law works for the same company, so he took us past the mine he works at, and told us a little about how it all works. Then they drove us around for more scenery, my BIL even taking NT and I on the back of a 4-wheeler through woods and hills, where we startled many deer. It was a great time. The scenery in WV is breathtaking.

I got sick the second night we were there. Too much to drink, maybe, or just not used to not having healthy home-cooked meals. But I gradually felt better throughout the day. On the way back to Virginia we took a detour through Skyline Drive, which winds along mountaintops giving you a stunning view of the Shenandoah Valley. We saw many unafraid deer and a bear!

After that we spent a bit more time with my family, then headed up to D.C., where we stayed overnight for the first time ever. I splurged on a very fancy hotel for one night. It was amazing! (I'm still trying to get this pending charge off my checking account from them, but otherwise a truly indulgent experience.) We mostly just hung out in the hotel suite, though we did take short walks to find dinner and then lunch the next day. I almost got sick again after the dinner! I think I ate too fast and the food was a little saltier than we're used to. I can't believe I've got such a delicate stomach now. AS was also having digestive problems throughout the trip, either due to all the eating out or her new heart meds.

Thursday we drove to Chesapeake Beach, a small town in Maryland on the Chesapeake Bay. We stayed at a hotel that had a spa, and I got my first facial! AS got a mud wrap for the first time, and NT got a good old-fashioned massage. A little teenage girl who worked there slightly scratched our rental car and was in hysterics, but I called the rental company and made sure it was covered, then let her off without giving me her info. She'd just gotten her license and car, and I was glad she was able to learn her lesson about careful driving early, cheaply and relatively painlessly!

That night we drove up to Annapolis and had amazing Thai food, and walked around their gorgeous downtown.

Friday we dropped the car off and took a cab to Baltimore to stay two nights. Even though I lived near Baltimore most of my life, I never thought to explore past the aquarium. We were pleasantly surprised at how pretty, friendly and bustling it was. And we had no trouble finding wonderful food for every meal. We took a water taxi, walked around the different neighborhoods and had drinks at a couple bars. We found a vegetarian restaurant that we really wish was here in Minneapolis, Liquid Earth. We heard a meat-eater customer tell the owner that their veggie reuben was better than the real thing!

Too soon, it was time to come home. Still, it was nice to come back to our beautiful condo and be able to cook for ourselves again.

It was a really interesting vacation; full of contrasts from rural to urban, comfortable family time to exploring new places, roughing it to living large. I totally recommend this method, except we got sick of all the packing and unpacking as we never stayed anywhere for more than two nights.

AS (as well as NT and I) was so glad to be places that were more racially diverse. Minneapolis is, but life can get really segregated, where you work with 95% white people if you work in certain professional fields. For AS it can get lonely and for me, coming from VA, NY, GA, it's just very odd. West Virginia, Chesapeake Beach and Annapolis were fairly "white," but D.C., Virginia and Baltimore were full of the diversity AS and I miss so much.

I didn't track spending on this trip, but figured it all out when we got back, and we went about $150 over budget. Only averages out to $5 per person per day, but it really adds up! Still, we had more than enough in our grocery budget, and since most of the overspending was on food, voila! Problem solved. Still, I'm tracking spending next vacay, because the last one we went on we came in way under, and I'm convinced the tracking helped.

We got to talk to people from all walks of life (East Coasters are much more outgoing with strangers than Midwesterners, in my experience) in the midst of a very strange political season. We started our vacation right as the financial crises started to get really crazy. We talked to Dems, Repubs and independents, and I really came away feeling determined to try and purge partisan rancor out of my bloodstream, because most folks, even people whose political beliefs I think are way off, just want the best for themselves, their friends and family, and their country.

Soo, now we're back! We're planning a Halloween party for Nov. 1, still waiting to hear the official word on AS's layoff, getting better at the new household order now that NT (the homemaking guru) is in class all the time, etc., etc., etc.