Our Long Trip Home and Halloween Fun!

Happy Hallows Eve all!!

I am going to stick to my word and tell ya'll about our trip home but I am also going to side track a little with some of our Halloween fun today!

As I mentioned before we had an issue with the Uhaul we booked for our trip home. As you know we both flew into Maine from different places and I am not going to lie with all our travel in the last 6 months the idea of flying into Maine for the weekend, flying home and then making the 18+ hour drive back for a week and then coming back was just not going to happen. We discussed it, or my absolute hate for the idea and the cost and just the travel time alone! We have a brand new house that I have no idea how long we are going to get to enjoy I didn't even want to think about leaving it yet again!! So we decided that we would book a driving Uhaul and spend a week there now and then make the drive home!

Jason ordered it online from a place about 15 minutes from his parents house, a corner store! I knew it was just too convenient and something would go on... how right was I. We got a call while there letting us know they would not have the size we ordered but instead one that was way bigger.. no thanks! If we wanted the size we booked we would have to drive 2 hours away! I was not happy but at this point getting a little home sick so Jason went and it got!

We managed to get everything in the Uhaul thankfully, when I first saw that thing I wasn't sure it was going to happen!! We decided that we would get on the road first thing Friday morning with no plan of how far to go and just see what happened. It was freezing cold that morning so although Dunkin Donut coffee sucks we stopped and got breakfast and an apple cider because it was going to be awhile before we got to anything else. Jason was so excited when we got out stuff.... oh New England...

I'm not going to lie our luck with driving this time wasn't great, the morning through Maine we encountered every single school bus and its mostly one lane roads, and the traffic basically continued! Thankfully the foliage throughout was beautiful!

The traffic didn't get really bad until New York, obviously! That's when the sitting started! Between New York and New Jersey we sat for about 4 hours! 

It was pretty miserable and once we got into Trenton, New Jersey and started moving Jason's eyes started burning so we just got a hotel and stopped for the night! 

The next morning I was excited knowing we were going to make it home! We woke up to a brisk morning in New Jersey and headed south!!

This is the Washington DC temple of the church of latter day saints ... it is simply amazing!! The pictures aren't great but we were driving at it!

We made really good time on the way home and were so happy to get here! Jason toured around and took in all the changes to the house! We decided to just unpack the Uhaul and get it over with! We put everything in the garage and slowly worked away at it and have been working away at it since! Its been a daunting task but today we put the last of the stuff inside away and it felt great! Just in time for Pumpkin picking!!

We stopped while out today and picked a few pumpkins off some character on the side of the road! haha, it wasn't exactly a pumpkin patch but things have been a little busy lately!! Either way we got good pumpkins and were excited to get to work tonight after dinner! 

Jason set up shop in the garage while I cleaned up from dinner and then we reverted to childhood... with wine and carved away!!

Note to self, get pumpkin carving knives because we have new knives that aren't meant for pumpkin carving!

Boy was I excited to roast these babies!!

My pumpkin!!! 

Jason and his pumpkin.. haha go figure! GO PATS!

All done! While we were carving our neighbors and their kids came over and introduced themselves and checked out our pumpkins! It was really nice, they are all super friendly!

Jason's pumpkin all done, he did a great job!

The pumpkin seeds turned out great!! We roasted them while having a nice little face time date with Mom and Dad!! 

All in all we had a great night, things are put away and the house is coming together! We have now gotten everything here put away so we will start slowly working on our list of things to get and do some shopping around. It finally feels like we are home and can really enjoy the place! The last couple of nights we have laid around with the fire on watching TV, made dinner and sat at the table and ate, its been really great. 

Funny how things come together and all the sudden it feels like all is right in the world. I got to bed at night feeling content and actually sleep, I wake up feeling refreshed, happy... excited for the day... its been awhile since that has been the case.

Home Sweet Home! 

I Left a Piece of my Heart in New England this Fall....

Its true, although we went to Maine for a terrible reason New England in the fall stole a piece of my heart. The ocean, the fall foliage, the amazing crisp air.... it was heavenly! In the past I have been clear that I have never really enjoyed our time in Maine, but this time was so different.. we have never spent time in Maine during autumn and boy am I feeling now like that was a mistake! Locals said it really was one of the warmest years they have ever had which made the foliage not as bright and cheery as usual, but I suppose if you aren't from there and don't have the luxury of enjoying such beauty yearly, you would never notice the difference!

Friday morning my Mom and Fiona dropped me off the the airport, I wanted to get there early to allow them to get on the road for their long journey home and I really wasn't sure what weekday morning traffic is like here so I figured better safe then sorry. The Raleigh airport is under construction which is never a good thing, and when I arrived I soon found out that getting my boarding pass would not be the usual easy task! I made it to my gate with Starbucks in hand and a little time to spare! However once I sat they informed us that it was a small plane (eek!) and we would have to check all carry on items! Stellar! Once on the plane and on the runway we were informed that air traffic controllers in Newark had delayed our flight 45 minutes!! The gentlemen beside me had a half hour layover in Newark, so he was screwed, but I still thought I would be OK with the 45 minutes I had remaining. We arrived in Newark and I had to wait for my bag, grab the shuttle to the other terminal and then RUN to my gate.. did I mention I was breaking in some high heeled leather boots? FUN! I arrived at my gate to find out I am an idiot and never bothered to make sure they hadn't changed it when I got off the plane, I now ran to the gate I was suppose to be at with little time to spare!

My flight from Newark was fine, truth be told I wanted to hop on the closest train and head straight for NYC, being that close and not visiting seemed like a sin! No such luck though, truth be told I was pretty anxious to see my hubby! I arrived in Portland and didn't have a voice mail from Jason's mother so I made my way to the Shipyard Brewing Company! I was starving and really in the mood for some sort of fall beer, so I went ahead and tried their Pumpkin Ale... TOO DIE FOR! I don't generally care for anything pumpkin, but when in New England... I had 3.

Jason's parents arrived and we awaited Jason's arrival, man was I glad to see that face! We promptly left the airport and headed to Famous Dave's BBQ for dinner! We enjoyed Famous Dave's in New York and once in Washington and love it! I got to pick as it was the day after my birthday... I thought that was a good deal! The drive back to Jason's parents house was long and quite uncomfortable after having sat in a plane all day, but we managed to make it back in one piece!

The next morning was the service for Jason's grandfather. As you all know I am a self proclaimed bawl ass so I was absolutely dreading the whole thing. I came to love and admire Jason's grandfather in the short time I knew him and saying goodbye is always hard. It was an absolutely gorgeous day as those of us who knew and loved him filled the cemetery, the service was nice, personal and honoring, something I think he would have appreciated it... I did really well keeping in my tears to myself until they started the military salute. Jason's grandfather served in the United States Coast Guard for many years and when they played the horns and the military gentlemen came up one my one and saluted the grave, it was heart wrenching! It seemed to final, so the end... it was really hard to take. All in all I thought the service was beautiful, a wonderful way to celebrate a wonderful man.

Our time in Maine was pretty relaxing truth be told, Sunday we laid around all day watching football and napping. Monday we spent our day wandering around the boat ramp and West Quoddy Head State Park! Jason is so lucky to be from such a beautiful place right on the ocean... get ready for some picture overload!

Dock at the bottom of Jason's parents street, tide was up!

See the seals head? Those little buggers are so hard to get a picture of!

Break water

Light house over on Campabello Island, NB

Bridge to the Island

Lobster Boat

Look out spot on the Coast Guard Trail

Quoddy Head State Park

Light House

Jason @ Quoddy Head State Park

I have a million more pictures I could share, it was just so beautiful! We didn't see any whales this trip but we saw a ton of seals which I love! Watching them splash around in the current and stuff does my heart good. We saw a sea otter from the park but it was impossible to get a picture of him with the waves! Those things are too cute they way they float around on their backs.. love!

We took a drive over to Jason's grandfathers land.. bitter sweet really. Check out how gorgeous the blueberry fields look this time of year!

On the way back to Jason's house we stopped by this old abandoned house on the water I just love... a little piece of me wishes we owned it every time I see it, but then I snap back to reality! Check out the view though..

On Tuesday we headed up to Bangor to meet Josh and Tanya for lunch!! They have been in Peru and we have been in Saskatchewan and by the grace of god not only were we in the same country at the same time but we were in the same state!!! We took it as a sign and both drove a couple of hours to meet and have lunch, although it was WAY too short it was more than worth it!!! We had lunch at Bugaboo Creek and spent some time in Lens Crafters at the Bangor Mall haha! They are now safely back in Peru for awhile and we already miss them! We made a stop at the DMV and Stephen King's house!!! Yes I said it.. the author Stephen King!!! He lives in Maine and every time we go there I rag on Jason to take me and he never has, until now!!

Truthfully although creepy as all hell (because lets be honest he himself is) he really lives quite modestly for an author of his caliber. I wanted to knock on the door, but I thought it would be rude! 

Thursday Jason's mother took me to a house she takes care of as she thought not only would I enjoy the house but the view, boy was she right! The house itself is an old Victorian home full of vintage leather bound books, and the most gorgeous attire. This home was warm and inviting, old but modern.. had so much character! Sadly the owner lives in NYC and owns many homes and does not frequent this one at all. She doesn't keep the heat high enough to prevent the walls from cracking and things from falling apart... it is extremely heart breaking to see such a treasure fall apart before your eyes. Out of respect for the owner I just snapped a few pictures of things that caught my eye and the view!

Anyways we had problems getting our Uhaul which I anticipated happening on account that we ordered it from a SMALL corner store in the middle of no where and ended up not leaving until Friday. I have decided to make our trip home a sequel to this post due to the all the pictures and this took me longer then I expected and now I have crap to do! ha! 

I hope you enjoyed the pictures, I don't think they even come close to doing the real thing justice! If you haven't been to New England in the fall, plan a trip! It will be worth it!