Technology Fail

On day #2 of driving, we found ourselves headed to NYC. Why do we always end up driving through NYC on holiday weekends??? This meant an extra several hours stuck in traffic. Plus it was smoggy and we couldn't even appreciate seeing the buildings from a distance.

As we continued our long drive north we decided that a vacation would not be complete without a stop at REI. We really needed a good camera case for our Canon Rebel and some USGS topo maps of the White and Green Mountains {some people collect pottery or stamps, we collect outdoor gear and maps of national forests}. With a little research, we found an REI in Connecticut that was on the way. When I punched the address into our {several-year-old} Garmin GPS I had to laugh. 

The route it wanted us to take was 3,176 miles long and projected to take us 54 hours and 23 minutes {it should have been about 235 miles with a projected traveling time of 4.5 hours}.

It wanted us to go in a counter-clockwise direction from Maryland... out through North Dakota... up through Manitoba, Canada... and across Canada before coming back into New England. Talk about a technology fail. While at REI we ended up buying a software upgrade for our poor, outdated GPS. *Unfortunately the software update is not compatible with Apple.

Update: We figured out the reason for the ridiculous routing was that we had it set to avoid toll roads!!! Obviously a bad option in NY state. Oops.

Last Week in Pictures

Last week was pretty hectic. Here is a recap in pictures:

We went to Murfreesboro two Fridays ago to pick up our electric blanket and warmer clothes since fall had descended on us. Then we had several days of warm weather that made us question putting an electric blanket on our bed {we also had several nights we were thankful for the electric blanket}.

Saturday we headed back to our camper.

Sunday we went backpacking at Bob Bald in the Joyce-Kilmer Slickrock Wilderness area.

Monday we were back at the camper.

Tuesday I went to Nashville to babysit my niece while my sister and bro-in-law closed on their house.

Wednesday and Thursday, my brother and I spent the day painting at my sister and bro-in-laws new house.

Dining Room BEFORE

Dining Room AFTER

Kitchen BEFORE

For some reason I don't have an after, but we painted it all white with KILZ

 

View towards Living Room from Kitchen BEFORE

Living Room with Kilz primer in progress

 Living Room with primer almost complete

Thursday night I went back to our camper.

Friday, Daniel and I headed to Altanta to do some furniture shopping - we wanted to hit up IKEA and search for a dining room table. We also went to REI where I got a great deal on new Chacos as well as a book about training for Triathalons.

In the end, we bought a mirror for our new half bathroom from IKEA and a dining table, chairs and side board for our kitchen from Sams.

Sunday we came back to our camper and we plan on sitting tight for at least a week.

I think Sophie was pretty warn out from all of our traveling.

We close on our new house next Monday.

Daniel's Birthday and some random stuff...

Yesterday was Daniel's 27th birthday. I was going to surprise him with a trip to Inner Peaks, the local indoor rock climbing gym. However his neck has been bothering him since he let my 4 youngest girl cousins spend hours tackling him in the swimming pool all of last weekend. So instead we are going rock climbing tomorrow when he gets home from work at noon.

To celebrate last night, we went to one of his favorite restaurants, 131 Main. We celebrated with some fresh seafood that was fantastic. Afterwards we swung by REI to pick up an order he had placed and he also ended up purchasing a down sleeping bag... so happy birthday to Daniel! After REI we went to Barnes&Noble where we split a dessert and coffee at the Starbucks and then spent time reading. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable evening (minus the fact taht I had a killer headache)...

Today we discovered that a house in our neighborhood burned down early this morning. Luckily there was no one in the house when this happened. It is 4 blocks from where we live and completely destroyed.

Tonight I was cooking and I was trying out brown rice instead of the normal white rice. The instructions were different from how I am used to cooking and I burned the rice! I mean it was BLACK and our house smells terrible! Who knew that you could burn rice like that???

Anyways we did a kind of a "cheat" meal. I put the stir fry I had made into a glass dish with a lid and we ran into town to Mama Fu's (a semi-fast food Asian place). We purchased a side of brown rice, some pot-stickers and 2 waters for $4.11. Then we sat in the outdoor dining area and waited for our food. After they brought us the rice and pot stickers, Daniel ran to the car and grabbed our stir fry which we ate with the rice. I am not sure if there is etiquette rules governing whether you can combine your homemade food with your purchased food... but hey, we did it, it was good, cheap and faster than me trying to make a new pot of rice!

After Mama Fu's we went to the Books-A-Million in that shopping center and spent about an hour reading. Talk about a cheap date night. Actually Daniel ended up buying 2 magazines which is good for us b/c normally we just browse.

It is FINALLY raining. I love to throw open the windows and just listen to the rain. Someday we are going to have a screened-in porch with a couch or bed on it that I can go be lazy in every time that it rains!