Christmas 2006

I finally got the pictures uploaded from the family trip this Christmas. I didn't take many pictures, because several people along was taking lots of pictures. Perhaps I will get access to some of those and add them to the gallery.

I did end up getting a little bit sick, but only felt bad for about one and a half days. Almost everyone else in the family was hit though.

On the 23rd I flew to St. Louis with Nathan, Kathy, and Arthur. We spent a few days at Mom and Dad's house. On the 25th we drove up to Eureka, IL for the Belsley family Christmas and had the traditional Belsley Christmas dinner (which consists mostly of homemade pizza). We drove back down to STL to fly out the next day for Pittsburgh, PA. There we met Rachel, Josh, Madeline, and Norah. It was a long drive, over six hours, down to Williamsburg, VA where we were spending the week. Peter and Liz had flown into a closer airport and met us there. Our first day there we opened up family presents and relaxed at the hotel for most of the day. We did head over to Colonial Williamsburg in the evening to see a drum and fife presentation. Some of the group went on a night tour of the town and herd some of the local ghost legends. Our guide was pretty good, but spoke with her eyes closed. I was expecting her to vanish in a puff of smoke at the end. I would recommend the tour to others.

The next few days we saw more of Williamsburg and headed over to see the archeology site at Jamestown. I am glad that I had just read "John Adams" and the family had listened to a few hours of "1776" before we had flown out. I had never heard of Williamsburg before Mom planned this family trip, and it is a great place to explore colonial US history.

On Saturday we attended the wedding of one of my cousins in Richmond, VA. Mom, Dad, and I headed up to Washington D.C. for church on Sunday. On Sunday afternoon we met up with Nathan and Kathy to see just a few sites in D.C. I had only been to Washington once before when I was a senior in high school. It was a school trip and I didn't get to spend a great deal of time seeing everything I wanted to. This visit was just a few hours, but I really enjoyed it. We had a fabulous New Years Eve dinner at the Old Ebbit Grill across from the treasury building. We did not make it to see Gerald Ford lying in state. Sometime I will get back to spend some time seeing many of the things I want to. I am sure I will not see everything I want to, there is just so much there off the mall.

Then it was up to spend the night at Rachel and Josh's in Quakertown, PA before flying home to San Francisco.