Vancouver to Syracuse

Our first stop, heading slightly east was to see Asha, Seth, Luca, and Hali, our lovely family in Vancouver. They made us feel so welcome; we got to meet their dog, Jada, and eat Asha's delicious food, which is increasingly famous in Vancouver and beyond. Check out Kula Kitchen ! Mostly we just hung out and relaxed, always a treat for these road warriors.

We went to the park, the beach, and had a beautiful woods walk. 

One way to measure this year is the number of walks on the woods we have taken. There have been a few.

After a visit to Johannes' PhD alma mater, Simon Fraser University, we had a lovely dinner with Raegan, Jon (Jo's friend from SFU and co-author), and their daughter Kate. The next morning we headed to back to Washington, to begin our eastward trek in earnest.

After a quick stop in Seattle to experience the Pike Place market, we got back on the road to show the kids Othello, WA, where Jo and Liz lived and worked for four years, and where Margaret was born.

We visited with Jon and Ricardo, old colleagues and friends, at the best pizza place in Connell, WA. Next we found our way to Medical Lake to stay with Liz's former boss, Mary Jo. She was part of our Washington family and one of the first people to hold Margaret. She took good care of us and it was special to reconnect after almost ten years away from the west coast. 

Next we saw highway from a variety of elevations, listening to our Big Year playlist and chewing up miles. Medical Lake to Missoula, Missoula to Havre, and then north to Regina, Saskatchewan.  From time to time, spicy Bloody Mary's were consumed. 

In Regina we saw David, Amy and their lovely family. Jo and David studied political science together at Dalhousie, were in each other's weddings, but had never managed to get the kids together. It was great. The five of them were fast friends. We "experienced" the Royal Saskatchewan Museum, played some music, and laughed a ton!

Back on the road, we tracked down the "Biggest ball of twine in Minnesota," and blew our monthly data limit bingeing all the Weird Al music that Liz could stand.

Back on the road, we hit the Windy City for some Deep Dish, a view of the bizarrely blue-green waters of Lake Michigan, and a scenic cruise along Lake Shore Drive.  

Of course, the Big Year is not all seeing the sights and visiting with friends and family. There is still work to do, as the kids splash in the pool. Someone needs to keep searching for the best Bloody Mary in America. Jo was up to the challenge.

This next leg of the trip included some long days and early mornings. And traffic. So much traffic. The closest we got to an accident happened on our way outside of Chicago. The kids learned some new words, and how to string them together.

Our final stop before making it to Syracuse for a long weekend was Niagara Falls. 

This is where Jo and Liz were engaged some 14 years ago. A brief sense of how it started and how it is going....

The weary crew limped into Syracuse to see Jo's Aunt and confidant, Donna. We were definitely ready for some down time!