THE BEGINNING
Our journey began at 8.30am on Thursday 8 March. We eventually arrived at Uncle Dick's house in Maine at 1pm Friday 9 March local time, or 7am Saturday NZ time - 46.5 hours later! However that did include a night in a hotel in New Hampshire along the way.
After we left Wellington we spent the majority of the day in Auckland, catching up with Kathleen's friends, Peter's friends, my friends, and our old neighbours. Kat had a nap in the car while we were driving round Auckland, but by the time we flew out of Auckland at 9pm-ish she was tired and ready to go to bed. But of course it was much too exciting for her to want to sleep. After an hour or two we managed to convince her to cuddle me and go to sleep, after which we transferred her to a bassinette and we were all able to get some uncomfortable sleep.Several hours later we arrived in LA and got on our next flight. Kat actually slept for a good majority of this flight too. We stopped briefly in Philadelphia and then continued on to New Hampshire. We arrived in New Hampshire at 11pm local time, and the temperature outside was -2F or -19C !!!!! It was very, very cold but we didn't have to spend much time in it because we went straight from airport to car to hotel. Next morning we drove two hours to where Peter's Uncle Dick lives in Bath, Maine.
MAINE
Had a great time in Maine. It is a very beautiful part of the country. Everything was covered in old snow, so we missed the most scenic times of year, but it was still very pretty. Yet not too cold, as there was no wind or rain/snow falling. We were in Maine for four full days. Did lots of day trips to the coast and other towns. Maine is the least populated of all the States and it felt like the way of life there is very laid back and easy going. Very easy for Kiwis to fit in. Was amazed at the snow and ice everywhere - I have never before seen frozen rivers or snow on the beach. Yet by the time we left it was all starting to melt, so we got there at just the right time.
WASHINGTON DC
Spent four full days in DC also. Because the reason for coming to DC was for Peter's grandfather's funeral, it was a quiet, sombre time. But because I've never been to DC before I wanted to go out sightseeing. On the first day we were there, Peter and I went to the National Mall and saw the White House, Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, Capitol Building and several war memorials. It was an unseasonably warm day, about 20C/70F, and tricked us into thinking it was going to be warm while we were there. The next day I went off to the Smithsonian on my own and spent the afternoon at the Natural History Museum.
The third day in DC was the day of Grandfather's funeral at Arlington Cemetery. A cold snap came through, plunging the temperature to 2C/37F. We stood outside in the cold and rain for the service. Kathleen was very well behaved and didn't make a sound during the whole thing. I had her wrapped up under my coat but still I think she was too shocked by the cold to even cry. The service was pretty neat with the military procession, riderless horse, band playing and 21 gun salute. And then there was the reception afterwards at the Officers Club, where once again Kat was very well behaved.That night the snow began to fall. Uncle Dick took us on a night-time driving tour of the city, telling us about all the places we'd been. It was very picturesque.
WASHINGTON STATE
Then it was off to Federal Way, Washington (midway between Seattle and Tacoma), to spend a week with the other side of Peter's family.We spent most of our time just hanging around with family. Did a day trip to Olympia where Peter used to live and caught up with some people he used to know and drove past places he lived and went to school.
TRAVELLING
Throughout the whole trip, Kathleen has been very well behaved. She has loved meeting all her relatives, especially the younger members. She has coped with all the flying and disruptions very well. On most of the flights she has been happy to either go to sleep or to sit and play. There was only one flight that was particularly difficult, and that was travelling across the States from DC to Seattle. Kat slept for the first leg from Baltimore to St Louis, then we had a short hop to Kansas where we changed planes. But the leg from Kansas City to Seattle was three and a half hours of hell. She'd just had a nap so wasn't sleepy, and just didn't want to sit still. Everyone's vision of a nightmare flight with a toddler. But for all that she was pretty quiet and I don't think she bothered the other passengers too much. Probably because Peter and I spent three and a half hours constantly trying to entertain her so that she didn't scream.
The one bad thing about travelling overseas is being exposed to new germs that you haven't seen at home. And thus getting sick. We have all three been sick for the whole trip. We had a cold when we left home and the first few days away were miserable. Then we picked up a cough/sore throat in Maine which still hasn't gone away. Then in the last week we've all come down with a third cold, which has knocked us around some more. Poor little Kat has suffered the worst with this latest one, being so plugged up and unable to breathe. On the flight home from LA to Auckland, we spent half the night holding her on our laps so that she could sleep in a semi-upright position and be able to breathe. It made for a VERY long night, not getting a lot of sleep ourselves.But we made it and now we're home again and vowing not to do that again for a VERY long time. Great as it was to see family again, it is also great to be home in New Zealand again where the air is clean, the cars drive on the left, the pace of life is slower, and the food is not all full of sugar.
My list of visited States has now increased to eight ...
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-Megz
