The end of 2012 brought the holiday season and with it a trip back to Kentucky/Ohio to visit friends and family. To allow us a little more freedom to wander, to save costs, and to bring Derby home with us, we decided to make it a road trip.
Derby loves riding in the backseat
Thursday afternoon prior to Christmas, we packed up the Hyundai and headed East through Logan Canyon, past Bear Lake and on to Wyoming. The weather cooperated so we were able to make good progress on the first day and found ourselves stopping for the night in Western Nebraska (North Platte).
The trip continued early Friday morning with a long drive through Nebraska. The snowstorm we were following about a day behind had wreaked havoc on Lincoln, NE so the roads approaching the city were still iced over. We worked through a number of abandoned cars on the sides of the road as we crawled along. Finally, once through Lincoln we moved south and out of the snowstorm area so were able to move quickly again. Friday night ended in St. Louis at my sister’s house where we relaxed for the rest of the night (and did doggy introductions).
Saturday morning we completed the first part of the long trek by driving to Louisville. Saturday afternoon was spent visiting with some friends in town before an open house with my relatives on Saturday night. Kelley and Jason were only in town until Sunday, so we wanted to have a get together with as much of the family as possible with all of us around. Pretty much everyone made it, so it was a successful night.
Louisville
Sunday morning we slept in before having our family gift exchange and heading out to brunch at one of our favorite spots, Wild Eggs. After brunch, Kelley and Jason returned to St. Louis and we spent the rest of the day being lazy.
Pogo waiting for Santa
Monday brought Christmas Eve mass and a post-mass party at my aunt’s house. Then Christmas day, after a home cooked breakfast and leisurely morning, we reconvened at the same aunt’s place for the Murphy Christmas. Susan and I left the party a little early to visit with some other friends who we had missed over the weekend.
Christmas pic
Wednesday morning was our finale in Kentucky and we finished with visiting our friends, the Tullbane's, at their new house for another brunch. From there, it was onto Ohio who was getting hit by a blizzard at the same time…fun! Being the road-warriors we are, we just barreled into Ohio anyways and drove to Columbus to visit with some of Susan’s Delphos friends and a new edition to on of their families. After a good visit and dinner, we finished the drive to Delphos and Susan’s parents’ home.
Highlights of the kiddos
The rest of the week was spent visiting Susan’s family with less on the agenda. It was a relaxing couple days before starting the long trek back west on Saturday morning.
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