Scooby-Scooby-Doo, Where are You?

Today Kimmers and I made Thanksgiving dinner. Yes, we are a couple days late. It was still good. We made a turkey breast, way too many mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls, and pumpkin pie. My favorite is always the cranberry sauce in the form of the can and pumpkin pie with more whipped cream than pie :-) I think we should go the gym before we both look like turkeys ourselves!
-SD

Drove back to Vermont today. It rained the entire way. It's good to be home and relax.
-SD

Gobble Gobble! A warm and healthy Thanksgiving to everyone out there.
Today Kimmers and I ventured into Washington DC (actually Arlington, VA) to meet my parents at their hotel. After saying hi to everyone and we ventured into the heart of Washington. The first stop was the National Gallery of Art. It was awesome! Then onto the National Air and Space Museum. I like airplanes and space stuff to we just had to stop. The last of our Smithsonian tour was the Hirshhorn Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. Again it was excellent. Our time running out, we went back to the hotel to pick up my middle sister and then to American University to pick up my little sister. We had Thanksgiving dinner in Georgetown at an Italian restaurant where I had a Volcano of Scallops. Not exactly traditional, but very tasty nonetheless.
We headed back to my parents hotel room and did some traditional family drinking, and for a Washington finale, we drove back into the city and checked out the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the FDR Memorial, and a peek at the National Christmas Tree. It was quite a day!
-SD

Last night we took a drive to look at the final prospects at night. All of them seemed reasonably lit and drug-dealer free, but a couple had very tight parking. Luckily, the one she liked the best in Jessup seemed to have plenty of space. We went back to the hotel, I made a chart outlining all the info on her 4 favs (the sign of true nerd!) and the Jessup one still won out. Today we went back, took one last look, and Kimmers signed up. The rest of the day was spent driving around. First we went out the National Cryptologic Museum and took a look around. It had lots of interesting exhibits, including an old Cray supercomputer with the crazy matrix of LEDs flashing in random patterns. I want to put it in my office. Next we drove around the area and got used to where everything was. After that I spent a relaxing evening reading Eragon while Kimmers napped. We even went out to Denny's for some late night dessert. Good apple pie. Tomorrow we head into Washington DC.
-SD

The second day is almost over! Today we started our search in downtown Laurel. Blech. Pretty rundown and not easy to commute to and from work. The apartments were slightly cheaper, but not worth the horrible location. Next we switched cities and drove over to Savage and Jessup, Maryland. Wow, both were nice places. The one in Jessup had a washer and dryer in each unit, which Kimmers loved. Jessup is kind of in the boon docks a little bit, but it did have a grocery store nearby and a Wendy's. Speaking of Wendy's, I had a taco salad and a frosty for lunch, yum. From there we were driving around the area and happened across the city of Columbia. Now we know where anyone with money lives. It had a couple huge malls, one that was pretty similar to Crossgates in Albany. We checked out a couple more apartments and then drove back to the hotel so Kimmers could make a final decision on where to live. She should know soon where the final pick will be.
-SD

Talk about exhausting! It's been quite a day. First of all, we didn't have a map of Laurel. If Laurel was small and didn't have lots of one-ways, this wouldn't be a problem, but of course it was big and did have lots of one-ways. Our first apartment viewing appointment should have only taken 10 minutes to drive to. It took us a half hour filled with turning around, back tracking, and asking directions at a local Food Lion in a bad neighborhood. And that was only our first stop! We did three more before lunch until we gave up and got directions to Wal-mart where we bought a county map that contained Laurel. After that point finding places got much easier. We had a quick lunch at Subway, where we ate "Good, so you don't always have to." At our next apartment stop Kimmers and I discovered the best mall ever - it had a Kohl's and a Target, all in the same building! Unfortunately the apartment, which was within walking distance, was not as great as the mall. Oh well. Our final count came to eight apartments viewed for the day with three potentials so far. Let's see what tomorrow may bring.
-SD

Kimmers and I drove down to Maryland today. A word of warning to users of Yahoo! Maps, it's wrong! For a trip from Burlington to Laurel Yahoo! said it would take 8 hours...it took us over 10! I did take a couple bad turns around the New Jersey Turnpike, but overall it didn't add an extra two hours. Anyway, long story short we did make it down there to the Best Western in one piece. The place is pretty nice, it has a pool, whirlpool, sauna, free internet access, and a free continental breakfast. It's been a long day. Sleep time.
-SD