A Day on the Road

The Cole's spent another day in the vehicle traveling south. We left Maryland this morning and headed south into Virginia to Staunton. From there we crossed the Blue Ridge mountains and stopped for a few hours in Charlottesville. We visited the campus of the University of Virginia and saw the buildings designed by Thomas Jefferson, walking along the campus in biting cold and snow. Somehow we thought of John Boy Walton going to his classes there. These Virginians don't handle snow the same way that New Englanders do. They don't shovel it off the walks and steps, just a little bit of it and they leave the rest. Notice the bicycles parked in the snow in the pictures. It was hard to believe that we were in Virginia as the temperature hovered in the 20s and the snow was deep. We saw snow all the way to Richmond. It is certainly a strange winter. Tonight we are staying in Smithfield, North Carolina, where there are outlet stores everywhere.

A night in Maryland

We have reached Hagerstown tonight, a rather pretty and impressive town. There are nice streets and lots of old brick buildings. We left Massachusetts early this morning, shortly after day light. We made much better time than we expected, and have chosen a nice hotel for the night. It was very blustery and cold today, in the teens with the wind blowing. It is a bit warmer here. We thought that crossing the Mason-Dixon Line would bring warmer weather, but not much, and there are snow piles everywhere from the snow they had last week. We have spent the day going up and down mountains in NY and Pennsylvania. The coal mines have been left behind for the cattle farms and silos. We have a couple of pictures of the scenery, including the approach to Hartford, but it is pretty gray and brown, except for the snow. Gary drove all day and is relaxing with a flat-screen TV. We are off to Virginia tomorrow. At least we encountered no snow or rain today.

We are on our way!

No pictures today, but an update on the trip. We left early this morning and are at Bob's in Massachusetts tonight. As we unwind a bit we put on the Weather Channel, and would you believe they are talking about freeze warnings and maybe snow early next week in Florida??? Tell us it can't be true. It's been a long day and tomorrow will be another one as we try to get to central or southern Pennsylvania.

Christmas!

The Coles have spent the past couple of days together celebrating family and friends, exchanging gifts, and eating good food. Jon and Erin arrived on Tuesday, Bob and Gina arrived on Wednesday, and Andy and Jess spent the night last night. It has been a wonderful holiday, one that will be remembered. Louise stressed out over the knitting, finishing Ryan's sweater late on Christmas Eve. Bob's sweater is still a work in progress. Today we all gathered to open gifts and share a Christmas dinner.

Tomorrow we begin the packing for the trip to Florida. That is where this blog began last year!

Busy Day

Winter is upon us again. The big storm was not really so big, but since it left 6 or 7 inches of snow, Gary spent much of his day clearing up the yard. He bought a new snow shovel, and fired up the snow blower. Another challenge will come tomorrow when the chill factor is supposed to be well below zero all day.

Louise is getting a bit stressed about Christmas, the lack of shopping that has been done, and the knitting yet to do. Here you can see her as she spent the afternoon knitting, and making some progress on one of the sweaters that are needed for Christmas. The Coles have a lot of work to do before Christmas company arrives.

Tiger Cub

Ryan is a Tiger Cub! How sharp does he look in his Tiger Cub shirt and hat? Hard to believe he is old enough to join the scouting program. He goes faithfully with his Dad, and they are preparing to go Christmas caroling next week. This week they made Christmas decorations. We love this picture!