Rhode Island trip

Went up to visit Saunderstown, RI with Da Wife and to meet some family of mine recently.

The Good:
I got to see my family, AND my extended family some of whom I met for the first time. I am now certain that EVERYONE should have a crazy (great great) Aunt Alice! If you had asked me to guess her age, I would've missed by decades. She has to be the YOUNGEST nonagenarian I have EVER met. Most of these folks were from my Dad's side of the family, and for various reasons had not ever been visited. I had a great time listening to the stories of them AND my dad as a boy. Not to mention I got a chance to do a couple of sets of material, though I think Alice wanted another for the road!

We each took turns cooking dinners for the group, starting with Jeff and family creating his wonderful pot roast! (After consulting with him, I have his secret ingredients and plan on upgrading my own recipe. Muahahahaha! Ahem.) Then my brother and his wife slaved for hours to dish up some homemade paella (with lobster, clams, shrimp, scallops, chourico [Portuguese chorizo - I think], and chicken) that was delicious. His wife also graced us with a collard greens and navy beans side dish that was very tasty. And despite my anxiety about having to follow homemade paella AND a perfect pot roast, I churned out some tequila/chili/lime chicken quesadillas and my homemade guacamole. (Ok it's more of a fresh avocado salad, but it sure is good on a tortilla chip!)

The house was loverly, and quite spacious even for the herd of us that descended upon it. It had a fantastic multi-tiered lawn that both dogs and children (and adults) enjoyed to romp and play on. Down at the water's edge, a beach of shells harbored all manner of aquatic life including crabs, snails, and starfish. Even Roxie got to do some exploring in the shallows (hopefully Da Wife has a K9 post about their adventures coming soon.)

Da Wife also took a 2 hour side trip up to go see her sister that also trains dogs (Boxers I believe). So those two got to share some training tips and got to have a big K9 meet and greet. (I think that's mostly alot of barking and butt sniffing... kinda like a college party.) She and the dogs seemed like they had a fantastic time, and with a new leash handling technique, Viggo (or "the Kraken" as I often refer to him when I let him out of his crate in the morning [old reference to "Clash of the Titans" movie]) even managed to behave himself more. THANKS Auntie J!

The Bad:
As with all vacations, it is never enough time. And while I wanted Da Wife to meet Alice, it just wasn't to be this time, and I'm VERY happy she got her side trip to see her sister. I would have also liked to make "Cheeseburger" quesadillas for the kids, but alas I did not start cooking in time for their slightly earlier dinner time. Perhaps next time. And my MP3 player ran out of juice on the way home (and I forgot to bring my charger D'oh!) Good thing I had Da Wife with me, or it would've gotten lonely with only the radio.


The Ugly:
Killer drive. Over 10 hours on the way up, and insult to injury on the way home they had CLOSED I-84. The (unmarked) detour was through a very long, very slow, very gross town called Middletown, NY. *shudder*. If you've ever seen "Vacation", I felt very much much like Clark W. Griswold saying "Roll 'em up!" and then driving off.

So overall it was a great trip. Now if I can just invent that teleportation device...

*** EDIT: 10/16/2008 ***
After some additional research, it seems as though there was a propane leak around that section of I-84 that involved a huge effort by firefighters to find the source of the leak.