Back in the USA!

We made it. They were L...O...N...G days, but we successfully made it back to Grand Rapids from Halifax in TWO days!

We got up, packed the car, and left Halifax by 8am on Wednesday morning. The ferries don't run after mid-October, so we had to drive up through New Brunswick to get back into Maine. We were out in the middle of nowhere for quite a while, but we did make it back into the country after having to dig out our proof of registration for our car. One of the first things we saw when we got back into Maine was a guy walking out of his front door with a huge shotgun over his shoulder. We both got really wide eyed, but it is hunting season, and he did have an orange vest on, so we were able to stop ourselves from dialing that second 1...

A quick stop at Tim Horton's, a popular Canadian coffee place

Our final destination on day 1 was Boston. We met up with some of Keri's former classmates from grad school and went out to dinner and dessert for Keri's birthday. It was really fun to see those girls again, but we decided that we definitely preferred driving out in the middle of nowhere to the traffic in Boston--it's absolutely crazy.

Vietnamese food for dinner with Laurey, Bethany, and Anne

Dessert with Molly and Laurey

Keri's birthday pineapple upside down cake

We set out early again in the morning and first went to Arlington (a suburb of Boston) before getting back on the freeway. Keri's family lived in Boston for 6 months in 1991 while Keri's dad studied at Harvard during a sabbatical, so we stopped by the house she lived in and the school she went to for the second half of second grade. It was fun to see.

13 Thorndike Street (Keri's family lived on the top 1/2 of this duplex)

Hardy School--perfect for a Boston accent

Over 800 miles, 14 hours, two border crossings, and about $25 in tolls in one day later, we pulled into Grandma's driveway...very happy to be there. Two provinces and 5 states in two days was plenty.

We've got two days to get everything ready to go to Peru, so we're a bit stressed right now. We're glad that we get to be back in Grand Rapids and be with Keri's parents for this time, even though it's really short. Back to packing...