Thanksgiving Travels | Post-Turkey VA

[and the Thanksgiving posts continue]

We were fortunate to be able to spend a couple more days in Virginia and DC post-Thanksgiving.

Friday, Tiara, Mom and I went to see New Moon (!!) and had lunch together. That night, Aunt Renee hosted a great dinner at her place.

Saturday, Heath and I spent the day with Mackensey, grabbing brunch in the city and then going to see the Fantastik's—a fun muscial—at the Lincoln Theater. For dinner, Heath and I made fish tacos, guacamole, and queso, as well as small pitchers of pina colada and margaritas. As though the evening could get any more fun, Heath, Tiara, Bryan and myself went cosmic bowling.

Here are snapshots of these varied adventures.

[dinner at aunt renee's]







[hanging with mac]







[bowling]

Thanksgiving Travels | Dinner at Dad's

Dad hosted Thanksgiving dinner at his place — perfect size for our party of 10. We shared what we were thankful for, gorged ourselves on Abe (the turkey, named after recently deceased Washington Wizards owner, Abe Pollin), played Quiddler, listened to Lady GaGa and watched football out of the corner of our eyes. It was a fun evening that yielded delicious leftovers.

[mac and demi help prep heath's butternut squash, leek and goat cheese gratin]



[the spread]


[cutting up abe]


[violet's thanksgiving outfit]




[general festivities]

Thanksgiving Travels | 5-Miles of Alexandria

We've always been they type of couple to say that doing some kind of Turkey Trot race on Thanksgiving morning would be a great idea. In my mind, that was maybe a 5K or some short distance that helped assuage your guilty conscience about overeating but didn't push things too hard around the holidays.

This year, we decided to actually do one and, while not marathon, 5 miles definitely requires you try a little harder than usual. :-)

Heath, Violet and I ran with Mackensey and her friend Demi, who were also joining us for Thanksgiving dinner later. It was a great race with a lot of kids, dogs and fans cheering us along. The cold morning actually made for ideal running weather and we all had finishing times we were proud of — even Violet.

Thanksgiving Travels | Charlottesville, VA

From Winfield, we headed towards Virginia, actually going just past Charlottesville to Richmond, where we went to Bottom's Up pizza to have dinner with Ben and Mary, who drove up from Virginia Beach. I wasn't in photo mode just yet, so I don't have any pictures to prove we actually saw them — you'll just have to take my word for it.

I do, however, have pictures detailing our stay in C-ville. We were staying with Celeste and John (who were fabulous hosts). Celeste took Monday off to coffee-shop hop with Heath and Myself as we took care of various work-related things pre-holiday. The highlight of the afternoon, however, was our stop at Little John's (a deli near campus) where I was able to order my absolute favorite sandwich from undergrad: The Ranchand. Even with a slightly modified recipe, it was DELICIOUS. See:



We had a much more sophisticated dinner with Celeste and John later that night before heading over to Monday Night Live, the large group meeting for Chi Alpha (the campus ministry that Heath and I were involved with). When the ministry first started my freshman year, there were fewer than 20 of us involved. By the time I left to head to Chicago, there were maybe 50 to 60. Today, they have an average 200 or so people at the MNL meetings and over 300 people involved in a small group — CRAZY! Celeste and I sat in the front row, as usual, and marveled at the many things that had changed. It was a real treat to be able to speak for a few minutes at the meeting and share some thoughts on the Christian life post-college. Chi Alpha was a huge part of my spiritual development, so it was a little like meeting little siblings I didn't know I had.

[at dinner]


[at Chi Alpha, which has very fancy signs now]


We spent most of Tuesday morning with Pete and Amy (they were my campus pastors, Pete married Heath and I), just catching up and having really great conversations about everything from Christian community to healthcare. It was very special to be able to spend that time with them and their son, Ian.

When we left C-ville that night, it was for another VA Beach rendezvous in Richmond, this time with Jess and Adam. They braved some pretty hellish traffic to meet us, but our dinner at Mama Zu's, this hole-in-the-wall Italian place near VCU was well worth it! Our food was stellar and, of course, it was great to be able to split a bottle of wine, catch up and hear all about their new home and their new dog, Samson, a yellow lab.




After our whirlwind of catching up with friends, we headed north to dive into family time with the Pietrangelos.

Thanksgiving Travels | Winfield, WV

[we will be posting our Thanksgiving Travels in short segments, rather than trying to put it all in one, crazy-long post]


The first stop on our incredible journey was Winfield, WV. This is the new hometown to Heath's neighbors from California, Jack and Nancy. Their amazing daughter, Dawn, passed away earlier this year and we were looking forward to spending time with them as they start this next phase of their lives.

Even with flea markets where people can buy semi automatic weapons for $130, there is no denying that West Virginia is a beautiful state. It is also home to several good restaurants, including a surprisingly tasty Thai place.

Fall Day with Miss V

It was a gorgeous weekend in Chicago. What better way to capture that than in pictures with my two favorite people — and yes, I consider Violet "people." :-)

Halloween Fun

While we didn't dress up this year, we did do more to celebrate All Hallow's Eve than in years past.

On the 30th we went on a triple-date with some friends from work and their significant others. The main event for the evening? A guided tour of haunted Chicago. To be completely honest, our lack of belief in all things paranormal made it a less than scary, more silly experience — but, all that aside, we did get to see some parts of Chicago that we hadn't before and got a good laugh out of looking for "orbs" in our photos.

Haunting 1: Valentine's Day Massacre

Many people have heard the story of the brutal mass killing known as the St. Valentine's Day Massacre (if you don't, click here). But what many people don't know is that Al Capone was supposedly haunted by the ghost of one of the victims. In "fact," people claim to have seen Capone and the ghost arguing in his car on multiple occasions. Ooooooo....

Haunting 2: Mausoleum in Lincoln Park

Before it was home to the post-frat masses, Lincoln Park was the site of Chicago's biggest graveyard. That spooky fact, along with its proximity to water supposedly make it prime haunting territory. We stopped at one of the last mausoleums left in the park to hear stories about ghost dogs and wandering spirits and, of course, to take a few pictures.




Haunting 3: John Hancock Evil Vortex

On our way to the next paranormal hot spot we drove down Lake Shore Drive and heard about how Anton LaVey, founder of the satanic church, begged the architects of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill not to build the John Hancock Building. Why? Well, not only is that the former site of an Indian graveyard, but the architectural plans actually create pentogram-like shapes which create a vortex for all things evil. Scoff if you will (we did), but our guide claims there have been several suspicious suicides and other activity that later became the inspiration for the Ghostbusters movie. See more here.

Haunting 4: Eastland Disaster

I was surprised when our big old tour bus stopped on Wacker Drive, next to the Chicago River. As it turns out, that area was the scene of what is now referred to as the Eastland Disaster, a mass drowning in the summer of 1915. More than 800 people died and, according to our guide, their spirits still haunt the river walk. Some people claim to have seen children's faces in the water. It was more sad than scary. Especially considering how beautifully tranquil everything seems now...



Haunting 5: Hull House Devil Baby

By far the weirdest story we heard was about Chicago heroine Jane Addams and her experience with the "devil baby of Hull House" which, according to our guide, was the inspiration for the movie Rosemary's Baby. As the story goes, a young pregnant woman came to Hull House scared for her life. Not only did many women die in childbirth at this point in history, but she was married to an abusive husband who beat her regularly. Addams and Co. told this woman that they would send a midwife when the time came to give birth and that if her husband hit her again, to come tell them and they would do what they could to help.

As it turns out, this young woman was also a devout Catholic who regularly prayed to Mary. Her husband was, as described by our guide, an "angry atheist." One night he was beating her and then noticed that she was holding a picture of Mary, praying. He grabbed the picture and, as he tore it to shreds, said he would rather have her give birth to the devil himself than pray to Mary. As legend has it, he got what he asked for...his wife gave birth to a "boy" with a forked tongue, horns and a tail. The husband—disgusted—dropped him at Hull House. For the rest of the story, click here.

Hull House seemed pretty peaceful in spite of the devil baby being buried in the backyard.





After our tour, the 6 of us went to Il Quartino for tasty Italian, good wine and a good laugh.

On Halloween itself we joined Keith and some friends of his from out of town for the Halloween parade on Halsted. There were dogs, kids, cheerleaders, drag queens and plenty of great costumes as you can see here:











It was definitely a fun way to spend the weekend.