Maine '09

This Christmas break my family and I took a trip to Maine to spend Christmas with my cousins and their family. My grandma, mom, my brother, and I all rode in the car together (a recipe for…well…some interesting situations). We took my grandma’s CR-V and attached the car-top carrier to allow us to have more room to bring more junk with us. The CR-V doesn’t have a roof rack, so I had to settle on attaching the carrier to the frame of the car and wrapping a black strap all the way around the car (which went around the roof of the car as well). We left on Wednesday at around 3:00 despite my mom and grandma’s best efforts to leave earlier. I was doing a lot of packing not only for the trip to Maine but also for my move to Idaho (more on how that’s going later). I drove for the first 4 hours or so, despite not getting nearly enough sleep the night before, and got us through New York with no problems (even though there was some major traffic, and several slightly confused “navigators”). I tried to sleep for the rest of the ride, and we made it to Maine by 4:00 that night (four in the morning), which doesn’t sound like very good time, but keep in mind we hit some major holiday traffic). Christmas Eve was enjoyable, good food for dinner, and good company. Then most of “the cousins” sat down in the family room and watched a few movies together. I was tired so I laid down on the couch and fell asleep until I woke up because I was feeling nauseous. I quickly realized that this was not going to be a passing feeling, and darted for the guest bathroom where I promptly got sick. I was up the rest of the night with food poisoning. It wasn’t as bad as a previous case, however, I was very tired for Christmas day and slept through most of it (only being awake for opening presents, per request of my mom, and movies that night with the cousins). I mainly received presents that would be things I would need at college (which was exactly what I wanted and needed at the time), but my mom was also helping with money to get me out to Idaho, housing, etc. The day after Christmas, I was feeling much better and was able to eat and have fun with the rest of the family as usual (that, I am very grateful for). We left early Sunday morning and stopped in Freeport to do some shopping. I’m glad the L.L. Bean store there is open 24 hours because I was able to buy a new fleece jacket, boots, and gloves all at one place at 7:30 in the morning. Remember, I mentioned that we strapped the car-top carrier down through the car? Well, the straps evidently compromised the waterproof design of the door, and made the seat, and the door soaking wet. My brother was in the back seat at the time and completely miserable. We got some towels to try to absorb the water and keep it from dripping (even though I think we should’ve used a silicone or Teflon coat instead….but that’s just what I would’ve done). I drove from Maine to Albany, NY that day (about 9 hours). We hit major traffic at some parts, but no accidents (since that’s what’s important), so the trip back was good. When I got home, I chilled with my brother and his friends until it got late, then went to my bed and slept in it for the last time..