Our FUNemployment began with a three week road trip starting in Norton, MA and bringing us all the way back home to Palo Alto, CA. The trip took us to see both sets of parents, lots of family and friends, and through some pretty awesome state and national parks. Here’s a quick recap of the first half – 

  • Norton, MA (Stacey’s hometown) – Almost didn’t make it to Norton thanks to a serious blizzard, but luckily we were able to fly out a day earlier than anticipated and got in just in time. We spent most of our time in Norton hanging out with the Allens, including Luna. If you haven’t met her, this is Luna in a nutshell: 
  • Cambridge, MA – from Norton, we headed up to Cambridge for a night to see our Boston-based friends. (Thanks to Shreya and Shivani for their comfy-as-ever futon!) We were there for less than 24 hours, but managed to see lots of friends - including a delicious dinner at Dumpling House with Mitch, Corinne, Jenny, Grant, and Blair, and breakfast with Patrick and Lindsey. At some point, I decided I would try to take photos with all of the friends we visited along the way. The only successful picture I took is this one of Dan and a mystery person… 

  • Glastonbury, CT – we had a short trip on day one of the journey out of MA, driving about 2 hours from Boston to visit Melanie and Kyle. Some highlights include Kyle’s delicious home-cooked meal, and a really intense game called (not joking)  Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. We missed Kyle in the morning for the photo, but here is one with Mel! 

  • Brooklyn, NY & Philadelphia, PA – on our way from CT to Delaware, we made a few pit stops! First stop was to see Phil and Bach for lunch in Brooklyn. Then later in the day, we stopped in Philly to have dinner with Ellie! Again, I was sloppy with the pictures and only managed to remember to take a pic after Bach had left (and forgot with Ellie completely - sorry Ellie!), but here is one with Phil in front of the Brooklyn Bridge: 

  • Wilmington, DE – we stayed with Rach and (a very excited) Peppi for the night in Wilmington. Lucky for us, Rach had just received a box of old elementary school memories from her mom. There was the typical school projects, class pictures, and academic accolades. And then there was this: 

Yes, we came in last place in this 1998 road race. I also specifically remember us cutting the course at the end because we were tired and needed to get to the snacks. Thank goodness Val documented this for us.  Yes, we came in last place in this 1998 road race. I also specifically remember us cutting the course at the end because we were tired and needed to get to the snacks. Thank goodness Val documented this for us. 

After watching the 16 seed UMBC upset and learning how fast omelettes are to make (I was learning - Sid and Rach were already aware), we were off to Asheville! We did get a good pic with Rach and Pep before departing though: 

… Asheville, Sid’s birthday, and more road trip adventures coming up next!