This time Tim was free to go! He's basically retired :)
We left home on Dec 14th for our 3 day drive to Nashville!
We spent a week at Heartland
(Our name for Annette's property :)
Tim had never been there, so he needed to
experience it!
It was a refreshing and reviving change of pace and scenery!
The plan was to have a Chicago Christmas with Beka
(there with the Wicked tour)!
We drove to Chicago on the 23rd and
picked up James at Midway Airport.
We stayed in the hotel room across from Beka and Root!
Beka was on vocal rest,
so was actually off work the whole time we were there...
totally unplanned! We played lots of charades :)
The first night we HAD to go out to
Chicago Deep Dish Pizza! Yummy!
It snowed on Christmas Eve!! What a treat for us desert rats!
We braved the cold and walked to the "Bean" and
Millennium Park! We were frozen so joined Paul and
Lisa at the Palmer House! Their whole family was
in Chicago the exact same days! We were able to see
all of them! AMAZING and CRAZY!
We spent Christmas eve in the hotel room having our
usual picky foods, playing games and talking!
On Christmas Day, Paul and Tim met for coffee
in the hotel lobby... a long overdue time to catch up!
Later the 4 of us went out to Christmas Dinner to at 312 Chicago!
This was a FIRST ... a nice dinner and I didn't have to cook!
There was a lovely lobby next door where we hung out
afterwards and got many great pics!
James and Beka's voice teacher from Arizona
is on the Wicked Tour, so we met in the
hotel lobby on Christmas night!
We all love Tregoney!
We drove back to Nashville with James on the 26th!
He wanted to check it out for a possible future move.
Abby, our niece moved there on the 28th!
We were so glad to be there to help her get settled!
Of course we had to experience a couple
Nashville Honky Tonks and eat a BBQ dinner!
Abby and James got bike going and took a 5 mile bike ride
in 30 degree weather! They were frozen but loved it!
We waited in line in the COLD
for 45 minutes to enjoy this landmark!
We drove around a lot of trendy neighborhoods
and had to have a beverage in 12 South!
This was our New Year's Eve!
We open just a couple of the boxes of The Hearts!
Inspiring to see them "live" instead of in photos!
Just powerful!
James and Abby decided to move the piano to the loft!
So great to hear music being played!
Of course we had to have Nashville Hot Chicken!
James, Abby and I took a little journey to Liepers Fork
and then to Puckets in downtown Franklin!
Memories made!
James flew back to LA on the 3rd. We left on the 5th
and spent the night at brother Steve's in Cincinnati!
This is the only picture we took!! WHAT??
We met Tim's brother Jack and wife Christine in
Youngstown, Ohio (half way point for each of us!)
for a 4 1/2 hour lunch!
We hadn't seen them in 10 years! It was a great reunion!
We got to mom's in Fremont that evening
and spent 3 nights with her! VERY Special!
The next night was at cousin Mark and Sherrie's for dinner
with Aunt Jannie! Love my family!
Just had to go to the Depot for pizza with mom!
This was "The" place to hang back in my day!
It was time to head home! We decided to drive to Chicago
to see Beka before leaving the midwest!
We stayed in the same hotel next to Beka and Root!
We had fun with Root while Beka did her shows!
We even met her at the stage door...
something Root doesn't often get to do!
Beka had a few free hours one day so we went to
the fabulous Art Institute of Chicago!
We left Chicago to head to Colorado to see Tom!
We snooped around Carter Lake in Omaha to find
Grandpa and Grandma Burnham House.
We didn't find it but had a fun walk down memory lane!
We stayed with Tom in Silverthorne, Co for 2 nights!
My classmates who live in the area, Mary Pat
and Connie and her husband, came for dinner.
The next day we went to where Tom works ...
The Breckinridge Nordic Center!
We had a lovely trek in snowshoes and
I tried cross country skies with my friend, Mary Pat!
So glad we were able to hear Tom sing, too! He's the
regular weekend entertainment in the lodge!
We left Colorado for Monticello, UT via Arches National Park!
Such a GORGEOUS drive! Probably our favorite - such variety!
On Jan 16th we drove home from Utah - 5 weeks!!! 6268 miles!!!
Now we're settling in at home and adjusting to
changes and figuring out our future!
Stay tuned to get updates on us and
HeARTsEncounter!
More pics of this crazy trip here!
