TeamReedBlog.2020

When a death trap of a rental car and a lap full of dog vomit doesn't derail your vacation, you know you've had a good one. Team Reed will count 2024 as yet another epic trip to Vacationland. It started with a couple days in the Old Port where the Captain and I braved the single digits to shop, sample and sip before meeting the rest of the elder Reed clan at DiMillo's and then the Portland Symphony Orchestra. We picked Ali up on Sunday and traveled north to Jen and Peter's temporary digs on Oak Pond. We'd rented a Jeep Gladiator because we'd recently ended up with a truck as our rental car and Jeff liked driving it. We learned the hard way that this pickup-like vehicle is not meant for cold weather.  We were on the interstate, about a third of the way into the trip when we experienced the " Jeep Death Wobble " which feels like you're driving down a rutted, gravel road at top speed. The jarring will shake your teeth loose, and when it comes out of ...

We knew our time with Alison's full-time attention was going to end on Thanksgiving Day when we were to meet her boyfriend, Beau, and his family. It's one of those things that you look forward to and dread at the same time.  What if we didn't gel? What if they hate us? What if they serve alligator instead of turkey? What if we say something that sends the whole thing off-kilter? I shouldn't have fretted. Beau and his family were terrific. The meal was great, and the only gator we saw was in a ditch along the way. (I've been very disappointed in my trips to Florida, which have been markedly un-gator infested.) We liked them so much we decided to spend the next day with them, too. Jeff had offhandedly mentioned that he'd like to go to the Kennedy Space Center one day, and Ali and Beau quickly secured tickets for all of us, including his parents, Deb and Tim, and brother, Gavin. We set out in time to get gas and coffee, planning to meet them there. What we didn...