Over the river and through the woods

In July, Deanna, her parents, her brother, and I bought airline tickets to visit her grandparents in Augusta, GA over Christmas. What we didn't know was that sometime between July and December 22nd, the flight time had been moved up three hours. Imagine the surprise when I checked the flight status that morning and found out that there was no way we were going to make our flight. After frantically calling Frontier and Travelocity, we were told that if we got to the check-in desk at the airport by 11:30, they could get us on another flight. Not so much. I called every airline and waited in a bunch of lines only to be told that there were no openings on either the 22nd or the 23rd. So we did what any rational group of people would do. Rented a car and drove. Not just any car, however, a Ford Taurus. For five people. Five adults.
As we left the airport and sped along I-25, we began estimating when we would get there. It looked like it would take about 24 hours, not too horrible. Little did we know that the storm of the century would hit Kentucky and Tennessee. As we headed south out of Illinois, the roads got worse and there were cars in the ditch everywhere. We moved along at a steady but slow pace and pulled into Metropolis, IL (home of the giant Superman statue) around 7 AM. We found out there that the Interstate was closed about 25 miles further on due to the weather. In fact, Kentucky had called out the National Guard to assist in getting all of the cars unstuck. We had two choices, stay the day/night in Metropolis or get on a US highway headed South. As much as I wanted to visit the Superman statue, we picked the latter. We continued due south to Tupelo, Mississippi before turning left to Augusta. All in all, it took 31.5 hours for us to make the trip. It was lovely.
Once there, we had a great visit and a wonderful Christmas meal. We even found time to see the Lemony Snicket movie (maybe a review on that later). We were also able to fly back home without much drama.
The moral to this story? Always double check your flight reservation the night before you leave.

Pictures to come.

Bees for Christmas

After a small hiatus (read: laziness) I'm back with some pictures from our Christmas with the Gampp family. Since the rest of us are goofy looking, all of these pictures are of Brenna. Enjoy.

Gallery 1

Gallery 2

Pardoned!

Due to the smoothness of the migration run, I get to head home early. I'm leaving tomorrow and get into Denver 3 hours before I left New Zealand. Email me with your orders for Lamb Chips. I may bring back a whole case......

Kiwi Taste Test

While perusing the vending machine, I found what looked to be the worst idea ever:



If you can't read that, it's Roast Lamb & Mint flavored potato chips. Actually, to be precise, they're not flavored, they're "imbued with the succulent taste of roast lamb & mint". Sounds lovely, right? Brian and I decided that the perfect time for a taste test was 4:00 AM during our migration run. The verdict? Foul. These chips are the worst potato product I've ever tasted. They taste like a mix between that smell/taste you get from dry dog food and rotten mint. It was instant pain as can be seen from this professionally taken action photo:



Prior to the taste test, Brian hypothesized that they would taste like Chicken. However, his final verdict was chicken with an overpowering pungent mint. The strangest thing about these chips? I tried to buy them at the grocery store and they were sold out. To top it off, I got the last bag left in the vending machine (they have since re-stocked, thank God). It's hard to imagine that something could surpass the Honey Baked Ham chips from Australia, but the lamb chips take the first prize medal by a long shot. The chips have been properly stowed for future consumption:



Here are some other photos from the tragic event:

Josh prior to wanting to puke
Josh getting a foul whiff
Not sure this is a good idea
The fateful chip
The innocent bystander
Brian contemplating ending it all

We can be Heroes

Brian and I went over to the old Embassy movie theater in Wellington to see Hero on Wednesday. This is a movie that I was hoping to catch in the theaters in the States, but ran out of time. Set in ancient China, the movie is much like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in terms of feel and effects. While the story is interesting and the fights are enjoyable, I think the best part of the film is the use of color. The story line is interesting in the fact that the same basic events are told three times as the actual truth is worked out. Each telling has a different feel the is emphasized with color. When the characters are angry and combative, they wear red and fight in front of yellow, orange, and red environments. When things are more peaceful, blue is dominant. I thought that this was an ingenious way to evoke a deeper connection to the story.
Overall, I thought it was a great movie. It's only about an hour and a half long so your attention is kept for the entire movie. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out on DVD.