Missouri Trip

Yes, I realize I have not posted in a month. There's a very good reason for this, but you won't know for a few more days. Sorry! But I can give you pictures from my Missouri trip to keep you happy until then...

I went on my trip to Missouri and had a great time with Heavyn and the Curtis family. I even got to see Toby again for my first day while I was there, which was awesome. I "celebrated" my first Christmas while over there, complete with a tree and presents. Now you may wonder why on earth a Jewish girl would celebrate Christmas. No, I'm not converting or anything. I read a fantastic book called Kosher Jesus by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. It basically solidified everything I ever personally believed about Jesus - that he was a good man, a great rabbi and teacher, and someone to be respected and looked up to. Many Jews celebrate the birthdays and death anniversaries of certain great rabbis, so I decided that Jesus really deserved just as much. I didn't go to church or anything, but I put up a tree so we could pile presents under it. *wink wink nudge nudge*

Behold, the very first (and probably only ever) Colin Morgan Christmas tree. LOL Though he's not the only person on it, he got the most baubles. There's plenty of Bradley James, a few of the guys from Supernatural and, of course, pictures from ColdCon.

Christmas Eve we had dinner at the Curtises, though I wasn't feeling well and couldn't really eat much. I really, really don't like flying, and I was still feeling a bit queasy from the whole thing.

From the left and going clockwise you can see Heavyn (in profile), then the tip of Ammon's nose, Corban drinking, Solana pouring, Caleb, Elder Clements, and then the back of Toby's head. The empty chair next to Heavyn is mine.

I snuck a picture here of Kaleb in the rocking chair falling asleep. Just after this we prepared to perform the nativity for a woman who lives in the city. Heavyn, Toby and I were recruited to be the three wise guys, complete with costumes and everything. We were completely perfect at it, of course.

After doing our performance, we went out caroling around town and giving out cookies. I knew some of the carols and faked the rest. :-D Christmas Eve was probably the most excitement I had during my trip, though I did get to see the Curtises several times and, of course, I hung out with Heavyn quite a bit. There was a lot of movie-watching, tweeting and driving around town looking for something fun to do. On one of our searches for the best place to eat in town, we found a restaurant called The Palace which has several Camelot-themed menu items. It was so epic! Sir Lancelot (it's a pizza), Round Table (that's an appetizer), Guinevere's Salad, Dragon's Breath (that's a sandwich), and The Gauntlet (another sandwich) are some examples. We were just disappointed there was no Merlin salad.

On my last day in town, on the way to the airport, I went with Solana and Christa to the Mormon visitors centers in Liberty, MO and Independence, MO. The one in Liberty has a replica of the jail where Joseph Smith was imprisoned for several months over a cold winter.

The presentations were very informative and interesting, and I really enjoyed learning more about Mormons and their origins. You'd think being from upstate NY that I would know this stuff, but I knew absolutely nothing until very recently. In fact, I had no idea the religion even started in NY! Yeah, I know...I'm so bad. 

That's Solana on the left, me in the middle and Christa on the right. After our escapades at the visitors centers, they took me to the airport. I had upgraded one of my flights to first class because the upgrade was SUPER cheap and gave me free checked luggage, so here's the view from first class...

I forgot that tray tables don't come out in front of you in first class, they come from your arm rest next to you! The only down side to being in first class on this particular airplane is the fact that the bathroom is allllll the way at the back - no first class toilets. So even though I had to pee like mad, I had to wait for the lady with the drink cart to serve everyone in the back of the plane before I could go. *cry* It was really, really awful. But, I survived my flights and got back home.

My next post, hopefully, will give you more of an idea of what I did during the bulk of my trip.