Country Roads and Old Fashioned Country Thanksgivings!

First of all let me say I have been spoiled beyond belief driving on the West Coast. Admittedly, people from California do not count, because they A) are not PacWest people and B) can't drive. However, I have NEVER seen worse drivers than I have here in Florida. They don't signal when they turn or change lanes, they consistently drive 15 MPH above the speed limit, if you do not immediately take off when lights turn green they honk and may or may not provide you with a less than pleasant gesture, and finally they don't require helmets for motorcycles! I mean come on, can you say stupidity?? But enough ranting about bad driving...needless to say no one here would win the driver of the year award if there even was a reward like that. 

On a happier note, I went to my aunt's house for Thanksgiving. It was a great long weekend (I have FIVE days off from work!!), the drive was beautiful and relatively stupidity free, saw family, played with cats and dogs, had great food, AND rode in a cotton picker! If you have never seen a cotton picker, or had the joys of picking cotton off the stalk and playing with it you have seriously missed out on life! It's amazing to see cotton in its raw state and imagine all the steps it takes to take form and be used (in case you didn't know this, cotton is generally shipped to China and then back to the US in actual goods; also there's cotton in a $100 bill), and it's really just downright fun to ride around on a cotton picker!! 

Thanksgiving was a really fun affair, I got to see family and friends I haven't seen in years, shoot guns, eat turkey and pumpkin pie, and generally have an All-American Thanksgiving. It was a bit nostalgic to not be at my parents, watching football on the back porch (ROLL TIDE!!), and drinking White Russians, but I guess that's all part of growing up. At least I am still near extended family, and we're planning an old fashioned country Christmas as well =)