The Homeland, Part I

Well, I was right.

After returning to the homeland, it quickly became clear that in the American West, we now qualify as obnoxious, environmentalist, bleeding-heart socialists, while in Germany, we remain the wasteful, lazy, capitalist scum we've always been. But more on that a little later. First I'd like to subject you to the obligatory post-vacation slideshow! I barricaded all the exits in advance, so you might as well sit back and enjoy.

Away we go

Train to the airport in Dresden

We flew Air India because it was the cheapest option. And I mean no disrespect to India or its inhabitants when I say that we were a little nervous about this decision. Our nervousness turned into sick resignation when we arrived at the windowless, exit-less, almost service-less gate that felt a little like a refugee camp. But to our delight, we found Air India to be a fantastic airline. The meals were awesome (lamb curry ... mmmmm), the female flight attendants wore saris and nose studs, and our fellow Indian passengers were as patient as saints with Jethro's occasional meltdowns. Also, it turns out that while traveling with a baby may be stressful (changing diapers in those little bathrooms should be an Olympic event), people take really good care of you. On the way there, we actually got upgraded to business class, which was quite glorious.

Jethro enjoys a scene from the lighthearted musical romp "Mama Mia".

How my suitcase arrived. This was no fault of any airline, but rather our own fault for using a 20-year-old suitcase with a faulty zipper.

Idaho
We hit up my family first so that we could see this young man return from his 2-year LDS mission to Denmark.


That's my 21-year-old youngest brother Spencer. He's artistic, musical, fashionable, funny, and devilishly handsome.

He's also a fantastic speaker, which I never realized until I heard him report his mission at church. I was a very proud big sister.

And he's available! Also available is my other, 24-year-old brother Ford.

He's a flattop-rocking genius musician, master chalupa maker, large scale prank coordinator, and Mormon doctrine scholar.


He's also the proud father of a rescued Furby.




(That's the video I'm sending with his application to become the next "Bachelor".)

In addition to his uncles, Jethro met his Grandpa Erickson for the first time ...

???

and got reacquainted with Grandma Erickson.

Being back in Idaho was good for me. Germany's wet, foresty climate is beautiful, but I often miss the big wide-openness of my birthplace.


As well as the regularity with which one finds animal appendages just lying around. We also took Jethro to the site where Jake and I were married in 2002, the Idaho Falls LDS Temple.

Jake works with my cousin Zach and uncles Skinny and Dyle on the waffle line at Spence's brunch-themed welcome home party.

Jake, Spencer, and I were joyfully reunited with gallon-sized milk jugs.

We had a lovely time getting sick on pizza and burgers and fries and milkshakes and my dad's famous waffles, but before we knew it we were winging it to ...

Las Vegas

For my 26th birthday, Jake showed me a fine night out on the fabulous Las Vegas Strip.

Almost as soon as we were reintroduced to the rocket-going-off-in-your-face heat of Las Vegas, we hurled ourselves into Jake's parents' backyard pool, where we more or less stayed for about a week.


We emerged occasionally to eat, shop, watch the BBC miniseries "Little Dorrit", eat, sleep, and play with the family members in the Las Vegas area.

At Jake's sister Amy's place.

In the millisecond following the taking of this picture, Bradley (right) landed on the foot of Audrey (left) resulting weeping, wailing, and an X-ray. But I think Audrey will now agree that it was totally worth it.

Me pretending to kayak on Lake Mead.

Jake's brother John (left) threw us a joint birthday party that rocked.

Jethro experiments with solid food.

Jake hooked up with some old high school pals at Metro Pizza.

And then we were off to the Michaelson family reunion at ...

Bear Lake

The women-folk bask.

For the uninitiated, Bear Lake is a beautiful, pristine lake that straddles the Idaho and Utah border within spitting distance of Wyoming. Interesting fact: It was settled, in part, by Jake's great-great-grandfather and namesake Jacob Michaelson, a Danish immigrant and Mormon polygamist.

The Michaelson clan with what remains of great-grandpa Thomas Michaelson's cabin. (Not pictured: Mom Michaelson, who I think was sneakily avoiding cameras in the car, and Adam, Jake's older brother, whose wife, Summer, had just had a baby just a couple of days prior — IN HER LIVING ROOM!!! We were able to stop by their house on our way to Bear Lake, only an hour after the baby had been delivered. Both baby girl and mother were beautiful. Summer is Wonderwoman.)

Near Bear Lake, up a pretty precarious dirt road, is a beautiful forest and meadow where Jake's dad lived in a tiny cabin as a little boy with his older brother and parents. His dad operated a sawmill there, and his mother cooked all the meals for the logging crew. There's nothing left now, but Jake's Dad remembers it all in vivid detail.

Jake and kid sister Missy leap across a raging river.

Mom Michaelson defaces a tree at the sawmill site with her initials.

Then we headed back to Las Vegas.

Missy was kind enough to drive our messy, sick, and sometimes screaming selves.

We had to make a couple of stops along the way. First, we made a little stop in Logan, Utah, Jake's and my pre-Dresden home. It's also where we met and fell in love. We have a lot of good memories there. (Thanks to my aunt Jenae and uncle Scott for putting us up for a night there!)

Jethro at the exact site of his parents' first kiss on the Utah State University campus.

Then we had to stop in Provo, Utah, so Jake's grandma could give Jethro her stamp of approval. (He passed by the skin of his tiny little teeth.)

And then we were on the open road passing through some of the most beautiful country I know of.

Back home
And after a couple of days we were back on Air India.

I was sad to leave our families behind again, but was amazed at the giddiness I felt when we landed in Frankfurt and were once again in the Vaterland.

OK, I'm removing the barricades now. But don't wander too far! COMING SOON ... "The Homeland, Part II": My thoughts on reverse culture shock after returning to America after 2 years! Guaranteed to be even more boring than "Part I"!!! DON'T MISS IT!!!



JEM