First American Thanksgiving, and boy did I experience an ultimate food coma.

I was so lucky and incredibly grateful for a beautiful friend to invite me back to her home for thanksgiving. I got to meet her family and friends from her hometown, Binghamton.

Her house was beautiful and there was green hills and fancy homes the whole way there. Her house had a basement and an incredible large acreage. The homes didn't have fences - like, what? And her best friend lived next door.

It was one of the most American experiences of my time on this trip.

Her father was a five star chef. Not really. He is a lawyer. But he's cooking was five star quality.

The first night there her sister arrived with her boyfriend and cat, Jackson. The cutest little thing. We ate dinner and relaxed. Then the next day we drove up to Rochester for my friend to have an interview.

It was a nice drive, what I imagined an American road trip like. And Rochester was beautiful and old fashioned. That night we went out for dinner with Rachel's hometown friends.

The next day was Thanksgiving and we made our way up to her grandparents place for the day. Her family is large and so incredibly warm and welcoming. All her aunts and uncles, minus maybe one family, from her father's side were there.

They were so beautiful, and just writing about them now, a couple months later, makes me teary. I miss my beautiful friend, Rachel and I miss this experience. And when I think back all I can picture is smiling faces, laughter and everyone just sharing stories. It's such a precious memory of an extra time I'll take with me forever.

At their thanksgiving we ate too much turkey, stuffing and vegies. And then when we had too much in our tummies we were served dessert, apple pie and ice cream made by Rachel's dad. Delicious.

We left later that night and went back home.