Charleston

Hey!

Not much to say here :) Charleston's a place you need to live, not so much visit :) Shopping on King street, drinking wine at East Bay street, walking from Meeting street to Ocean drive, marvelling at the old houses (I like to say: colonial style... :)) with porch'es', fountains in the garden's', three floors (two for the US people :) ) ... wow!

Charleston, especially North Charleston is a place you could see yourselves live, raise your children... It's a modern yet 'isle of palms'-style living, 'quart d'heure academique' guaranteed ! :)

Then there is the beach-experience :) LOVE IT :) My mum would have loved it to! No cold water, but nice waves... you can just walk into the ocean without jumping and screaming and tugging in your belly because the touch of water is 'aye aye aye' :)

I got new shoes ! (After the Clarks one's that I got blisters from... which I gave to Connie, so she could find somebody else who'd like to wear them :) )
Which shoes? Puma, no, very inexpensive puma shoes :) The shopkeeper said: ' hey there! Let me just say that if you're willing to donate one dollar today, we'll give you 30% off everything in the shop!'

WOW! I donate one dollar and my shoes are suddenly 25 dollars cheaper :) Like the sound of that :-)

Now get this: I am shopped out! :) No kidding, I am cured... finally I can walk past shops without feeling the need to buy things... :) Hope it won't last to long, haha!

Ah and one more thing ! Here in Charleston, where people have a weird accent, they don't have speed bumps but...

SPEED HUMPS :-) I do not know exactly what they want to say by that... :)))

Off to Etowah now, last update on the blog coming up... and then tuesday is flying-back-home-day!

But don't be fooled! As I wrote at the end of our Alaska adventure:

WE'LL BE BACK !! :-)

AnD

no comment :)

The beach experience... :)

Charleston by night

Nashville, Tennessee ... the rednecktown :)

Hello again!

I am back ! :) Ok, I have to admit, I wasn't too much in the mood of writing and updating the blog yesterday... BUT :) we arrived late in the evening, so... my pillow was much more of a friend that night than the computer :) Guess you know exactly what I mean ;)

Ok, so then late in the evening I thought I could already upload the pictures from Nashville... because that is usually what takes a long time... and then... I got the worst news.

My card reader, which I bought a few years back on another roadtrip with my sister did not respond to any kind of connection... without a card reader, I was absolutely incapable of sharing my pictures with you guys !! So I told Davy, at 9pm : 'We need to go to Wallmart's right away! I need a card reader. There's one in Hendersonville, about 20 minutes from here... hurry!'

I guess Davy knows me quite well... (I guess I can say it now... can't I? :)), he knew that there are three things he needed to be carful about: me without food, my camera or my card reader. Now THAT could't at all be a good thing :)

Anyhow... So here they are, the Nashville pictures ;)

Now let me just say this, I like Nashville somewhat less than Greenville or Charleston... BUT, as we walked around town, did some shopping in the incredible heat (too hot, no wind... unbearable), spent some time on Broadway, an evening at Tootsie's, where I celebrated my quarter of a century birthday (I couldn't just accept that my 25th was spent in a convertible on I65!)... I got to appreciate the town more and more :)

So if you need to keep a review in mind, here it is: No need to spent 3 nights in Nashville, but I recommend one full day, ending at Tootsie's, live music in the background (men should definitely use the bathroom! (bring tips! ... I'll say no more :) ) ... AND go buy cowboy boots, just like I did :)

So hey, that's it I think ! Will post tomorrow evening on Charleston!

AnD

Ps: Today was facetime-time with the mums... I guess we could agree on saying D and I missed you guys a lot today, all of you, family, Whitefish bay, Kewaunee... But as the both of us are more than a quarter of a century old ... We got over it :-)

Nashville

a walk on Broadway

Who the ***** is Elvis? :)

Now get that ! :) Ca-raazy :)

I want that car ! :) In blue, hard top roof, two rallye lights added in the front... :)
Some day... SOME DAY, when I'm all grown up, ... I'll buy it :)

Tootsie's (Where's Davy?) :)

Broadway before midnight

D's new t-shirt! :)
I was sooo strong!
Bought only one pair of boots, even though I could have gotten two for free!!
In the end, I got 40% off my pair of boots !
Good deal too :) 

My boots !!! :-) Love 'em !

A weekend up in Kewaunee

Hello all of you readers!

Here we are, back in Whitefish bay, after an amazing weekend in Kewaunee!

Now that house is absolutely amazing! :) All done by Mike and his family! I am just amazed of ... I don't even know... I mean... that is quite something! Who would know how to built their home all by themselves? I wouldn't :) (But you knew that right? :)

So then there we were, Barb and Ted,  Sarah and Greg, Connie and Mike, Sean, Jamie, Tony, Davy and me :)
Don't you just love it when there are sooo many people around? :) I do! Which is one of the reasons why I enjoyed this weekend so much! Thank you :)

What did we do?

Well, we went to the little arts and crafts shops around the house's area, tried to hit the cans in the garden with a BB gun, and (WAHOOOO! :) )  Davy and I practiced golfing on our very own private driving range :) ... the Bluff! :)))

How that works... oh you know, loooots of golfballs, and there's only one rule, try to hit them into the water :) So it goes: 1 ... 2 ... 3 ... zoooooooooom .... splash :) Loads of fun guaranteed :)

Other than that, food was really important throughout the day... and sooo delicious, believe me! :)

In the evening we had a fire started, all of us sitting around the lit fire, chatting about... I don't even remember all that we talked about :)

So today, as we didn't take the boats (Kayaks and canoes) out to the lake yesterday, we paddled off into the nice morning breeze... :) I guess I know how you picture the scene... now add thick fog and rain to the whole image... there you go! :) But it was lots of fun though... despite the bad weather...

So that's that! Tomorrow morning we're leaving for Nashville :) Cowboy Boots and live music here we come! :)

So stay tuned because I'll tell you all about it!

AnD

David and Sean

midnight at the lake house :)

I did it !

family lunch ! :) 

family picture

the girls

the boys ... hum hum :)

D, Mike and Sean

last night sitting by the fire ...

Chicago, a city we learned to love :-)

Hey there,

As you can see, or read ;), we are back !!

But before I tell you about our Chicago trip, here`s a visitor we`ve had ourselves in Etowah :)
@Nancy: I do not know if your mosquito net fancies him so much...

the `I like to be upside down-squirrel` :)

So then, the next morning, we were on the road again! We were so excited! Chicago was next! A city I had never been to and of which Davy didn't have any memories whatsoever :)

As you know us, we booked ourselves a private room, over airbnb, in Cincinati, mid-way to the windy city. Dean and his wife welcomed us to their home and we had the nicest chat in their living room right upon our arrival. Sadly enough we only stayed one night and left for Chicago the next morning, because Cincinati is a lovely city!

So what else to expect than seing davy and me in our own apartment, in Chicago, right on Oakdale street, near the Belmont train station. So we booked that apartment over airbn..., obviously :) ... But the thing we had not thought about was that, despite the great location, we were living right next to the `EL` (the elevated train). Now those of you who have lived in Barcelona or Paris, or even London or Milano will tell us that this is rather a good thing!

Hmmm... not if the train is pretty old and ratters loudly over the worn off tracks at rather high speed :) The only time those trains do not run on a ten minute basis is between midnight and 4 o`clock in the morning...

Right, the first night I got a good 3 and a half hour sleep. :) But you know, that's ok! That's Chicago!
Next morning, 1. getting up, 2. buying ear plugs, 3. get coffee and a bagel :)

We're all set, good to go, exploring the city!

Now, obviously, first day had to include the Loop walk, with the bean, the fountain, Millenium Park , and some shopping. :) We immediately fell in love with the windy city. It's not too big, people are very friendly, the city is so clean, they have running tracks and beaches right along side the lake shore... I do not want to say too much too soon, but if I had to go, Chicago would definitely be a place I could see us live :) (One always needs projects in life... :) )

Next day, Navy Pier, Gold cost and the Planetarium were on our list, and lots more shopping too :) On our way we added the Buckingham fountain by night and lots of bars in between. It was so much fun running around, visiting and most of all, living the city! Having our own apartment made us feel independent and free, just like being part of the city's community for a few days :) Awfully tired, we fell into our bed as soon as we had closed the door behind us!

So after lots of shopping (Victoria's secret, Timberland, Clarks, Hollister, AnF, etc), we took the elevator up to the Hancock tower's 96th floor's Signature Lounge (a bar, where the fee for going up is free if you have a drink) :) Beautiful views and a perfect strawberry shake!

A last drink at a bar near Oak and Rush street (place to be, as we could tell by all the nice cars driving by during after work hours...), a good night's sleep and we were good to go and continue our trip to Davy's family in Whitefish Bay. On the way, we took time to stop at the Art's museum, just to grab a bite at their restaurant (chick food as Davy's cousins would say :) ) and have a look at the amazing architecture of the building.

We arrived at 2pm, just in time for a glass of wine to toast to... hmmm... I guess holiday :) A stroll to the beach ended this fabulous afternoon, before everybody arrived.
Who is every body are you asking ? :) hey that was my question! 'No worries', did I tell myself... 'you've been studying names all along... you'll know who is who real quick' :)

And that was exactly how it was! All of Davy's aunts, uncles and cousins are so nice and welcoming, that you just have to like them as soon as you get to know them :) I guess you know now that it has been a wonderful evening, with lots of laughter and the warm, nice feeling of family... all around you :)

Even Chicago cannot top that :-)

So tomorrow, new schedule... but I'll tell you all about that on a new post in a few days!

XOXO

 A visit to the Lincoln Park Zoo :)

 

 

 

The rabbit, our friend, always somewhere to find, in Chicago :) 

The 'EL' 

The Bean :)

Millenium Park 

The Fountain we all know from the movies :)

North Avenue beach

The skyline at 8:30pm

 

The Buckingham fountain at 9:30pm

a drink at the 96th floor of the Hancock Tower 

Oak street beach 

Milwaukee Museum of Arts 

Walk on the Lake shore this afternoon :)

 

Roadtrip ! :-)

Hey there you readers,

As promised, we're starting our roadtrip today (in ten minutes actually :) ) !

Yesterday, I didn't write you because the day wasn't too busy... manucure for me and haircut for Davy :) Ok, so now you know, haha :)

We'll be leaving Etowah for Cincinati, where we'll arrive in the early evening. We've booked a room over airbnb.com in Arlene's house. I love meeting new people, so I'm really happy she agreed to open her house to us!

From there we'll drive to Chicago on the next day, which we'll reach in the afternoon. There again, we've booked an apartment over airbnb.com. Victoria's been so nice to agree to let us sleep at her apartment, located perfectly, in the center of Chicago, right next to the EL.

Shopping, sightseeing, taking pictures (got some good spots I want to go to :) ) : that's the schedule for the next days, before we'll leave to Milwaukee on thursday!

So stay tuned ! :)

Hugs,

AnD

PS: For those who didn't see it two days ago on facebook, we had pancakes in Etowah :) Mmmmmhhh!

homemade pancakes :) MIAM!

Not AT&T but the AT :-)

Hello again !

Where have we been for the last two days ? 

You've got three guesses ( the two first ones don't count :) ).

Exactly!

We thought, if we're that near to the Smoky Mountains, why not do a part of the Appalatian trail, everybody talks about so much ? So that's what we did !

The plan was to get up early in the morning (very very early... or... too early for me :) ), drive up to the Smokies, park the car next to a Ranger station and meet Mark at 10am. He would drive us up to the starting point of our hike. Now why would we do that ? Well, we didn't want to do a loop hike where we'd have to hike the same trail there and back... :-)

Mark's a pretty funny guy who lives near the Smokies, has Lamas at home and is a volunteer in the Park. Meaning that he hikes all the trails and does maintenance work whilst hiking... his Lamas carrying the bags I presume :)

But hey, this all seems like we arrived in the mountains just like we planned! 

Nope... not at all... :)

Didn't I tell you about the car that had to get jump started in Gaffney ? Well, the car, as much as myself, is not an early riser :-) So it died on us again... twice... :(

Medical analysis from us, two hobby mechanists who do not know too much about cars... : the battery's life expired, we need a new one. (I tell you this right away, because it makes me smile just thinking about it: WE WERE RIGHT! :) whatever... )

So we took the second car in the garage... Fortunately there was one... :)

The trail in itself was... let's say... tree-ish. I didn't find the right word, so I created my own :) 

What I want to say is that it was leading us through the woods, different kinds of trees, up the hill, down the hill, sunny, rainy... B-E-A-utiful  :-) I really mean it!

BUT... I know there's always a but with me :) 

... in Switzerland, when going up, up, up a mountain, you get rewarded with a view that usually takes your breath away... now I do not want to say this Appalachian trail is not breathtaking, because it is really nice, but there's just no view after a steep climb, no view on the ridge, no view... no view...

Only, as the woods are so nice and different, so green and tunnel-like, just as in Disney movies :), I may say that after the second climb I didn't miss the view that much but was looking forward for the next tree-tunnel to come, leading me to creeks where I would have to hop from stone to stone in order to get to the other side :-)

Now THAT, I agree with everyone, is real hiking, real backpacking! :) A must for everyone considering himself a hiker :)

Check out our first day of hiking: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/211061908

The shelter where we thought of spending the night in, was crowded with people !! Imagine that :) 

A group of volunteers of the Park used it as base camp whilst working on the AT during the day. (the AT, for those who did't follow is the Appalachian Trail... try typing that name a few times in a row... you'll soon appreciate that abreviation :) )

I must say, after having discovered Elk hooveprints and bear poop, it was quite a relief to be sleeping with 16ish other people... :) No bear would dare to come that near... :-)

On the second day, after eating a few serving of our delicious astronaut food (freeze-dried pasta... chicken and rice etc...) YUMMY! :) we hiked on the next morning without resting too long in between. We wanted to reach our car!

Our goal ? :) Bad Wolf's ribs! Told you about those right ? Can't go into too much detail here otherwise I'm hungry again :-)

Check out our second day of hiking: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/211061881

Back home we settled in all right and today was our easy chill-out time :) So not too much planned yet, except going to the movies tonight in Brevard... Let's see what that will be like :)

We'll be online soon!

Ps: I discovered Facetime today... LOVE IT :) No! Actually, I knew what it was for a long time but never actually tried it, until today :-)

Clingman's Dome (where there should have been a spectacular view... if only the Smoke... uh,  fog wasn't there :) )

On our way ...

rest at a shelter ...

sooo many huuuuge butterflies every where ! Yellow, blue, red, black, etc. :)

THE view... I say 'THE' because it's the only one we had ! :) 

My new froggy green gore-tex-summit series! :) Early b-day present from Davy :D THX!

The Derrick's Knob shelter (overnight)

Just before Rocky Top (see the wonderful view ?? :) :) :) )