We are STILL on the road.
Saturday I posted that we had spent the night in Wall, SD. Well, we continued across that state, then into Minnesota along I-90 before turning south and ending up in Swisher, IA. We had a lovely evening with the Brennemans, including a walk around their property, a home cooked meal, and wonderful conversation. We hit the road reasonably early, and crossed the Mississippi into Illinois.
We stopped first in Princeton, the town where Gus's father was raised, and we saw the house his great grandfather and great-great grandfather had built. The new owners even let us inside and showed us around. They have really kept the character of the place even as they gave it modern updates, and it looked great. We didn't stay long, for we still had to get to Cincinnati. Driving across Indiana was no fun, though Gus did laugh at my running commentary (code for whining) about India-no-place. We spent the evening with our friend Lilah just across the river from Cincinnati in Kentucky. The town of Covington is cute, and we had a wonderful time visiting. We were sluggish the next morning (me in particular), but we managed to cross Ohio, a small corner of West Virginia, and most of Pennsylvania.
Southern Pennsylvania is pretty, and we ended up in Gettysburg. We did a one hour driving tour of the battlefields, which is not nearly enough. We could have spent days there! However, doing it with a history teacher who has read up on the battle is fun--other random people were stopping to listen to the explanations Gus was giving! From there we headed down to Baltimore to spend the night with the other Brennemans. Thanks for putting us up! Because we crossed the state line in such a rural area, though, there was no "Welcome to Maryland" sign. Only one of which I haven't gotten a picture. Boo.
We did a bit of hanging out with the kiddos the next morning (aka babysitting) while Nancy ran some errands, then drove down the coast along the Chesapeake bay to New Bern, NC. There we spent a lovely evening with my grandparents. I hadn't been there in so long, I had forgotten how much I love that place! We left there this morning and headed west to Durham. After wandering around Duke for a bit, we continued west to Black Mountain and Camp Ridgecrest, where I spent 5 summers. We got to join the staff for dinner, which was fun. Now we're in a hotel in Black Mountain, though I may leave shortly for some ice cream at Dairy King. I could have spent days in New Bern, Duke, and Camp, but Gus was getting tired of my trip down memory lane. He was a trooper, and I appreciated it.
Tomorrow takes us to Greenville for a BRIEF stop at Linda's house to meet Bennett and see the place before heading on to Peachtree City. The trip total is 4 hours, so we hope to be in by late lunch. The entire Ketsche clan is coming down, and we have agreed NOT to watch the semi-finals of the Euro that afternoon. We are instead recording it and watching as a family with brats and sauerkraut. DEUTSCHLAND VOR! For that reason, we will not be communicating with anyone who might possibly know the score or outcome of the game. Can't wait! Friday we head to the lake, and on Saturday I'm pretty sure you can't drag me kicking and screaming into a car. Wahoo! While we've had fun and seen cool stuff, we're ready to be done with the open road for at least a bit. Not having air conditioning means windows, which makes music tough. Moving means we have the car full of junk, which means constantly trying to get situated. We're over it!
Expect another post in a bit. For now it's off to bed! Still no pictures . . .
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Yellowstone Karma
Since I posted the schedule for our trip, some things have changed. I figure I'll just keep you updated as we go.
We moved our departure date up to June 20th. This gave us one extra day between Yellowstone and Cincinnati, making our time in Yellowstone a bit more relaxed. Monday the 18th we hosted our second going away party. This gathering was much smaller, but it was nice and relaxed. That evening I moved on to a party hosted for me by my friends at Make Your Mark Farm in Springfield. Thanks, Kathryn! I will miss you all.
We spent Tuesday running errands (translation: spending money). Thanks to Stacie, I got to go to Costco, and I was able to meet Becca for lunch. Becca lives in Klamath Falls, but was on her way up to PDX to fly to Tanzania--one of our favorite countries--for the summer. They happened to stop for lunch in Springfield just as I was there. Awesome! Anyway, lots of packing and stress, then a sushi dinner with Bill, and that was our anniversary! Never fear, though--we did celebrate.
Wednesday we had originally planned to depart early, but since the shipper was coming between 8-11 we decided to hold off. He had said closer to 8. My mother, who has done this whole moving across the Atlantic thing a time or two (or four), recommended we wait because "something will come up." We spent the morning playing hearts with Bill and Mike in this weird limbo of waiting. The shipper came at 11, and my mother, as always, was right--something came up. The price went down. Yay! Worth the delay for sure. We left Eugene at 12:40 on the dot. A brief stop in Bend for lunch, dinner and fuel in Boise, and we stopped around 11 in Grand Valley, ID. The next morning we left early--6 am--and headed over to Jackson, WY. We picked up deli sandwiches, which we ate at an overlook in Grand Teton NP. Rough life, eh? While Teton is amazing, we were limited in time, so we moved on to Yellowstone. This is where our amazing "Yellowstone Karma" kicked in.
Gus had managed to snag reservations at Old Faithful Inn--the nice lodge right next to Old Faithful. Remember I said our plans kept changing? He made the reservations 2 weeks ago. We found out later that they typically book a full 2 years in advance! As we pulled in, we not only got the best parking spot in the place, but Old Faithful was about to erupt. We watched the eruption, checked in and explored the lodge a bit, grabbed some tea, and headed out. We took a hiking trail up to an overlook, where we watched Old Faithful once more, then headed off to explore the other geysers. I think our favorite was Solitary Geyser, but we were just getting started! We hit Beehive Geyser just as the eruption indicator was going off. Beehive erupts every 5-10 hours, but sometimes goes days. It gets higher than OF, and if you are in the right spot, you get wet. Well, nobody wanted that--except us. Seriously, folks, it's a bit of water, and how cool is it to get rained on by a geyser? Soaked and laughing, we headed on, only to catch Grand Geyser. The eruptions, once predicted, have a 4 hour window, but it went off just as we arrived there. Castle Geyser, which can be completely difficult to catch, had also been predicted for that day--and given a 2 hour window. It erupted right after we got there. All three of those geysers were HUGE, and it was really cool to get that much activity.
Our "Yellowstone Karma" continued, though. That morning I had called the lodge and had--through some feat of magic--managed to get us a dinner reservation, though not until 9:15. We got back to the lodge after several hours/miles of geyser exploration, and I needed a nap. Gus, while I was sleeping, managed to get us an earlier time. A quick shower, then dinner at 8:15--and the window seat folks cancelled right as we got to the front of the line. Yep, window seat for us! I had elk for dinner, which was good but a bit gamey. We were exhausted, so we went straight back to the room after dinner.
Since the best time to view animals is early morning or dusk, we decided to get up early. We were packed and loaded at 6, walked around OF for a bit, then had breakfast right as the dining room opened at 6:30. We departed by 7, and it was worth it. Up close views of sleeping bull elk, buffalo family wandering through the road (yes, 3 babies, and yes, they were blocking traffic and passed within a few feet of the car), and lots of beautiful scenery were just a part of the drive. We headed over Dunraven Pass into the Lamar Valley, where there were herds of buffalo, some sort of antelope, and more buffalo. We also saw a marmot and a pelican. When you only spend 20 hours in Yellowstone and much of that at or around the lodge, you aren't going to see any of the harder to spot critters, right? Wrong! We saw a wolf. Then, as we approached the NE entrance, some folks with telescopes pointed out mountain goats on the cliff. You couldn't really see them with the naked eye, but with the scopes we got to see momma and baby mountain goat walk up a patch of snow on a cliffside. Cool! We left Yellowstone and headed up Montana's Beartooth Highway (thanks, National Geographic, for recommending that!), where the pass is almost 11,000 feet high. Near the top we stopped because there were more mountain goats--this time up close! Lots of snow, scenery, and mountain driving later, we arrived in Red Lodge, MT. We had a late lunch, then pushed hard. We ended up in Wall, SD (a bit east of Rapid City). We left there (after a brief visit to Wall Drug) this morning, and I'm uploading this from an Arby's in Sioux Falls, SD.
One other change occurred yesterday. NYC is no longer on our trip list. The plan is evolving, so stay tuned, folks!
Technology and travel do not always combine, so photos will have to come later. Sorry! I promise they'll be worth the wait.
We moved our departure date up to June 20th. This gave us one extra day between Yellowstone and Cincinnati, making our time in Yellowstone a bit more relaxed. Monday the 18th we hosted our second going away party. This gathering was much smaller, but it was nice and relaxed. That evening I moved on to a party hosted for me by my friends at Make Your Mark Farm in Springfield. Thanks, Kathryn! I will miss you all.
We spent Tuesday running errands (translation: spending money). Thanks to Stacie, I got to go to Costco, and I was able to meet Becca for lunch. Becca lives in Klamath Falls, but was on her way up to PDX to fly to Tanzania--one of our favorite countries--for the summer. They happened to stop for lunch in Springfield just as I was there. Awesome! Anyway, lots of packing and stress, then a sushi dinner with Bill, and that was our anniversary! Never fear, though--we did celebrate.
Wednesday we had originally planned to depart early, but since the shipper was coming between 8-11 we decided to hold off. He had said closer to 8. My mother, who has done this whole moving across the Atlantic thing a time or two (or four), recommended we wait because "something will come up." We spent the morning playing hearts with Bill and Mike in this weird limbo of waiting. The shipper came at 11, and my mother, as always, was right--something came up. The price went down. Yay! Worth the delay for sure. We left Eugene at 12:40 on the dot. A brief stop in Bend for lunch, dinner and fuel in Boise, and we stopped around 11 in Grand Valley, ID. The next morning we left early--6 am--and headed over to Jackson, WY. We picked up deli sandwiches, which we ate at an overlook in Grand Teton NP. Rough life, eh? While Teton is amazing, we were limited in time, so we moved on to Yellowstone. This is where our amazing "Yellowstone Karma" kicked in.
Gus had managed to snag reservations at Old Faithful Inn--the nice lodge right next to Old Faithful. Remember I said our plans kept changing? He made the reservations 2 weeks ago. We found out later that they typically book a full 2 years in advance! As we pulled in, we not only got the best parking spot in the place, but Old Faithful was about to erupt. We watched the eruption, checked in and explored the lodge a bit, grabbed some tea, and headed out. We took a hiking trail up to an overlook, where we watched Old Faithful once more, then headed off to explore the other geysers. I think our favorite was Solitary Geyser, but we were just getting started! We hit Beehive Geyser just as the eruption indicator was going off. Beehive erupts every 5-10 hours, but sometimes goes days. It gets higher than OF, and if you are in the right spot, you get wet. Well, nobody wanted that--except us. Seriously, folks, it's a bit of water, and how cool is it to get rained on by a geyser? Soaked and laughing, we headed on, only to catch Grand Geyser. The eruptions, once predicted, have a 4 hour window, but it went off just as we arrived there. Castle Geyser, which can be completely difficult to catch, had also been predicted for that day--and given a 2 hour window. It erupted right after we got there. All three of those geysers were HUGE, and it was really cool to get that much activity.
Our "Yellowstone Karma" continued, though. That morning I had called the lodge and had--through some feat of magic--managed to get us a dinner reservation, though not until 9:15. We got back to the lodge after several hours/miles of geyser exploration, and I needed a nap. Gus, while I was sleeping, managed to get us an earlier time. A quick shower, then dinner at 8:15--and the window seat folks cancelled right as we got to the front of the line. Yep, window seat for us! I had elk for dinner, which was good but a bit gamey. We were exhausted, so we went straight back to the room after dinner.
Since the best time to view animals is early morning or dusk, we decided to get up early. We were packed and loaded at 6, walked around OF for a bit, then had breakfast right as the dining room opened at 6:30. We departed by 7, and it was worth it. Up close views of sleeping bull elk, buffalo family wandering through the road (yes, 3 babies, and yes, they were blocking traffic and passed within a few feet of the car), and lots of beautiful scenery were just a part of the drive. We headed over Dunraven Pass into the Lamar Valley, where there were herds of buffalo, some sort of antelope, and more buffalo. We also saw a marmot and a pelican. When you only spend 20 hours in Yellowstone and much of that at or around the lodge, you aren't going to see any of the harder to spot critters, right? Wrong! We saw a wolf. Then, as we approached the NE entrance, some folks with telescopes pointed out mountain goats on the cliff. You couldn't really see them with the naked eye, but with the scopes we got to see momma and baby mountain goat walk up a patch of snow on a cliffside. Cool! We left Yellowstone and headed up Montana's Beartooth Highway (thanks, National Geographic, for recommending that!), where the pass is almost 11,000 feet high. Near the top we stopped because there were more mountain goats--this time up close! Lots of snow, scenery, and mountain driving later, we arrived in Red Lodge, MT. We had a late lunch, then pushed hard. We ended up in Wall, SD (a bit east of Rapid City). We left there (after a brief visit to Wall Drug) this morning, and I'm uploading this from an Arby's in Sioux Falls, SD.
One other change occurred yesterday. NYC is no longer on our trip list. The plan is evolving, so stay tuned, folks!
Technology and travel do not always combine, so photos will have to come later. Sorry! I promise they'll be worth the wait.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Lion-O, Boxes, and a Miracle
Lion-O
No, I am not watching old (or new) Thundercats episodes. Lion-O is the nickname Gus has given Jimmy. Our collie has always had a thick undercoat and "butt-dreds"--matted hair around his back legs. Given that he will be flying and that he tends to get mellow during the summer because of the heat, I decided that before I sold my clippers, I would clip Jimmy. This is a more difficult task than it sounds in spite of my experience with horses. I did, however, prevail. All things considered, he doesn't look bad. I left his tail and paws alone, and since he didn't like the clippers, I didn't go to far up his neck. Yep, he got a lion cut. Judging by his demeanor as he realized how good it felt to have bald spots, his INTENSE bouncing session as soon as I released him to clean the dog hair out of hte yard, and his general energy compared to previous years, I am going out on a limb and saying he likes it. As an added bonus, Gus has decided that Trotsky's nickname will be Mum-Ra.
Boxes
Obvious enough--I'm packing. My mom asked me the other day if it was controlled chaos or just chaos. I answered that I wasn't sure. I'm still not. Looking at the house, it looks pretty messy--empty boxes here, full boxes there, these are going, those are being stored, these have been labeled, those haven't, that stack of empties has lids, that doesn't. There are piles everywhere as we sort through our stuff. But there is order in much of it. Progress is being made, and we are moving forward. Yay! Yours truly has decided that heat is no fun. I used to have a tolerance for heat, but I don't anymore. Our upstairs is too hot, and packing the entire upstairs today has reduced me to a sweaty, stinky, icky pile of useless.
Miracles
We got an email yesterday morning (Friday evening German time)--from the relocation agent! Yes, she exists, and she is asking questions about what we want in terms of housing. We will be making contact on Monday morning by telephone so we don't have emails flying back and forth while we're on the road. Okay, fine, we know they will be. Still, at least it makes everyone's lives easier if we just do this by phone rather than exchanging a million emails.
And now . . . after a bowl of ice cream, I am on the couch watching bad sci-fi with Gus. By bad sci-fy I mean that we are now watching Piranhaconda. Piranhas and anacondas meet in a bad evolutionary mix up, and the monster is going on a rampage killing researchers and stuff. Well, at least that's what the preview shows. The movie is just starting, but the beast did just take out a helicopter. The movie even has a rockabilly theme song in which somebody sings, "look out--piranhaconda" without bursting into laughter as we did when we heard the song. An impressive feat!
Okay, I had pictures to add, but apparently my iPad, which is all I have at the moment, is a bit stupid when trying to add photos to a blog post. In the meantime, I am happy to report that 5 of the main characters AND a major bad guy have thus far survived the piranhaconda attack.
No, I am not watching old (or new) Thundercats episodes. Lion-O is the nickname Gus has given Jimmy. Our collie has always had a thick undercoat and "butt-dreds"--matted hair around his back legs. Given that he will be flying and that he tends to get mellow during the summer because of the heat, I decided that before I sold my clippers, I would clip Jimmy. This is a more difficult task than it sounds in spite of my experience with horses. I did, however, prevail. All things considered, he doesn't look bad. I left his tail and paws alone, and since he didn't like the clippers, I didn't go to far up his neck. Yep, he got a lion cut. Judging by his demeanor as he realized how good it felt to have bald spots, his INTENSE bouncing session as soon as I released him to clean the dog hair out of hte yard, and his general energy compared to previous years, I am going out on a limb and saying he likes it. As an added bonus, Gus has decided that Trotsky's nickname will be Mum-Ra.
Boxes
Obvious enough--I'm packing. My mom asked me the other day if it was controlled chaos or just chaos. I answered that I wasn't sure. I'm still not. Looking at the house, it looks pretty messy--empty boxes here, full boxes there, these are going, those are being stored, these have been labeled, those haven't, that stack of empties has lids, that doesn't. There are piles everywhere as we sort through our stuff. But there is order in much of it. Progress is being made, and we are moving forward. Yay! Yours truly has decided that heat is no fun. I used to have a tolerance for heat, but I don't anymore. Our upstairs is too hot, and packing the entire upstairs today has reduced me to a sweaty, stinky, icky pile of useless.
Miracles
We got an email yesterday morning (Friday evening German time)--from the relocation agent! Yes, she exists, and she is asking questions about what we want in terms of housing. We will be making contact on Monday morning by telephone so we don't have emails flying back and forth while we're on the road. Okay, fine, we know they will be. Still, at least it makes everyone's lives easier if we just do this by phone rather than exchanging a million emails.
And now . . . after a bowl of ice cream, I am on the couch watching bad sci-fi with Gus. By bad sci-fy I mean that we are now watching Piranhaconda. Piranhas and anacondas meet in a bad evolutionary mix up, and the monster is going on a rampage killing researchers and stuff. Well, at least that's what the preview shows. The movie is just starting, but the beast did just take out a helicopter. The movie even has a rockabilly theme song in which somebody sings, "look out--piranhaconda" without bursting into laughter as we did when we heard the song. An impressive feat!
Okay, I had pictures to add, but apparently my iPad, which is all I have at the moment, is a bit stupid when trying to add photos to a blog post. In the meantime, I am happy to report that 5 of the main characters AND a major bad guy have thus far survived the piranhaconda attack.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Goodbyes
Yesterday was a landmark. It was the first of our two scheduled goodbye parties. Up until then we had simply said "we'll see you at the party." Last night was the first of our serious goodbyes.
We had an interesting turnout--barn people (lots of them--friends and instructors and even Daz--I mean, Abby's--new mom and dad), some German brunch folks, teacher folks, neighbors, gaming friends, grad school buddies, some people I didn't know (this is common when we have our pork shoulder events), and just a whole bunch of really cool people. It's amazing how many friends we have and how many people we are going to miss. It was a busy evening, but as people drifted away, we had to say goodbye to some of them. In situations such as these, there are two German goodbyes that come to mind. The first is the famous "auf Wiedersehen," which translates roughly to "until we meet again." The other, sadder one, is "leb wohl," which translates to "may you live well." It is used as a final goodbye. In this era of communication and travel, it's not a sentiment one hears often, and it is one that seems too final and sad to contemplate or accept. Goodbyes are generally the former for the ease of all involved.
The reality, though, is that for many, this is a final goodbye. It's not that we don't WANT to see you again or that we don't HOPE to see you again. It's that the reality is that for some or even many of you, we WON'T see you again. We can still stay involved in each others' lives through email, facebook, and more. We will always care and will always go out of our way to support you, and we know we can always count on you. It's a tremendous blessing to live in the internet age (oh, and those of you not familiar with Skype, it's time to learn). Spending time together or hanging out, though, is looking less and less likely.
This is natural. We all think we'll always stay in touch with the same people, remain best friends with the same people, and share the same closeness. It's just not realistic. We are moving on, and many of you will do or have done the same. That's a good thing, and it's healthy. It is hard, however, to be the one moving on and saying so many goodbyes with such finality. I did not shed tears last night, but I know I will. In fact, I'm crying now just thinking of those of you to whom I said goodbye last night. Know that we will miss you and that you have had some measure of impact in our lives. We are better because of you. Thanks to each of you for your enduring friendship and support.
It is on that note that I want to mention a difference in German and American cultures. In the US we often say "come visit," but the invitation lacks an "oomph." It's just a nicety or lip service. The same is NOT true of German culture. When a German invites you into his home, it is a sincere and honored offer on which he expects to be taken up. It is on that note that we open our doors. When you visit Europe, our doors are open. If we end up elsewhere on our journey, our doors will remain open. No visit is so stressful that it outweighs the good of seeing you, our friends and family, walk through our doors. No time is so busy that it cannot be rearranged for you. It is with this invitation in mind that I choose to say to each of you:
Auf Wiedersehen. Until we meet again. May it be soon.
Thank you for being a part of our lives. We love you and will miss you. We look forward to your arrival in Munich.
We had an interesting turnout--barn people (lots of them--friends and instructors and even Daz--I mean, Abby's--new mom and dad), some German brunch folks, teacher folks, neighbors, gaming friends, grad school buddies, some people I didn't know (this is common when we have our pork shoulder events), and just a whole bunch of really cool people. It's amazing how many friends we have and how many people we are going to miss. It was a busy evening, but as people drifted away, we had to say goodbye to some of them. In situations such as these, there are two German goodbyes that come to mind. The first is the famous "auf Wiedersehen," which translates roughly to "until we meet again." The other, sadder one, is "leb wohl," which translates to "may you live well." It is used as a final goodbye. In this era of communication and travel, it's not a sentiment one hears often, and it is one that seems too final and sad to contemplate or accept. Goodbyes are generally the former for the ease of all involved.
The reality, though, is that for many, this is a final goodbye. It's not that we don't WANT to see you again or that we don't HOPE to see you again. It's that the reality is that for some or even many of you, we WON'T see you again. We can still stay involved in each others' lives through email, facebook, and more. We will always care and will always go out of our way to support you, and we know we can always count on you. It's a tremendous blessing to live in the internet age (oh, and those of you not familiar with Skype, it's time to learn). Spending time together or hanging out, though, is looking less and less likely.
This is natural. We all think we'll always stay in touch with the same people, remain best friends with the same people, and share the same closeness. It's just not realistic. We are moving on, and many of you will do or have done the same. That's a good thing, and it's healthy. It is hard, however, to be the one moving on and saying so many goodbyes with such finality. I did not shed tears last night, but I know I will. In fact, I'm crying now just thinking of those of you to whom I said goodbye last night. Know that we will miss you and that you have had some measure of impact in our lives. We are better because of you. Thanks to each of you for your enduring friendship and support.
It is on that note that I want to mention a difference in German and American cultures. In the US we often say "come visit," but the invitation lacks an "oomph." It's just a nicety or lip service. The same is NOT true of German culture. When a German invites you into his home, it is a sincere and honored offer on which he expects to be taken up. It is on that note that we open our doors. When you visit Europe, our doors are open. If we end up elsewhere on our journey, our doors will remain open. No visit is so stressful that it outweighs the good of seeing you, our friends and family, walk through our doors. No time is so busy that it cannot be rearranged for you. It is with this invitation in mind that I choose to say to each of you:
Auf Wiedersehen. Until we meet again. May it be soon.
Thank you for being a part of our lives. We love you and will miss you. We look forward to your arrival in Munich.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)