Finally! Summer of 2010 - PART I

Obviously, it’s been waaaay too long since I’ve been able to write a decent blog. This is going to be Summer of 2010 in segments since there is so much to write, and I will never get this posted in a timely manner if I do it all at once. At this point in my life, my free time only comes in small blurbs! I welcome the change though, because I am getting to learn how to do something I love! Yay!

As you know by now, the first part of my summer was spent recuperating from getting my “matching kneecap surgery,” so there wasn’t a lot of adventuring around then. The end of May and June came along, sending us along the East Coast on an action-packed trip seeing new sites and old friends.

Of course, when we got back from that trip, before I had a chance to really write the blog and put up pictures, my computer crashed. With work and summer projects and school preparations and everything else we were trying to do, it took quite a while to get my data transferred and get the new situation/office/computer up and running.

Then we went on another trip AND I started school in the meantime, pushing back my blogumentation even further. But, fear not! I will get to it all now! For the sake of time, I'm not going to edit the pictures as much as I usually do; hopefully they will turn out ok.



First on the list is our East Coast trip!

We left for Pittsburgh by car on a Saturday morning and arrived later that day. Spence's mom was joining us for this segment of the trip. When we finally got there, both Spence and I were really impressed by this city! We had no idea that it was so clean, organized, aesthetically pleasing, and had so much to offer for fun. Spence did remember that one of his favorite buildings was located downtown (from when he looked at architectural books as a kid). It's called PPG Place. It's more like a complex of sorts.

We continued to explore. We rode a lift to the top of the little "mountain" surrounding the city. From there and on the way, we got some great views. Believe it or not, Pittsburgh has more vertical streets than San Francisco and is also know as the "City of Bridges," with even more bridges than Venice!

You can see PPG rising from the crowd here...

We also went on a boat tour. Seeing the city from that perspective made it feel like it was the child of Portland and Chicago.

Where the Steelers play

Lots of cool bike paths along the river

The next day, we went to the Aviary. It was so neat! I loved seeing all the birds, and the best part was being allowed to be among them. Except for the wetlands, you could pretty much be in their habitat with them.

The first picture is Spence with chuckers. He wanted his dad to see this pic. They used to hunt these guys. Too cute to shoot in my opinion! They're pretty hard to see in the picture. When I started to take it, the little guys began to root in the dirt.

This guy wanted to join the crowd in the viewing stands. His hair was CRAZY!

These guys had white handlebar-like mustaches.

 SLOTH! Look at his hook! (Not a bird though?)

Showing off...

Drying off... He was like this for at least five minutes.

 Penguins! I got to touch them. They like to bite. :)

The biggest bird I've ever seen. It was like the size of a large dog. I don't even know how it can fly.
Unfortunately I forgot what it was called. :(

Later we drove by Pitt and Carnegie Mellon. Some parts of the campuses were so green and pretty.

Then it was time to say goodbye to Janice and Pittsburgh!

(By the way, Spence was suffering from horrible allergies, and you can tell in the pics. Poor guy!)

Then we drove to Shenandoah National Park along Skyline Drive. It was my first hike after surgery, so we were wary of how it might go. We walked around the area and then hiked to the highest point in the park. Skyline drive is already pretty close to the top. It went very well, though. The boys loved it, too! When we got to the top, a group of elderly Asian hikers came after us (yes) and started singing How Great Thou Art in their language. I have to admit that I shed a tear!

We drove through Norfolk and Hamilton on our way to the Outer Banks. We stayed the night at See Sea (yeah) in Kitty Hawk before venturing out. That was a unique experience, I must say!

The next day we were off to the OBX beaches after eating breakfast at a super-cute diner. We drove and took a short ferry, ate at a seafood buffet, and set up camp by the beach on Ocracoke. About the seafood buffet, there is a new rule that Spence is no longer allowed to eat seafood in an all-you-can-eat situation. Let's just say we saw his seafood again.

Our night of camping was really fun, and we loved listening to the waves crashing in all night.
The boys LOVE the beach. Mindless/aimless digging in the sand is one of Meixel's favorite pastimes. Although, I'm sure it's not mindless for him; he probably imagines he's making some progress towards something (finding a creature under there maybe?).

HOWEVER (and this is a big however), we did NOT know about sand fleas (not actually fleas). Now we do. OMG. What a nightmare. We were COVERED in bugs and bites. It's really too long and painful of a story to include here, so just ask me if you'd like to hear about it in its entirety and haven't yet. We will never camp on the beach in North Carolina again! Here's a link about the lovely creatures if you'd like to know more. http://www.flea-i.com/sand-fleas.html I like how the site says the creatures can be avoided with "every day insect repellent." FALSE! I sprayed myself before I went to bed JUST to ward off evil insect juju, but little did I know that they can come right in through your nets and don't really care about your OFF! spray. I will never forget you, Ocracoke!

After waking up to that and taking freezing cold showers at the campsite, we speedily drove onto the ferry back to the mainland. Myrtle Beach was our next stop. We really just went there to check it out. We walked around a few of the beaches and went on our way. Our next destination was Charleston! What a neat place! We walked along Rainbow Row (pictured below) and saw all of the well-maintained/updated historic homes. Most of them had a plaque outside the home telling about its original owners and history to date.

It was a little windy!

That night we ate at this place called SNOB (Slightly North of Broad). SO delicious! I had the sesame encrusted tuna medallions with kimchee, miso, cucumber ,salad, and wasabi. Spence had a tasty red bean soup that was slow cooked with peppers, onions, celery and garlic, garnished with tomato jalapeño salsa and sour cream. I don't remember what his main dish was. I was concentrating too much on the deliciosity of my own! =)

Our hotel was fabulously Southern and furry-boy friendly!

We continued our tour of Charleston the next day, visiting spice shops, local boutiques, antique shops… It was great but a little to balmy for our taste (especially when you're itchy!)!

Well, I’ve reached my allotted blog time limit for the day. We’ll pick up here next time!

I’m having a great time in school so far. I’ve got a great buddy to carpool with and vent to and laugh with, so I already feel blessed and like I’m in the right place! I can’t believe it’s going to be October in just a few days. Time is FLYING!

Love and miss you all,