Welcome to the South

Tuesday morning my mom and I flew from San Francisco, CA to Atlanta GA. We picked up our rental car and drove from Atlanta to the town of Macon, GA. The car pick-up was slow, but the service we have received has been consistently high. It must be that Southern Hospitality.

Wednesday morning we drove to Savannah, GA. Savannah is the first city founded in Georgia. The plans were made in England before the settlers ever left. The plan, based off the layout of London, has 24 squares scattered throughout the downtown area. Each square has at least one famous building facing the square. At least it seemed that way.

The squares and the resulting one-way streets make this area difficult to navigate in a car. Upon our arrival, Mom and I got a little turned around. Once we found the lot for the visitor center where the trolley tours start we were fine. We took about an hour to circle the town which gave us a ton of history and fun tidbits about the town, and life in a colonial seaport.

If you don't already know, Savannah was made famous by the book/movie "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil". That book increased tourism in Savannah by 47%. I am currently reading the book which helped me connect with some of what I saw.

This is an amazing town and is exactly what I wanted to see when I suggested we make the south-east our destination. The buildings in this town amaze me. They are covered in ornate iron-work. Even the downspouts from the rain gutters are decorated. Warren Square in the north-east corner of town has several "Federal" houses around it. One of these houses was ordered right out of the Sear-roebuck catalog and assembled as it arrived. The top photo in this post is of this house. There was a flaw in the directions that came with the parts. See if you can spot it. I'll post the answer next time.

Camping in the Gold Country

I spent Memorial Day weekend camping with friends in the foothills outside of Sacramento. We were in a campground on the south fork of the American River just outside the town where gold was discovered in California. A friend and I arrived at the campground around midnight. We set up tents with the help of a couple of friends who had been drinking for at least a couple hours best guess.

The next couple of days were spent eating, drinking, fishing, and lounging by the river. Some of the highlights include.

Hanging out by the river watching rafts navigate a nasty rapid named "Troublemaker"

Shouting at rafts that floated right by our campsite to paddle. We land lubbers felt that simply floating on the current was lazy.

I caught a trout about 6 inches long and was able to release it back to the river. This one managed not to swallow most of my hook>

My friend caught her first fish. It was about three inches long. It also survived the ordeal. My friend was amused my the small size of the fish, but was very pleased with having caught it.

I floated down a short stretch of the river in a water toy that only kept my upper body out of the water. The river was about 42 degrees according to a ranger that walked by.

On the whole it was a fabulous weekend. This group of people have been camping together for a few years now, and I hope we continue it for a long time to come.

Afaeyre Maede: Voyager 1 exits Termination Shock

Afaeyre Maede: Voyager 1 exits Termination Shock

This from a friend of mine who does me the great service of keeping me up to date in fun space exploration news. If I went wandering over to NASA's website from work, I'd never get my work done.

It seems that Voyager 1 has hit the region of space where the solar wind interacts with the interstallar wind. This marks the transiton from our solar system to the vastness beyond. I, for one, am amazed that something built on earth is leaving the solar system.

The rain maker

For anyone who needs a direction to point the finger of blame for the rain on Sunday, point it at me. I moved. It was a rough final week of packing after work, and then all day on Saturday.

A friend of mine offered to help me pack, and did an incredible job of keeping me moving and packing things herself, despite not feeling very healthy all week. Without your help, this move would not have gone half as smoothly as it did. Thank you.

The movers arrived about 10 minutes early on Sunday morning and we continued to stuff boxes while they carried stuff to the truck.

Some of you may wonder why I paid for movers when I have strong, healthy friends to abuse. The house I left is perched on a hill with a sloped driveway and 44 stairs from the carport to the front door. Asking friends to help you move out of a place like that is cruel and unusual punishment. The movers had the truck loaded in about 2 and a half hours. Once we had dealt with the couple of gallons of diesel that had leaked out of the truck into a bucket, we were on our way to Mountain View and the rain.

My new apartment is now full of boxes that are quasi-labeled. I still have to clean the old place and do a walk-through, and once Friday night hits, I won't be home much for three weeks.

I am stark raving mad.

Vacation Time

Assuming I survive one more week of work, I then get a five week vacation as a thank you for five years of service to the company. In that five weeks I am going on three trips and attending / participating in two weddings. It's enough to make my head spin.

Here's the plan.

May 26-29 Camping with a rowdy gang of friends.
An annual tradition that I look forward to all year.

May 30-June 3 Trip to Georgia and South Carolina.
I'm having dinner at my mom's house one evening recently, and she says; "I want to take you on a trip while your off work. Where should we go?" I thought for a bit, and decided that I wanted to see the south-east corner of the US. Lots of colonial buildings and other historical sites from the early years of Europeans in North America. By the end of the evening we've booked a round trip flight to Atlanta with a loose plan to drive to Savannah and Charleston. The return flight departs Atlanta at about 7:00 eastern time. I have opera tickets in SF that night. It's going to be a long day.

June 4-18 Three city train trip.
I'm taking Amtrak from the bay area to Seattle, where I will wander as I see fit for a few days, then I go from Seattle to Chicago across the top of the US. I'm spending a few days in Chicago. The Cubs are in town, so I plan to go to a weekday game at Wrigley Field. Then the final leg is Chicago back to the bay area. I have a private room reserved for each train ride. The first leg is about 20 hours. The other two are each about 40 hours. I've wanted to take a trip like this for a long time.

I'll be taking my camera and my laptop, so I should be able to update as I travel. Keep checking for more updates.

Bunny Boy

Just another day at the office.

I don't have to get dressed up like this every day, but it happens enough these days that I thought a picture of myslef in the mirror would be fun.

Getting started

I started this blog because I'm about to go on a couple of trips and wanted to share my experiences with my friends. I plan on doing other things when I get back, but for now, here's the humble beginning.