Moved in - sort of

Growling with the floor guys about living out of a garage seemed to have finally worked. Of course, after enough time passes, anything can be credited. Hard grass (bamboo) now covers all but my office - more on that later. So, Mark and I orchestrated the big MOVE. This has included much help and patience from dad and Sean, but we are finally sleeping in our bedroom (freshly painted I might add), with all but our ski clothes put in drawers.


As for the Floriday room/office - when looking for a replacement for the flimsy back door to the office, Mark noticed that real doors were 4" thick while our wall was only 3" thick. So, he will be initiating the grand construction of...thicker exterior walls for the office. Tear down has started, showing metal wall studs and Styrofoam insulation.


Meanwhile, I'll be working out of the quietest part of the house...the bathroom. Good internet connection, phone acoustics and a seat. What more could I ask for!


We are legitimate Florida drivers now. We had to give up the California licenses. Somehow, this made it all real, and official.

Why Can't We Just Have Dirt Floors!

We've begun the process of modified rehab on the Dunedin house. The bubbling Pergo - gone. The baseboards - gone. The black and white checkerboard floor tile - gone. The dog hair from probably 1000 dogs that lived in the house - gone. The patience to wait another week for the rest of the new bamboo flooring - gone.

The good parts?
In Dunedin: Short hop to the beach for sunset. Nice breeze on the back porch.
In Lakeland: Family running in and out of parental units' house. Crazy Brit visitors who order 'Bood' for beer. Mom's Sharffenberger Chocolate Cake and meatloaf!

See the small progress in photos. Photo at bottom shows Pergo floors and kitchen bar - now all gone. The floor guys, when they show up, want their photos taken by Mark. Not sure if they need proof they are working, or are just hams!

And the Winner Is.....................

Time to announce the winner of the mileage contest!

There were 9 official guesses...lots more that didnt get entered. But only those that were communicated electronically via email or blog were counted. The high guess was mom at 7000 miles, the low guess was 4223 miles by Micki. The actual mileage was..... 6222.5 miles. Georgie won at 5617 miles. Congratulations, Georgie!!!

I will start entries about the house rehab and our new life in Dunedin. Currently, we are spending time between Dunedin and Lakeland (parents' house) depending on the work being done. Quite a mess right now... us AND the house! Look for upcoming entries.

Florida, At Last!

The official trip ends in Lakeland. But our new home is in Dunedin. We have a bit of work to do on the house to move in and may end up making a bigger mess then we started with. But that is our way. (perhaps this process will become blog worthy)

The trip took almost a full month: 27 days. We saw unbelievable diversity in landscapes, cities, people, food and language. And to think – all the same country! I did realize that the more I saw, the more I realize I had yet to see. There are huge regions we didn’t even touch: Midwest, Northeast, East Coast, Southwest. We just scratched the surface.

Favorite spots: Mark’s most surprising experience was Carlsbad Caverns. He found the caves to be a completely different and unexpected experience. He also loved the wild animals found in the west and the bayous of Louisiana.

For me, each place had a remarkable quality that I found interesting or even surprising. I think the most impactful location was along the gulf coast, still recovering from Katrina. One of the most beautiful was the Grand Teton area…close tie with Crater Lake. Historically, Mesa Verde was very interesting and fun.

Favorite foods: Mark’s favorites were the bison steaks in Jackson Hole and the BBQ ribs in Austin. I was surprised by the great flavor of the shrimp and corn soup I ate in Houma. And the cheese grits at Emerile’s restaurant in Gulfport.

Favorite drives: Mark’s was the million-dollar road in Colorado where we drove through multiple hairpins at a time, and saw old mining equipment and the leaves changing colors for fall. My favorite drive was along the Columbia Gorge with scenic overlooks and beautiful waterfalls.

Favorite hikes: Mark’s favorite ‘stroll’ was the hike down and back from Bumpass Hell in Lassen Volcanic National Park. He didn’t even mind the cold wind blowing through? our ears. My favorite hike was around Jenny Lake at Teton National Park, and up to the waterfall. This is what the National Park Service calls an easy hike – but it kicked my butt by the end of the day.

Favorite grocery store: My fave is the Dekalb Farmer’s Market, perhaps for sentimental reasons, or maybe because of the cinnamon chocolate cookies they still sell. Mark’s favorite is City Market (competition to Whole Foods) that we visited in Ft. Worth area.

Favorite hotel: Mark’s favorite was the log cabin in Jackson Hole for $90. We slept like logs, so to speak. I think this is my favorite as well.

Favorite restaurant: Mark has 2 favorites. Lucy’s Mexican Restaurant in Carlsbad and Gun Barrel In Jackson Hole. My favorite was Rudy’s BBQ in Austin.

Biggest surprises: The elk bugling that we finally heard in Mesa Verde. The number of women controlling with traffic (flag ‘men’) in all the northwest road construction we ran into. The number of deserted towns and areas. The expanding girth of the locals as we traveled east. The amount of destruction still untouched along the gulf coast from the hurricanes. The number of Russian waiters we had in the western states, and their inability to do their jobs well. The number of Harley Davidson stores, seemingly in every town, and often with a Hooters nearby. The number of massage billboard ads in south Georgia on I-75.

Contest Update: Remember, guess the number of miles we covered from September 4, Redwood City, CA to September 30, Lakeland, FL and win a $25 gift certificate at Barnes and Noble. Guess by October 15. Look for the answer and winner, hopefully by October 16!!!

Florida – Within Spitting Distance

Driving from Atlanta to Florida isn’t too long of a drive, but it seems like a lot of changes along the way. Drivers started getting a little crazier and billboards became the main attraction. Near Tifton, GA, we started to see advertising for truckers…’Thumbs Up’ massages, Happy Spas, …hmmm. Then came the pecan (pee-can) billboards. Of course we had to go shopping for nuts and nut related paraphernalia. (notice that we skipped the massages) Mark practiced saying 'pee-can' for at least 60 miles. He’s almost got it down.

Note: no siting of the Jingle Jugs truck we saw in Texas, though according to their schedule, they are headed for Disney - go figure.

Next were the amusement park billboards alongside the retirement community billboards. Finally, we got off I-75 and the billboard jungle to relax to the scenery of mobile home parks, stately farms with cows and horses, and run-down gas stations. Ah, welcome to the old Florida.

The South Will Rise Again

Our uneventful drive through Alabama to Atlanta brought us to my old stomping grounds. But, a lot has changed since 1994! Besides the Olympics related buildings, whole neighborhoods have transformed from working class, industrial areas to high-end condos and shopping. So many more highrises have popped up that I don’t recognize the skyline. And, while the traffic has always been notoriously bad, it is even worse on the surface streets. But we came to Atlanta to visit friends and we had a great time.

We stayed with Judy, Dave, Maddy and Nestle (a walking, furry, chocolate bar) where feasting with good food and drink was the standard. Highlights: Turkish dinner of kofta and couscous by Mark, and mushroom omelets and a fried turkey with dirty rice by Dave, homemade tiramisu by Judy (I set the table). From this home base, we saw Kati and her furry Max (or snowball as Mark called him), and my nephew Patrick who is resembling his dad’s looks more and more – but not his actions, thank goodness! James was harassed appropriately via phone, but wisely stayed in Columbia that day.

Since we were in the heart of the south, Mark needed to learn something about Atlanta, confederacy, and the Civil War. After all, he’s now going to live in the South. So we marched to Grant Park to see the Cyclorama. This was a mandatory stop on a trip up the east coast when I was a child. We walked around the circular diorama back then, before it was restored. Now, you can see scenes from the Battle of Atlanta on July 1864 while sitting, as the seats turn to follow the story narration. The Civil War, with a total of around 3 million soldiers (both north and south) was our bloodiest war, but also the most personal. Soldiers who grew up as friends and even as family, fought one another. The death count was high with 2/3 of this number dying from disease and not battle wounds. The Battle of Atlanta proved to be a turning point in the war, shifting to the North’s advantage.

The Cyclorama painting – largest canvas painting in the world – was done 2 years after the Civil War ended. So the battle stories were still fresh. The painting traveled around for many years as was common for these paintings in the 1800’s. In the 1920’s, it came home to Atlanta to stay. Refurbished in the 1970’s, the painting and diorama are impressive in story and design. Mark found this all interesting and has a bit of understanding now. Civil Wars even happen outside of the Sunni/Shia Iraq situation. Next on his southern orientation is the southern accent!

The steam train ‘Texas’ is in the building also. This train is famous for the Great Chase in April 1862 when Union spies seized another train called the General. It was chased by the Texas – driving backwards – until the General was abandoned. The spies were hanged and the Texas is in Grant Park.

We checked out the Dekalb Farmers Market – my favorite food shopping location when I lived in Decatur. Mark was like a kid in a candy shop with foods from around the world. He was especially excited to see the assortment of breads and a whole section of nuts and dried fruits from Turkey. Needless to say, Turkish pistachios are coming back with us.

Decatur has also transformed into quite a destination town – with lots of upscale and funky shops, restaurants and bars. I knew this would happen one day when I purchased my house down the road from downtown. But it happened after I left!! I’m sure my presence influenced this change :’)

Contest Update: We are coming to the end of our trip. We’ve spent over $700 so far just on gas. Prices ranged, so far, from $2.729 to $3.099 per gallon. Send your mileage guesses. Our trip calculation will end in Lakeland, FL at the parental units’ house. Guesses can be submitted until October 15, 2007. If multi guesses, the latest guess is the one that counts.

Food and Drink: This is a hard one. The home cooking, wine and beer selections were outstanding. We also ate out several times at great spots. The restaurants were: the 5 Seasons Brewery – a brewery with excellent foods and beers. The 2 way duck and the venison were delicious: tender meats cooked medium rare and excellent sauces that highlighted the flavors without overpowering them. The Brick Store Pub in Decatur is a brewery with an assortment of beers requiring a catalogue to list them all. Whew! My Dogfish Head Punkin Ale and Mark’s local Sweetwater beer were both great. The Flying Biscuit in midtown had really good food and amazing biscuits and cheese grits. But after an hour between ordering and eating, I could have eaten the napkins and thought them delicious. So, we’ll have to discount that review a bit.

Ok Mother Nature – You Win

From Louisiana bayous to the Mississippi gulf coast was a sobering trip. First we passed through New Orleans (since we’ve been here multiple times, we’ll come back on a New Orleans destination visit) on I-10. Canal Street and the Dome looked great, as did our glimpse at the French Quarter. The east side of the city was different. We saw apartment complex after complex that was destroyed by flooding, sitting empty. I can’t imagine the volumes of displaced families just from apartments. Then we saw the neighborhoods of homes, looking like middle and upper middle class from the construction and size of homes, that were still largely destroyed. A beautiful brick home that had been reconstructed sat next to two with boarded windows and tarp covered roofs.

From Louisiana we took highway 90 along the coastline. We heard a lot about Katrina’s impact to New Orleans, but much less about the impact to the Mississippi coast line. This area was known for its stately antebellum mansions along the beachfront, and wide, white sandy beaches. What we saw made me think of an archeological dig, where a past civilization was being discovered, with little debris left to personalize the site.

Instead of old, stately mansions, we saw grand front steps leading to a foundation. We saw swimming pools and patios without a home around them. Some families put wooden signs on their property with their name and address. We saw people are living on their lots, in mobile homes or campers. But most of these lots are now for sale, with the debris removed and just the surviving grand oaks remaining. There are large parking lots for what were probably shopping centers. There are bones of gas stations and churches. (double click on the images to expand to full screen)

Amid this sanitized destruction, there is a lot of rebuilding. The casinos are repaired and running. Got that tax base up and running quickly! There are new condo complexes open for sale, and new homes being built atop 1 story stilts. A couple of mansions are being repaired, but almost all are gone. I’m guessing the single family homes will be replaced with multifamily condos and the look and feel of the area will change significantly. I hope not, but the reality of the cost of living in an area wiped out by Camille, then Katrina is likely to prevent single family homes from coming back along the beachfront.

We stayed at the Island View casino in Gulfport where Mark made his non tax-deductible contribution to the local economy. Our dinner was at Emerile’s new restaurant at the casino that specialized in seafood dishes with a nod to the local taste.

Food and Drink: Our dinner at Emerile’s restaurant, the Gulf Coast Fish House had a couple of standout dishes. Mark is picky about his cream-based fish chowder (usually called New England clam chowder). He tried Emerile’s seafood chowder and was really happy with it. Different chunks of seafood were cooked in a nicely seasoned cream base. No potatoes, and the light cream helped highlight the fish. Just the way he likes it.
My dinner was delish: Paw Paw Shrimp. (What's a 'paw paw'!!??) Shrimp was grilled, and drizzled with a sweetened, yet slightly spicy tomato sauce. This was atop cheese grits. But these were tasty cheese grits that even Mark – I hate grits – liked.