Phinneas

We got a new puppy at IKEA. Okay, well it was in the IKEA parking lot. There was a man with a truck with hot pink signs that said "Tiny Puppies for Sale"

So we got ourselves a tiny puppy! 3.14 lbs, male, half chihuahua, half mini schnauzer, alll cute!

New Orleans

Today was way super duper. So many super duper things happened, that this might be a really rambly entry! Maybe I will list. Listing always is more concise. Yes, let’s list…maybe a rambly list…

#1 awesome thing:
We have this super high tech system. I have a blackberry, and I have a laptop. And now I have a USB cable that lets my computer get online via my blackberry* We went online in our car in the Walmart parking lot and googled “coffee shop in Mobile” about 10 things came up, and only one wasn’t a Starbucks. It was Carpe Diem Coffee and it was awesome. The drive there took us through some beautiful mansions, and the Spring Hill University Campus (Alabama’s first institution of higher learning). We bought coffee and took an incredibly pleasant morning stroll through the campus.

*I also have a modified Verizon account to facilitate this.

#2 awesome thing:
We went to a small car place to get our oil changed. They found our transmission fluid filter thing needed to be changed as well, which they did for pennies. During that time, we talked to some locals and got a welcomed earful from them. We learned that it gets cold two weeks a year there. How cold? 50 degrees. Sigh.

#3 awesome thing:
We walked around downtown Mobile, a scenic little town. We stumbled into a Gallery, where we were apparently like their first customers ever. It was their opening day. They lavished us with southerness and wine and chitterchatter. It was hilarious and awesome.

#4 awesome thing:
We finally found someone on Couchsurfing.com who agreed to host us!!! (we tried several people in Europe with no luck, but hadn’t tried on domestic soil yet) Dan from New Orleans called in response to my housing request and agreed to put us up for two nights in N’Orleans. Sweet!!!! We really want to shower.

#5 awesome thing:
We got to Dan’s house and he was super chill and cool. Phew.

#6 awesome thing:
We walked from Dan’s to the French Quarter, and all down Bourbon and Royal Streets. It was a fantastic walk, and great to experience the many faces of New Orleans we saw in that 6 or so mile walk alone. Tomorrow we will explore some of the more impoverished areas affected by Katrina.

Honk Snooze

We began our day at the same coffee shop we ended the previous on at. After several hours of coffee shop-ing, we wandered the city…the parks, a cemetery, and some residential streets.

After that, we headed on out for what would be a long, and terribly boring day of driving. We expected some beautiful coastal view on our alleged “scenic route” but were disappointed to find unremarkable town after town, and not a single water view.

We altered our intended route a bit as a result of the mind-numbing boredom, deciding to head to Florida and get on I-10 asap.

We spent the rest of the day driving, with a short leg stretch at the Okeefenokee Swamp in southern Georgia.

We ended our boring day in Mobile, Alabama, at, where else..but…a 24 hour Walmart.

Savannah GEE OH GEE A

Leaving Charlotte, we headed straight for Savannah, Georgia. We arrived in the early evening, but since it was Sunday, the town was sleepy.

For the first several hours, we walked around largely unimpressed. It was a tourist trap, and we hadn’t found anything that had grabbed either one of us. I remembered Savannah as being a beautiful city from my visit several years ago, and knew there was so much more then what we were experiencing.

As the sun set, we walked farther and farther, and began to realize that a huge percentage of the intersections are large green spaces with beautiful stone sculptures or fountains. Savannah has an enormous amount of green space and towering weepy trees methodically shading every street. The architecture is old and beautiful, often complimented by brick or cobblestone streets and sidewalks.

After several aimless hours, we asked a bike taxi-man if there was a coffee shop that wasn’t Starbucks. (We have solidified our distaste for the chain joints on this trip – Starbucks on the top of that list). They directed us two blocks away, to what was one of the highlights of Savannah for us.

We spent the rest of the night in the coffee shop – probably the only non art school kids there (SCAD – Savannah College of Art and Design has a huge presence in the city.)

We parked on a quite street, pinned up our curtains, and slept right in downtown Savannah, careful to set our alarm for just before the meter maids start work for the day. Oh how I love our travel motel.

Charleston

Charleston is a fantastic city from the outsider-touristy point of view. It is beautifully architected, clean, pleasant and has an art gallery or museum every 5 feet.

It is a conservative and modest city - a majority of the people we saw were dressed in summery dresses and button down shirts, and all the galleries were populated with traditional fine art.

While walking downtown, we spoke with a girl who worked in an art store. She confirmed my thinking that it was a friendly city on the surface, but underneath it was a super conservative, gossipy town, which she personally was ready to leave.

She recommended us to head to Folly Beach, a place she described as more real, and more populated by locals. We did head over there, but were largely bored, as we reconfirmed our usual disinterest with beach culture. Folly had little to offer us, although we did take a pleasant walk down a whitely sanded beach.

Charlotte is currently ranking #2 on our favorite-cities-of-the-trip-list. Boston is still #1.

Our car is a bit more comfortable now, with the loft we built, although with the 18 or so inches of living space, combined with the thick curtains - it gets mighty toasty in there. On the whole though, not too bad!!

We are enjoying our roadtripping immensely, although we are pretty excited to get back to Salt Lake and start business planning.

Congaree

Congaree National Park is one of the nations newest national parks, one I haven't yet been to. It wasn't the easiest to find, buried in a sleepy neighborhood in super rural South Carolina. Congaree is the largest remnant of old-growth floodplain forest remaining on the continent!

It was a swampy green place, with a pleasant boardwalk through swampy goodness, and several longer offshoots for lengthier hiking opportunity.

We opted for a 4.4 mile hike, which, by the end, felt a lot longer. It was quiet and green and lush and beautiful. The black water was calm and wonderfully reflective..
Parts of it looked like a gnome den, with knotty ground protrusions everywhere, called "knees" in the forestry business.I would definitely recommend a visit if you are in the area.

Charlotte!

Carborro, NC was short, but excellent. It is a pleasant town near Chapel Hill where my first out-of-dorm roommate (Stephanie Murr) now lives with her son and husband. I hadn't seen her since 1999 - so it was a long awaited reunion. It was super nice to catch up with her, watch her son run around, and then dinner in a diner she has seen John Edwards eat at. We, unfortunately didn't run into him. I was going to tell him he was better looking than Hilary and Obama. And what's up with that. How come we most commonly call her by her first name, and him by his last?

After dinner, we drove to Charlotte, where we spent 2 days on the wrong side of town, with my friend Jon, who lived directly beneath me in our Israeli dorm. He has since downgraded, living in a sketchy furnished motel-looking apartment in the Charlotte ghetto. However, he is cool as hell and we had a blast with him.

Gregg and I took the opportunity as soon as possible to hit up a Home Depot and get a piece of plywood to lay across the back of our car, on top of the wheel wells, and atop the front and back seats. It is a hip urban car loft of sorts.

Apres car renovating, we lollygagged around until evening, when we hit up an artwalk in one of Charlotte’s hipper regions. There were about 5 galleries, 2.5 of them really interesting us. After about 10, the gallery seen dulled, and we headed for some bowling – which was potentially my worst score in my adult life. Such a downer after hitting my lifetime high the last time I bowled. I think my two game average might have been about 48.

While leaving Charlotte, we stopped in the first ever Latino-owned coffee shop I have ever frequented. While there we purchased a Korean made bottle Aloe juice. The verdict? Definitely decent, far too sweet for heavy consumption. Fruity.